The tone lifts to something lighter as if the director's winking at the audience, and the intricacies of Wick's assassin world slowly unravel. Indeed, the second and third films are when the franchise openly indulges its more outlandish side. He bleeds, sweats, and just keeps going with those bangs falling into his eyes. Wick is visceral and efficient, savage and ruthless, his actions both second nature and demanding all his body can give. Not enough praise can be heaped upon his commitment to stunt work authenticity as such, the violence in Wick just hits differently. The meticulously complex choreography is remarkable on its own but also graceful in execution, in no small part due to Reeves's mastery over physical performance. Rather than aiming for style over substance, Stahelski treats the martial art with the respect it deserves. Renowned Hong Kong director John Woooriginated gun-fu in the 1980s and 1990s, and Hollywood began imitating the style in the early 2000s. Much has been made about how Wick resurrected Hollywood gun-fu, but the reason Wick's action scenes are captivating is simple: Stahelski and his crew understand that gun-fu is an art form. Truly, that's because John Wick's fight choreography is the definition of epic. The words "epic" and "badass" aren't inappropriate here.
Stahelski and cinematographer Jonathan Sela often have Wick emerge from the shadows into film noir lighting that illuminates only half of his face - obviously representing Wick's spiritual duality. Then there are the shots that are just fun: Wick finally achieving his revenge happens in slow-motion, his black suit jacket floating stylishly behind him as he approaches a cornered Iosef.
He and Wick are friendly and when he spies the dead bodies in Wick's hallway, he lightly asks, "You, uh, working again?" It's an oddly playful contrast to Wick's massacre, which was played straight, and could have walked straight out of a Saturday Night Live skit. All the gunshots prompt one of Wick's neighbors to call in a noise complaint (oops!), but the policeman at Wick's door is a complete subversion of expectations. The nightmarish aura surrounding Wick is a perfect mix of humorous, unsettling, and more than a touch of cheering him on because this is fiction, and we can do that.Īnother example of Wick's tendency toward satire follows the film's first true fight sequence. The pencil line, especially because it's intercut with Wick smashing open a concrete floor to unearth a cache of guns and ammunition, is darkly hysterical and makes the film's intentions clear.
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