Warning: Major spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 to follow.
We never thought we’d see the day, but that day was March 24, 2023; the day that John Wick: Chapter 4 released to theaters, and where many a moviegoer witnessed the wildly unprecedented death of Keanu Reeves’ eponymous assassin, who will now, henceforth, and poetically be remembered as a loving husband.
Indeed, the climax of Chapter 4 cranked up every conceivable breed of tension to the highest the franchise has ever seen, and for an action-thriller franchise that’s about as far from by-the-book as it gets, that’s quite a feat. As John Wick and Caine exchanged blows with their dueling pistols, the outcome seemed obvious, but then came that final, fatal shot that took John’s life. Thankfully, the shot spared him long enough to deliver a killing blow to Marquis, but no circumstances could ever soften the deafening fact of Baba Yaga’s death.
But this wasn’t a protagonist death for the sake of shock value; that’s something that director Chad Stahelski wants to make as clear as possible. In an interview with ScreenRant, Stahelski broke down the philosophy that led to John’s death, specifically discussing the nuances surrounding the protagonist’s choice to lose the duel for something bigger than himself.
“John has to make a choice. It’s not about him and Caine, it’s about Caine living for something more important than either of them. That’s an interesting dilemma to figure out. That was not an easy thing on paper to go, “That makes sense.” You can’t just say, “I’m going to live or die for your reason.” But I think you get that right in the scene, and that’s the interesting thing to really put together. The point is choice. John made a choice to do something bigger than himself, or to save someone else that was not even in the movie. That’s interesting to me.”
The “something bigger” in question, of course, was Caine’s daughter, who is now safe from the High Table’s world following both the death of Marquis and the victory of Caine. Compare that to the continued bloodshed that John’s survival/victory would have resulted in, and it makes for an outstanding meditation on John’s character and what it takes to make a choice like that.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theaters.
