We’re two weeks out from John Wick: Chapter 4, and it looks to be Baba Yaga’s most explosive excursion yet. Before you ask; yes, we absolutely think that the death of his dog warrants the biblical path of destruction that he’s forged over the course of what will soon be four films.
The franchise boasts some of the most elusive mythology of our time, from blood oath medallions to the network of Continental hotels, via the High Table organization that John will be going up against next, the nuances of John Wick may have been printed on stone tablets in another life.
In the margins of such a stone tablet (assuming stone tablets do, in fact, have margins), would be director Chad Stahelski’s “bop, bop, bop” filming technique, and the John Wick boss was happy to divulge the purpose behind it in an interview with SlashFilm.
Stahelski explained how action needs to be balanced with a healthy dose of respite to avoid dulling the viewers’ senses, and compared the process of finding that balance to composing music.
“A lot of great composers always define it by the space in between notes and not the actual notes. It’s bop, bop, bop or bop … bop … bop. So we started playing with that. We’ve done so many fight scenes with my company, my team at 87eleven, and you can’t always do a John Wick. Sometimes there’s just little fights, unfortunately. But you play with rhythm, and your theoretical idea is, “How do we make this interesting?” Bop, bop, bop, bop, bah. And then if you listen to some of the soundtracks in John Wick, the guns are actually taking up one of the musical tracks.”
He would further explain how this rhythmic process shows up in the franchise, pointing out how something as simple as having Keanu Reeves take a breath goes a long way in nailing the otherwise high-octane experiences that John Wick prides itself on.
“I think if you look at that in the micro, the macro, it’s about, “What is that great pause beat?” You need Keanu to stand up and just hit that pose and look exhausted in the waterfall. That one great shot of him just going, “Ugh.” I need that. The audience needs that to go, “What the? Oh! There’s more. Okay.” But if you don’t go, “Whoa,” then it’s just monotony, just da da da da da slamming you in the face with action.”
The eponymous hitman is going to need all the bops in the world if he wants to stand a chance against the High Table, who continue to gun for his head. Aided by Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King in what might be the most curious matrix glitch we’ve ever seen, the stakes have never been higher for The Boogeyman.
John Wick: Chapter 4 releases to theaters on March 24.
Published: Mar 9, 2023 04:33 am