The John Wick franchise has always had its’s finger on the pulse of what makes a great action movie. Whether through breathless sequences, incredible camera work, or stellar set design — John Wick unites the cinematic virtues of old Hong Kong martial arts epics with a nasty twist on superhero films.
Since fighting its way into theaters in 2014, the vengeful tale of an ex-hit man on the road to redemption has taken the world by storm and forever changed the genre. Like the blockbuster blowouts of yore, these rely more on real-world stunts than post-production effects, and we can seem to get enough.
Before John Wick, movies with any sort of action were pretty straightforward: Punchy-punchy, shooty-shooty, good guy kills some people, bad guy kills some people — the end. Fun to watch, sure, but formulaic to say the least. Then Mr. Wick enters the picture and starts kicking butt with some serious style, and the rest seems to be history.
Chad Stahelski, the director behind all four John Wick films, is the one we can all thank for that dramatic shift in tone. In a recent interview with IndieWire, Stahelski and some of the other creatives behind the latest entry in the series discussed how classic Hollywood musicals influenced their overall fight choreography.
“Everybody laughs when I say it, but I love musicals. Bob Fosse is a huge inspiration. Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain. We didn’t reinvent action or anything with John Wick — we just spent all our money and time preparing Keanu (Reeves) to be our Gene Kelly.”
Taking a scene from Singin’ in the Rain, Stahelski set out to express character through movement and body language — telling a visual story, along with a narrative one. In an era where fight scenes have become rather rote, fusing dance into the film’s action-heavy scenes is a stroke of genius. Frankly, we can imagine how much time it took to choreograph.
“A lot of stunt teams will train their cast members to hit focus mitts, which is a martial arts mentality. Punching the heavy bag is great, but if you can’t remember your moves, it doesn’t matter how hard you can punch or kick.”
John Wick: Chapter 4’s editor — Nathan Orloff — also talked about how he worked with Stahelski to provide an equally engaging edit.
“I rarely cut on a punch. I would cut around the punch, after the hit on recovery, and then show the beginning of something else. I wanted to dance around the action and not be a part of it, and that’s why Chad and I got along.”
In a world where things can seem so homogenized, it’s nice to know there are creatives out there doing something different — and paying respect to the past in the process. All that anyone can do now is wait for John Wick: Chapter 4, and hold on for dear life.
