The "John Wick'' franchise takes place in a stylish reality that,
while captivating, doesn't always make total sense.
Here are a few questionable aspects of the "John Wick" movies that many fans choose to ignore.
How are there so many assassins in one place at any given time? New York,
in particular, appears to be infested with them.
As the story of John Wick continues, it becomes apparent that Wick isn't the only assassin around.
The Continental Hotel, for example, is an entire boarding facility
dedicated to provide a safe space for those in the business to relax,
have a drink, and restock on whatever weapons and ammo they might need.
When John is declared "excommunicado" by Winston, the owner of the New York Continental, at the end
of "John Wick: Chapter 2," every single person who happens to be outside during the public meeting
turns out to be part of the criminal underworld. As Wick begins his hour-long head start,
many of the people he runs past read the excommunicado notification on their cell phones
and look at him with solemn recognition. It's a striking scene that shows how
relatively powerless Wick is when compared to the authority of the all-seeing High
Table — but don't think about it too hard, or it might lose some of its movie magic.
Why do we ignore this plethora of murderous hit-people all congregating in the same public
place? It does make sense that they'd all be near the Continental, and that the various New
York mobs would have enforcers stationed nearby — but one hundred percent of the people there?
It doesn't make sense, even in the world of Wick. With this many assassins around,
the underworld ceases being the underworld — at this point, it's just the world.
In the shadowy black markets of the "John Wick" franchise,
the Gold Coin is the currency of choice. Wick's stash of gold buys
him everything from a taxi ride for his dog to corpse disposal. Medical attention, guns,
a new suit — all of it costs a single coin each and no one ever refuses it as payment.
As explained by SYFY Wire, the coins aren't just about payment,
but about a code that keeps everyone working for the mythical world's High Table
on the honor system. Instead of representing a set amount of money, a coin represents a favor
that can then be redeemed for anything else one might need — that is, unless
you're shopping at a normal store like a normal person. Assassins need to eat too, after all.
We know from the first film that Viggo Tarasov has plenty of cash alongside his coins, and that other
mob bosses have enough cash lying around that it needs to be laundered. Additionally, bounties
posted on the Operators' Board are offered not in coins, but in cold hard cash. What makes something
worth paying coins and not cash? If coins are the currency that buys loyalty and silence, why offer
cash at all? Everyone has regular money in this world — the trouble starts for John when he's
buying gas, after all — but the exact nature of this underground economy doesn't exactly add up.
In the scene where Viggo tells Iosef exactly who and how dangerous John Wick is,
he refers to him as "Baba Yaga", as well as "The Boogeyman." Or, more accurately,
"He was the one you sent to kill the f---ing Boogeyman."
The only problem is that John Wick is nothing like Baba Yaga,
at least not the version from Russian folklore.
According to the legend, Baba Yaga is an old witch who eats children and lives in a house that
walks on chicken legs. Yes, she and Wick are both Russian, but that's about where the similarities
end. Baba Yaga is a Russian "boogeyman," used to scare children into behaving,
but Wick is nothing like her if the fairy tales are to be believed. It's a cool nickname, though,
and sounds very intimidating — which is probably why "Wick" fans are willing to look past it.
One thing the "John Wick” franchise has plenty of is mayhem.
While some of it occurs in dark rooms and elaborate setpieces, much of it occurs
in public spaces where most of the people present are presumably innocent bystanders.
During some of those public fights, bystanders scream and scatter as
soon as bullets start flying. In other cases, though, no one seems to notice
the violence taking place right in front of them. Probably the least plausible of these
fights is the final altercation between John Wick and Cassian — the bodyguard of Gianna,
the woman John has been sent to assassinate in "John Wick: Chapter 2."
John and Cassian take shots at each other in a subway station while everyone else
continues to go about their business, seemingly unaware that a firefight is going on. Sure,
both men have silencers on their guns, but silencers don't really work that way.
John and Cassian's fight being ignored is a little easier to forgive once they actually
get on the subway — after all, you know what they say about New York subway riders.
There's also the Grand Central Station fight in "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,"
where Zero and his henchmen go after John as crowds of passersby go about their business,
and as bodies drop left and right, no one bats an eye.
Yes, New Yorkers generally like to keep to themselves — but frankly, this is ridiculous.
John Wick is a fearsome killing machine, known for his ability to take out entire
squads of combatants on his own. According to Rotten Tomatoes, his body count throughout
Chapters One to Three adds up to a whopping 299 — and that's just what we see onscreen.
So why does everyone seem to like him so much?
It's not just "the code" that seems to keep people from messing with Wick once
he's retired and settled down. Everywhere he goes in the first film, he commands respect. Charon,
the concierge at The Continental, and Winston both seem very fond of him. Harry,
another assassin, helps him out, which costs him his life. Aurelio clearly has deep respect
for him. In the sequels, the Bowery King also seems to give Wick a lot of leeway,
despite their past interactions being less than constructive.
Is it the dogs? Though it's played as a dark joke at times, Wick's return to
the life is fueled by the theft of his car and the death of his dog — which
stings particularly bad since the dog was a posthumous gift from his late wife, Helen.
But this is John Wick, Baba Yaga, a man who once killed three people with a pencil.
By all accounts, he's killed more people than Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees combined.
He's pretty damn scary if he's coming after you, and you probably wouldn't be inclined
to greet him with a smile. But he likes dogs, so that makes him a heck of a guy.
Another questionable thing "Wick" fans ignore is how often Wick's opponents
will give him a moment to compose himself before they continue fighting to the death.
The best example of this is the final boss fight with Zero and his henchmen in "Parabellum."
John manages to escape to the Continental after being chased by Zero and his men,
and he appears to be safe. However, Winston defies the High Table and The Continental
is "deconsecrated," meaning once-forbidden activities are now allowed on the grounds.
Zero's martial artist henchmen fight with John in the Continental. They are fresh for fighting,
while John is tired from all the relentless attacks he's survived so far. They have a
clear advantage over him several times, yet they continuously stop the fight to give John a chance
to compose himself — ostensibly as a sign of honor. They have a job to do, but they're
apparently so thrilled to fight the legendary John Wick that they wind up losing instead.
In most other films, John would've been dead several times in that fight,
and in many of the others he gets into as well — but in the "John Wick" world,
like in a child's game of tag, "time outs" are a natural part of combat.
There's nothing like a good fight scene on motorcycles, but anyone who knows anything
about bikes can't help but scoff at moments like when John flips one cycle to take out another.
It's a cool-looking stunt, but it also defies the laws of physics.
When you look at the behind-the-scenes of stunts such as the motorcycle chases in the third film,
the use of CGI is made quite apparent. Similarly, Wick can fall off the roof of a skyscraper
and survive thanks to the magic of computers — as well as the stuntmen
who get paid to do the dangerous work Keanu Reeves doesn't do himself.
Series director Chad Stahelski is a former stuntman himself,
so he knows full well what is physically possible and what isn't. In a world as
large and outrageous as that of "John Wick," Stahelski knows that only the biggest and most
outlandish stunts will suffice. So, maybe a motorcycle wouldn't fly backwards, but
would instead slide off to the side — but it sure does look cooler when it happens in the movies.
Sure, "John Wick " takes place in a highly stylized fictional world where anything goes,
but as its scale grows across borders and oceans, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that
the machinations of the High Table have gone completely unnoticed and unchecked by outsiders.
The films make it clear that at least one police officer knows who John Wick is — a trope not
uncommon for mob movies — but there is no sense of exactly what an average bystander believes.
"Evening, John."
"Evening, Jimmy. Noise complaint?"
"Noise complaint."
"John Wick" features gruesome kills in public spaces, huge explosions,
and even that one moment where Wick rides a horse through the city — so
if everyone's trying to stay totally unseen, they're not doing a very good job.
The franchise posits that there is a code among the assassins dictating that no bystanders are
to be harmed, but there must be collateral damage at some point — which would then come with cops,
investigations, and once the truth is discovered, worldwide headlines.
Jimmy, the police officer who knows John, is presumably on the payroll — so, is everyone
else in the world as well? Is anyone glimpsed on screen truly innocent? It's hard to tell.
"Gas leak?"
"Yeah, gas leak."
Iosef Tarasov is portrayed by Alfie Allen as an indolent, spoiled brat. He's entitled, arrogant,
and unfortunately for him, not very bright. But seriously, how does he not know who John Wick is?
Once Aurelio realizes the car Iosef has brought to his chop shop belongs to Wick,
he rats him out to his father Viggo, the head of the Tarasov crime family. Viggo has a talk
with his insubordinate son, explaining that John Wick is more than just some assassin — he's the
most feared enforcer of all, and he was once on Viggo's payroll. Iosef, in all his entitlement,
thinks he can just take out John himself — but he has no idea of the wrath about to come his way.
The thing is, everyone in the Wick world knows who John Wick is. They know the gruesome stories,
they know his nicknames, they know he got out of the business for love. How does Iosef,
the son of Wick's former boss, not recognize the man he took everything from, even after John spoke
the same Russian dialect to him? Iosef's clearly a major part of his father's business, even if
he's not the best "employee" in the organization. Yes, Iosef is a dope, but it seems odd that he had
never even heard of the man who killed all of his father's enemies in a single bloody night.
The "John Wick" franchise is filled with impossibilities, but one of the more questionable
ones involves John's long trek through the desert in "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum."
After being declared excommunicado and finding Berrada, the Master of Coin — Sofia's former boss
who is in charge of the Coin-making — John learns that he cannot find the High Table,
but rather that they must come to him. He is told to walk and walk until he can walk no more
and if he's deemed worthy, the High Table will scoop him up and allow him to speak to the Elder.
So, John walks alone for days without water and collapses. He should be dead. There is
nothing around him for miles, yet the High Table finds him easily and picks him up.
How does the High Table locate Wick? Do they have invisible drones? Exceptionally powerful
binoculars? Did they somehow hide a tracker on him? For that matter, how does the High Table
function at all? There are obviously switchboard operators, the Elder, and the Adjudicator,
but how do they keep everyone in line? All of these are questions that may never be answered.
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