[Music]
the text of john wick is obsessed with
rules and consequences but there are
also a set of
creative guidelines and standards behind
the scenes
that have helped set the series apart
from other action films
these rules explain why audiences are so
captivated by what is essentially a
simple urban fairy tale
in the world of john wick those who
serve under the high table
from assassins to arms dealers to
bartenders provide goods and services
in exchange for specially minted gold
coins
over the course of the series john wick
trades coins for weapons
medical care lodging drinks and favors
but trying to determine the monetary
value of a high table coin
is futile coins are not about wealth
they're about respect
in the words of beradah who oversees
minting the coins
and was introduced in chapter three this
coin of course
it does not represent the monetary value
it represents
the commerce of relationships astute
viewers will note that when offered
no one in the series has yet turned down
a coin or refused to perform a favor for
another member of their society in
exchange for one
in a behind-the-scenes featurette john
wick producer and co-director david
leach
refers to coins as tokens of membership
each of the first three films introduces
a talisman of sorts that defines how
that film approaches the world
under the table in the first film the
gold coin represents access
the audience's invitation to the secret
underworld
in john wick chapter 2 a second talisman
is introduced
the marker markers are golden tokens
which flip open like a pocket watch to
reveal
a bisected silver plate inside these
plates serve as a record of debt
when one person under the table asks a
significant favor of another
the one granting the favor has the right
to demand anything in return
at any time the obliged party leaves a
bloody thumbprint on one side of the
silver plate
the one granting the favor keeps the
marker and presents it to the other
party when the time has come to call
in the debt only once the favor is
complete
does the bearer leave their own bloody
thumbprint inside the marker
the high table also keeps a record of
markers to ensure the legitimacy of all
debts
someone holding your marker is a serious
unbreakable commitment
even among a society of assassins you
are not permitted to kill someone who
holds your marker
nor may you refuse to honor it in
chapter 2
john initially refuses santino
d'antonio's marker
and santino burns down john's house in
response
an action that holds up as entirely
justified under the table
in chapter three sophia aleswar honors
john's marker even after john is
declared
excommunicado by the high table markers
are the talisman of obligation
his marker with d'antonio tethers jon to
the world of blood and guns
whether he likes it or not when the
first john wick begins
john is five years retired from his life
as the baba yaga
an assassin so legendary that he is
feared even by those he serves
but he's only days separated from the
death of his wife
helen the person for whom he left the
business
his leave of service from the russian
mob boss vigo terezov
was not easily won john earned his
retirement
after the completion of an often invoked
but vaguely described
impossible task it is implied throughout
the series that escaping the assassin's
life alive
is essentially unheard of fate steps in
to draw jon back into the underworld
after helen dies an untimely but
natural death vigo credits helen's death
to divine retribution for john's life as
an assassin
john who fears damnation himself may
also believe that god is denying him
rest
though he pursues it nevertheless it's
appropriate then that the third and
final talisman
introduced in chapter three is john's
ticket
this important relic is a russian
orthodox cross and rosary that he
returns to the director
the woman who presumably raised him
after his excommunication
the ticket grants him a swift and secret
exit out of new york
where he's beset on all sides by
assassins looking to turn in his head
for 15 million dollars
chapter 3's talisman represents escape
and it's no coincidence that this
totem is the only one of the three
that's broken upon use
because while he leaves new york behind
for a time
ultimately there is no escape it's the
first rule the audience learns in john
wick
and it's the one that gets jon in the
most trouble the continental is a chain
of hotels operated by the high table
with locations around the world catering
to globetrotting assassins
the continental offers a variety of
specialized services for their clients
such as doctors arms dealers and tailors
who will make you the perfect kevlar
line
suit but the most important thing it
provides is peace of mind
anyone who conducts the business of
assassination on continental grounds
will be summarily excommunicated by the
high table
you know the rules no business can be
conducted on these premises list
incurring heavy penalties completely cut
off from the society's resources
excommunicated assassins are easy prey
for anyone who wants them dead
guests are required to leave all grudges
and contracts at the door
that way they can enjoy a drink and a
good night's sleep without worrying
about whether they'll wake up
john breaks this cardinal rule when he
kills santino d'antonio in the new york
continental bar at the end of chapter 2.
this leads to not only his own
excommunication
but consequences for anyone who aided
the assassination
or his escape from the high tables
judgment winston nearly loses his
position
and his life for offering jon a one hour
head start from pursuit
the continental is sacred not just as a
base
but as a symbol that allows these
cold-blooded killers to see themselves
as civilized
when one considers the violence in
cruelty of the real world
action movies can become a very guilty
pleasure gun violence kills about 100
people in the united states each day
and it's impossible to ignore how
popular culture normalizes or even
romanticizes killing people with guns
the john wick series in particular
depicts gun violence
as well extremely cool throughout the
film's nearly non-stop action sequences
it's next to impossible not to delight
in the creativity with which
john wick dispatches his foes some
tallies put john's kill count at nearly
300 over the course of the first three
films
not all of them are with guns of course
but there's a particular subtle creative
choice that helps keep the john wick
audience from stopping to consider the
carnage for
even a moment despite the outrageous
death toll
the series so far features absolutely
zero collateral damage
apart from some mobsters in over their
heads in the first film
who presumably serve under the table
everyone john kills is also a killer
this effectively makes homicide as
inbounds for jon
as punching is for a boxer when you
consider the psychic damage of decades
of films in which
thousands of random people die these
poor souls trapped in crumbling
skyscrapers destroyed by monsters
aliens and natural disasters john wick's
polite isolation of violence is almost
refreshing by comparison
part of the reason why the john wick
franchise can isolate the scope of its
violence specifically to the world of
assassins
is that as far as the films are
concerned there is nothing but the world
of assassins
in behind the scenes featurettes
producer directors
chad stehelsky and david leach speak of
the world
of the first film as being heightened
like a graphic novel
but as the series has evolved it's much
more apt to say that the world of john
wick
is like a video game john's is a world
that may appear to be open and fleshed
out but in fact
centers around only one idea or
objective
in the john wick films everything the
audience encounters revolves around
professional killing
the continental is like a home base
where assassins can return
recover and upgrade themselves with new
weapons health
and armor between stages the society has
its own economy
and its own rules that players honor
even when no authority figure is
watching
and since the high table seems to freely
operate with no threat of police or
government interference there is no
outside authority to enforce the kind of
consequences one might face for their
actions in the real world
only the rules of the game matter the
john wick series adopts the trappings of
a virtual world but when it comes to the
actual filmmaking
there's very little virtual about them
one of the traits that separates the
john wick films from other hit
action franchises of its time is its
relatively spare use of visual effects
in favor of practical stunts chad
stahlski and david leach who co-directed
the first
chapter are the co-founders of 8711
action design a collective of stunt
performers and coordinators who have
been working on hollywood productions
for decades
8711's influence has recently exploded
thanks in large part to the success of
john wick
8711 employs a wealth of stunt in
martial arts expertise and an
intricate pre-visualization process to
experiment
design and rehearse long complicated
fight scenes
they hold to an obsessive standard of
quality while also keeping the onset
production times
and therefore the expense of shooting
under control
while blockbuster action franchises
boast computer-driven effects shots
numbering in the thousands
the john wick series is about showing
off the elegance of practical stunt work
with cgi only taking prominence under
specific circumstances
such as the motorcycle chase in chapter
3. that's not to say that there isn't a
great deal of cgi at play in john wick
like most modern movies there are plenty
of computer generated gun flares
blood splatters hidden cuts and erased
wires
but the effects are supporting the
players not the star
it's a different variety of spectacle
more akin to martial arts films than
other modern american action spectacles
the john wick series signature of long
close-up action takes is only possible
because keanu reeves is a performer who
is willing to dedicate countless hours
to mastering
any skill that the script demands in
preparation for each john
wick film reeves put in months of
full-time training in martial arts
tactical shooting and precision driving
as a result the filmmakers have
rarely had to stage scenes around hiding
a stunned actor
this has also allowed them to maintain
reeves connection with the audience
throughout
director chad stahlski was reeves stunt
double for the matrix films
and the two have a very close
relationship this means stahelski is
intimately familiar with reeves
potential
and limitations and he playfully
exploits reeves habit of gleefully
throwing himself into training for a
film
for chapter 2 stahelski brought in
brazilian masters the machado brothers
to help keanu perfect his jujitsu
and sent him to firearms training with
world champion sport shooter taryn
butler
the results are dazzling and a little
terrifying
it would be a bad idea to pick a fight
with keanu reeves
when reeves suggested that john wick
ride a horse in chapter 3
stahelski assigned him to learn trick
riding because just learning to ride a
horse would be too easy
did we mention that reeves also plays
creative roles behind the camera
pitching story and stun ideas still
let's remember
to give some love to reeves stunt double
jackson spidell
who gets tagged in to take john wick's
nastiest falls
keanu reeves isn't the only john wick
star who undergoes intensive stunt
training
in fact it's expected of just about
everyone any actor portraying a
character who gets actively involved in
action sequences
is expected to meet the rigorous
standards of the full-time stunt
performers who make up the armies of
nondescript goons dispatched by john
wick and company
the goal is to use doubles as rarely as
possible
allowing the camera to move freely and
maintain a connection to the characters
throughout fight sequences
the cast and crew refer to this practice
as the john wick
program each actor gets trained in a
fighting style specific to their
character
often built off of the performer's
pre-existing skills
adrian pilicki who played mrs perkins in
the first film
paired with stunt performer heidi
moneymaker money maker
scarlett johansson's black widow double
helped to develop a judo-based style
that would allow her to convincingly
take down the larger reeves
meanwhile michael neekvist portraying
viggo
was assigned a drunken master style to
portray a tough brawler past his prime
who would have to cheat to win common
playing cassian in the second film
threw himself into gunfu and knife
training ruby rose played the silent but
very lethal
aries she perfected a style based on her
boxing skills
the grand champion of the john wick
program apart from reeves himself
is undoubtedly halle berry who played
sophia
berry aggressively pursued her role in
chapter 3
and then committed to seven months of
not just fighting and shooting lessons
but also training with her character's
stunt dogs
no you cannot keep my dog in the world
of john wick
the last thing you ever want to do is
piss off the baba yaga
not since kill bill's beatrix kiddo has
american cinema
seen such an unstoppable force of
vengeance to roar
rampage and get bloody satisfaction
john wick is a killing machine of
unprecedented versatility
he's a living weapon in whose hands
anything from a car
to a pencil to a library book is a
deadly weapon
john wick can construct a functioning
pistol out of antique gun parts
and the time it takes you to break down
a door he is cartoonishly
good at violence it's difficult to
imagine how much further the john wick
series can take the story and the
character
in the promised chapters 4 and 5 which
are expected to complete the series
the creators have established a set of
rules that have contributed greatly to
the film's success
but as the series draws toward its
climax and audience expectations
continue to rise chad stahlske
and company may find adhering to those
rules to be
a difficult challenge how strict should
a film series style guide be
can john wick expand its scale while
holding its shape across two more
chapters in order to keep the premise
from going stale
will the creators themselves have to do
the unthinkable
and change the rules of john wick check
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