John Wick probably flew under many peoples radar when it initially came out in September 2014, marketing wasn't massive but specifically targeted, developed from an original screenplay originally titled Scorn by Derek Kolstad the movie was shot with a relatively small budget of $29.7 Million. Upon release,word of mouth quickly took hold and the film went on to enjoy a cult following not to mention a comfortable box office run and recouped a satisfying $88.8 Million.
John Wick for the uneducated is the story of a legendary hitman that comes out of retirement to enact revenge on a mobsters son who has done him wrong, not to mention stolen his gorgeously death black vintage Mach 1 Mustang. John Wick the character is revered and feared by everyone in the criminal underworld in almost mythical like respect, a man not to be messed with on any level no matter how many men you send to kill him. Even the police leave him well alone. John Wick killed two men in a bar with a pencil...a reference that is retold and retold again in the films.
The films sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2 was developed for a budget of $40 Million and went on to recoup $171 Million and was set four days after the events of the first film.
This time John is visited by Italian crime lord Santino D'Antonio. It is revealed that to complete his "impossible task" (which was mentioned in the first film) —which allowed him to retire and marry Helen—John asked Santino for help. As a form of contract, Santino swore John to a "Marker," an unbreakable promise symbolized by a "blood oath" medallion, it's when John breaks the unbreakable promise where things take a turn for the worse and Santino convinces John to undertake a contract he really doesn't want any part of involving Santino's sister.
This time John is visited by Italian crime lord Santino D'Antonio. It is revealed that to complete his "impossible task" (which was mentioned in the first film) —which allowed him to retire and marry Helen—John asked Santino for help. As a form of contract, Santino swore John to a "Marker," an unbreakable promise symbolized by a "blood oath" medallion, it's when John breaks the unbreakable promise where things take a turn for the worse and Santino convinces John to undertake a contract he really doesn't want any part of involving Santino's sister.
Reeves physical performance in the John Wick films is nothing short of stunning, the actor is after all, knocking on 53 years of age, I groan bending down just to put my damn shoes on and I'm 47. Looking at the sheer speed and choreography within the two films its not surprising that Keanu delivered such a convincing action movie though when you take into consideration the massive amounts of prep he did for the role. Keanu was devoted to the role and the character of John Wick and his months of training involved advanced firearms training as well as hours and hours of hand to hand combat training and martial arts with the Machado brothers pays off in spades. Weapons training was conducted by Taran Tactical which you can see below as Reeves totally shreds the course in record time with live ammo.
Derek Kolstad is currently writing John Wick: Chapter 3, and is also currently working on the John Wick spinoff for TV, The Continental, based around the world of the assassins that frequent the Continental Hotel. if you've seen John Wick you'll know that this is as a place where contract killers get to chill, get more work or just take a time out while they're killing on the job, the Continental is unique in that its governed by a strict code of honor among its guests in that there is no killing within the confines of the Continental, contract killer or not. The dynamic works really well since there is a wealth of possibilities and characters to explore within the John Wick universe and the focus on the Continental as a central hub is a superb idea for TV, I can see this working perfectly with the right kind of respect paid to the source material, I just wish Netflix had snapped this one up considering how well Daredevil and The Punisher have done as Netflix shows.
The Continental will be shown via Lionsgates streaming TV service Starz which is also available to Amazon subscribers. The themes and timeline to The Continental will run in sync with that of the movies which will connect the flow of the storyline in way that the films and tv share a mutual universe. Planned for a potential 8 episode run, each episode will have a running time of 60 mins.
John Wick 2 introduced some really formidable characters for Keanu to go up against and these look set to return for John Wick 3. Common will return as Cassian despite injuries he sustained in the train fight with Wick, Laurence Fishburne who previously worked with Keanu in the Matrix films will be back as the Bowery King, the pigeon loving kingpin - mute assassin Ruby Rose is also set to return as Ares despite coming off a lot worse than Wick in the 'hall of mirrors' fight in John Wick 2.Ian McShane will almost certainly return as Winston, owner of the Continental as well, a character central to the Wick universe. Winston exudes the right amount of charm, wit and quiet menace to run the Continental with such ruthless efficiency. After Wick breaks the cardinal rule of killing within the walls of the Continental by shooting villain Santino D'Antonio in the face, Wick is excommunicated from all Continental locations and benefits and essentially his membership and privileges to the Continental are now revoked making it open season for every contract killer on the planet to take him down for the $14 Million bounty now on his head.
Director Chad Stahelski had this to say about the third installment of John Wick “The whole purpose of John Wick: Chapter 2 was to get us into John Wick 3—the bridge, but do an interesting bridge. All the cool stuff we showed you in 1 and 2—we call it the service industries [for assassins]—we wanted to take that away.
John Wick was about showing you and giving; John Wick 2 was about taking everything away from him. So at the end, literally, I got the vibe from Donald Sutherland in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You don’t know who’s who. We want to show how
big the world goes.Whenever you deal with hidden worlds, it’s: Who’s the vampire? Who’s the immortal? Who’s the assassin? It’s the Cold War thing, and I miss that. We wanted to instill a little of that."
John Wick was about showing you and giving; John Wick 2 was about taking everything away from him. So at the end, literally, I got the vibe from Donald Sutherland in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You don’t know who’s who. We want to show how
big the world goes.Whenever you deal with hidden worlds, it’s: Who’s the vampire? Who’s the immortal? Who’s the assassin? It’s the Cold War thing, and I miss that. We wanted to instill a little of that."
John Wick: Chapter 3 hits cinemas on May 17 2019
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