John Wick

The fourth film in the franchise boasts Keanu Reeves, insubstantial dialogue and action sequences better described as massacre marathons.

And when Chapter 4 slips into outright comedy – like the way a SWAT member’s head repeatedly bounces off a taiko drum to a satisfying thrum – the solemnity of what came before allows the jokes to land all the better. At the centre of it all, of course, is Reeves, whose innate likeability has always made it easy to root for a guy whose dialogue mostly consists of dramatic pauses followed by hushed “yeah”s. He’s perhaps the most exquisite antagonist the series has seen. [Lance Reddick](/topic/lance-reddick), [who sadly died last week](/arts-entertainment/films/news/lance-reddick-dead-tributes-keanu-reeves-b2303409.html) and whose assuredness in the role has always felt like a hand on the audience’s shoulder). Even at its nearly three-hour runtime, John Wick: Chapter 4 commits so nobly to its self-seriousness that it almost borders into camp. [John Wick](/topic/john-wick) and Jesus Christ likely start and finish with silky locks and an uncanny ability to cheat death.

In the (hopefully) last instalment of the franchise, the falling-domino cascade of deaths and bloodshed continues.

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John Wick director Chad Stahelski is the best in the business, and even approaching the three hour mark I was grinning like a loon.

For a man who can’t act, Reeves has incredible presence and I genuinely believe there’s no better action hero working in Hollywood today. A blind assassin called Caine, who fights using a kind of echo-location (there’s a great scene involving a series of stick-on electric doorbells), is a nod to Daredevil character Stick, while another baddie recalls Batman antagonist The Penguin. You could make a strong case for John Wick being a satire.

At the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, the character's exhaustion is clear—perhaps there would be a kind of elegiac satisfaction in laying him to rest.

But what does any of it mean in the context of the John Wick character, who has become a Reeves trademark, a kind of minimalist poetry in motion? [Keanu Reeves](https://time.com/5603032/keanu-reeves-best-moments/) as the dolorous existential hit man of the title—is a resounding maybe, not because the film isn’t satisfying, but because it is. (That film also features Lance Reddick, who has played the Continental’s somber and courtly concierge Charo in every John Wick installment; he died on March 17, just a few days before Chapter 4’s Los Angeles premiere.) Modern audiences can’t get enough of mythology and world-building, and the John Wick universe offers myriad possibilities. And as of John Wick: Chapter 4—directed by Stahelski—it still is, though the appeal of the franchise is in danger of wearing thin. He taps his way through the world with the aid of a cane that doubles as a weapon. The story hops from New York to the deserts of the Middle East to Osaka and beyond, dragging a bit here and there, but picking up when the action finally reaches Paris, the site of a fantastically orchestrated driving sequence in which a bevy of cars—one driven, by Wick, with nervy rigor—swoop, skim and screech around each other, their movements glidingly precise, like bathing beauties in an Esther Williams movie. In the case of the [Marvel Cinematic Universe](https://time.com/6171012/marvel-movies-shows-upcoming/), the cycle is apparently endless, perhaps stretching beyond even our children’s lifetimes. This is how John Wick reenters the crime world from which he’s been banished, a universe of refrigerator-sized thugs with golden teeth and Russian tough gals making impossible demands. The [James Bond](https://time.com/6103054/no-time-to-die-ending-james-bond-future/) movies, the Thin Man comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, a long, undulating [string of Rocky pictures](https://time.com/6259594/creed-3-rocky-franchise/) stretching from 1976 to [pretty much yesterday](https://time.com/6258233/creed-iii-review/): franchises are nothing new, because the instant Hollywood sees one dollar sign, it starts sniffing the trail for the next. Movie violence isn’t what it used to be; it has become something of a lost art. Here was a suffering hero, a killer trying to turn over a new leaf, who’d just lost his beloved wife to cancer—and then vengeful baddies kill the small, adorable dog she’d left him as a comfort. [franchise](https://time.com/5255643/rotten-tomatoes-movie-franchise-survey/) is that it offers more of something you love, ostensibly buffed up and freshened—it’s newness with sameness built in.

If you left early, John Wick: Chapter 4 didn't end the way you thought it did…

And a film about her versus Donnie Yen’s Caine, the man who helped turn Chapter 4 into a three-hour epic and who ultimately put John Wick in the ground… Does she get her revenge, and does Caine follow John into the grave? It is entirely left up to the viewer to decide. She was there that night when in an epic sword fight, illuminated only by the soft glow of neon lights, the blind Caine managed to kill her father in a throwback to samurai duels. If you stay until the very end of the three-hour movie, you are treated to a tantalizing and ambiguous endnote. The Boogeyman.

'John Wick Chapter 4' is the series's best film yet, starring Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Donnie yen and Bill Skarsgard.

The martial arts sequences are about as mesmerising as any ever previously committed to screen, and the characters are as iconic and yet as quintessential as any before them. When Chapter 2 came out, and Wick went to Rome, I realised that I absolutely love the John Wick franchise, and now that Chapters 3 and 4 have joined the fold, I’m glad there is an entire mythology to dive into. Fighting games are not the only genre to be acknowledged, though. Skarsgård comes to proceedings as the film’s main antagonist, a powerful member of the High Table, while Yen plays Wick’s former associate and reluctant opponent. Thankfully, as with all the John Wick films, audience members never have to wait long for the next conflict to arise. Reeves is joined by Wick regulars McShane, Laurence Fishburne and Lance Reddick, while there are new openings for the likes of Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson and Rina Sawayama, who astonishingly makes her first acting appearance.

Lance Reddick shared how he considered his John Wick co-stars Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane 'family' during promotional appearance just before his sudden ...

Charon's influence: 'I always thought that the connection between John Wick and Charon was special. Referencing their on screen bond, Reeves added, 'I always thought that the connection between John Wick and Charon was special. 'He was the consummate professional and a joy to work with. 'So there's a deep understanding of each other and a deep empathy for the story,' McShane, 80, added, while also offering high praise to the man who created the characters. I always said to him that people liked John Wick because he liked John Wick,' Reeves said of the importance of Reddick's character while on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on March 20 Our love and prayers are with his wife Stephanie, his children, family and friends.'

Akira in John Wick Chapter 4 poster. Lionsgate. John Wick: Chapter 4 is in cinemas now, and the action sequel features an intriguing post-credits scene, so read ...

John Wick dies at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. Suggesting John Wick is dead. Though even if that remains true, it might not be the end of the story. So as he approaches Mia with a big smile on his face, Akira pulls a knife, ready to take revenge by killing him. But that victory is short-lived, because as he ascends the steps, Wick stumbles, sits, and apparently expires. But now, win or lose, Wick has a way out: challenge the Marquis to single combat.

Lance Reddick was honored in a recent episode of 'The Kelly Clarkson Show,' where he made a posthumous appearance with his 'John Wick 4' co-stars.

and [Wendell Pierce](https://decider.com/tag/wendell-pierce/). Earlier this week, Reeves [paid tribute](https://decider.com/2023/03/21/keanu-reeves-honors-lance-reddick-john-wick-chapter-4-premiere/) to his late co-star, sharing, “To have had the chance to work with him over the 10 years and four films is something very special to me.” John Wick 4 is one of the seven projects Reddick filmed before his death. ET on NBC. During a pre-recorded appearance on [The Kelly Clarkson Show](https://decider.com/show/the-kelly-clarkson-show/), the actor — who died March 17 at 60 years old — opened up about his relationship with the cast, whom he starred alongside in the previous three movies, plus the latest release. [Keanu Reeves](https://decider.com/tag/keanu-reeves/) and [Ian McShane](https://decider.com/tag/ian-mcshane/).

In previous John Wick films, Keanu Reeves played a retired hitman out of revenge. In the latest entry, John Wick: Chapter 4, his reasons are a little more ...

BRIAN VINER: John Wick: Chapter 4 can't afford a running-time of well over two and a half hours. All that said, there are some extraordinary fight sequences ...

In terms of new releases it’s quite a week for the Skarsgard family. He is duly arrested, and told that according to local laws he faces execution, which must be administered by the children of the man he has killed. Yet it is worth the investment of time. It can’t afford a running-time of well over two and a half hours, either, but director Chad Stahelski evidently couldn’t resist. But the High Table just doesn’t cut it, especially when it is shortened to ‘the Table’. He is the Rasputin of the action genre, repelling attempted assassinations like you or I might fend off bluebottles.

The ending of John Wick: Chapter 4 explained, plus how that climax and post-credit scene might set up Chapter 5.

As for this central franchise, Chapter 4 features a post-credits scene that potentially sets up the future. So as he walks down the Basilica’s steps, John Wick slumps to the ground, and dies. So if we are to believe that John Wick really is dead, then a sequel could only feature the character via flashback. John – just about – survives, making it to the Sacré-Coeur Basilica for his duel with the Marquis. Chapter 4 goes to some unexpected places, which sets up something equally unexpected at the end. But now, win or lose, Wick has a way out: challenge the Marquis to single combat.

Will there be a 'John Wick 5'? Here's what Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski have said about a potential sequel.

[TotalFilm](https://www.gamesradar.com/john-wick-chapter-5-spin-offs-interview/) in January, the actor said: “You have to see how the audience responds to what we did. The other spin-off in development is the TV series The Continental, set to air later this year on Peacock. It runs nearly three hours, introduces multiple new characters, further indulges the series’ trademark elaborate mythology, and at one point adds a brief desert-set horseback chase in an apparent homage to Lawrence of Arabia. Ballerina is in production, and follows ballerina-assassin Rooney played by Ana de Armas (previously portrayed by Unity Phelan in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, ‘What do you think?’ We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. “In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment,” Stahelski said.

Everything we know about the new dog in John Wick 4, including for canine lovers, whether or not it dies.

No, the dog does not die in John Wick 4. The new dog in John Wick: Chapter 4 is a Belgian Malinois. There’s a new dog in John Wick: Chapter 4, that plays a pretty prominent role in the action sequel. We loved the idea of a character who was literally tracking and could smell Wick.” Five dogs played the role at different points in the movie, with Anderson explaining: “I had to be with the dogs every day. Followed by the death of his dog, a cold-blooded kill that sends John on a murderous rampage that has now played out over four films and counting.

The fourth film in the franchise boasts Keanu Reeves, insubstantial dialogue and action sequences better described as massacre marathons.

And when Chapter 4 slips into outright comedy – like the way a SWAT member’s head repeatedly bounces off a taiko drum to a satisfying thrum – the solemnity of what came before allows the jokes to land all the better. At the centre of it all, of course, is Reeves, whose innate likeability has always made it easy to root for a guy whose dialogue mostly consists of dramatic pauses followed by hushed “yeah”s. Stahelski has suggested that this may be the very last we see of Wick, the franchise branching off into spin-off films and television shows. He’s perhaps the most exquisite antagonist the series has seen. [Lance Reddick](/topic/lance-reddick), [who sadly died last week](/arts-entertainment/films/news/lance-reddick-dead-tributes-keanu-reeves-b2303409.html) and whose assuredness in the role has always felt like a hand on the audience’s shoulder). Even at its nearly three-hour runtime, John Wick: Chapter 4 commits so nobly to its self-seriousness that it almost borders into camp.

John Wick 5 was confirmed by Lionsgate in 2020, but will it happen? Here's everything you need to know about John Wick 5, including potential release date.

[untimely passing](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a43372312/john-wick-keanu-reeves-lance-reddick-tribute/), Lance Reddick won't be back as Charon, who was also killed off in the fourth movie, but could have made flashback returns. [Ana de Armas-led spin-off Ballerina](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a42424005/john-wick-ana-de-armas-keanu-reeves-fight/), which takes place between Chapters 3 and 4 in the timeline. There's no avoiding it: John Wick looks to be dead at the end of Chapter 4. Even Keanu Reeves has been [unsure whether he'll return](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a42718992/keanu-reeves-john-wick-5-doubt/) as the no-longer-retired hitman. However, we technically never see Wick's body, although he does slump over after the duel. "You have to see how the audience responds to what we did," he said in January 2023. We'll get to see Reddick [one final time as the faithful concierge](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a42139534/john-wick-lance-reddick-ana-de-armas-ballerina/) though in spin-off Ballerina. With a record-breaking box-office debut predicted, that fifth movie might look more tempting. "When I run out of stuff, if it can be handed off properly, awesome. "So I think we have to wait and see how the audience responds to it. [John Wick: Chapter 4](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a43258693/john-wick-4-review/) have shown the future of the series in a different light too, but before we get into that whole business, we need to warn you that major spoilers lie ahead if you haven't seen the excellent Chapter 4 yet. [film the fourth and fifth movies back-to-back](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a33539257/john-wick-5-keanu-reeves/), which never ended up happening.

A movie about a hitman avenging his dog has transformed the blockbuster franchise. How? World-building.

[close to $70 million](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/box-office-john-wick-4-opening-weekend-projection-record-1235561254/), an impressive bow in this period after Covid-19 theater closures. [interviewed Reeves and Stahelski](https://www.wired.com/story/keanu-reeves-chad-stahelski-interview/) for this month’s magazine cover story, Stahelski noted that not having “60 years of Batman to work from” meant that while his franchise didn’t have those broad shoulders to stand on, nothing was holding him back from making his hero look the way he wanted. Not bad for a series spawned from the death of a hitman’s dog. Superhero flicks are fun as hell, but their action is more sanitized, laden with CGI and ultimately beholden to the tropes of comics in a way the Wick franchise is not. John Wick is just based on the fact that people like to watch Keanu Reeves fight and shoot guns and do car chases—and that’s OK. [$14 million domestically](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1482524161/). (Seriously, click the Guide button from your cable provider at any hour and you’re about as likely to see Reeves shooting people in a black suit as you are to see the gang at Central Perk on Friends.) John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum [made $56 million](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6146586/?ref_=bo_se_r_1) in North America when it opened. Back when [Keanu Reeves](https://www.wired.com/story/keanu-reeves-chad-stahelski-interview/) first started showing interest in John Wick, a lot of people involved were [nervous](https://www.vulture.com/2017/02/how-john-wick-became-the-decades-most-unusual-action-movie.html) that killing a puppy was taking things too far. Meanwhile, the Wick films offer a more adult-friendly alternative to superhero movies. From the ground up, albeit with spare parts. Yet, after Reeves brought on directors [Chad Stahelski](https://www.wired.com/story/keanu-reeves-chad-stahelski-interview/) and David Leitch to do just that, the film—and its three sequels, including this week’s John Wick: Chapter 4—went on to prove just how popular that premise could be.

The new movie in the John Wick franchise, Chapter 4, is arguably the best yet. We see our impenetrable hero take on the High Table and fight his way across ...

Outside of the film, both director and Chad Stahelski have gone on record to state that they are open to making more John Wick films in the future, should the audiences continue to receive them well. Wick is sat down on the steps to the church, tending to his wound. Perhaps Winston and the Bowery King had Wick’s gravestone made to put off the rest of the High Table from seeking out his future execution. As the Marquis takes the pistol from Caine and descends upon Wick, we begin to think, ‘Did he really fire his last shot?’ And as the Marquis gets closer, Winston reveals the news to us, calling the Marquis an arrogant fool in the process. Everyone departs the Sacre Couer, leaving Wick and Winston to look over the Parisian sunset. Manager of the New York Continental and Wick’s advisor Winston will also be executed.

The full soundtrack for 'John Wick: Chapter 4' has been released, including a new track from Rina Sawayama.

Richard both return to soundtrack the third sequel. It runs nearly three hours, introduces multiple new characters, further indulges the series’ trademark elaborate mythology, and at one point adds a brief desert-set horseback chase in an apparent homage to Lawrence of Arabia. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.”

You put on a suit and you go and kill some people"…but how conducive is a suit to doing that John Wick classic gun-fu?

In the absence of kevlar lining, silk for evening and “high twist open weave” wool for day will do. While Bond chooses his own clothes, then, it’s likely that a tailor does most of the heavy lifting for Wick. "That’s the thing about a bespoke suit: it’s the ease, it’s the fit, it’s the balance. “The typical male client wants his suit, he wants it to be right and he doesn't want to have to fuss about it.” But Bond? Or do you go for something with a bit of stretch so you can do the spinning high kicks and all that stuff?” You know, totally normal suiting questions. “Lots of rogues use the suit to hide their roguish ways — to look more like a gentleman," he says. Chief among them: should [John Wick](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fitness/article/john-wick-4-workout-keanu-reeves) really be wearing a suit for the business of slaughtering his foes? “If you’re talking to a tailor, the boring, obvious question is the function of the clothes," he says. Perhaps, like us, you’ve surely watched Wick off his twelfth foe in quick succession and wondered: is a “42 Regular” jacket really the best garb for all of this slicing and dicing? [Edward Sexton](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/edward-sexton-savile-row) creative director is in the process of answering some very important questions. It’s a connection made particularly explicit in [John Wick: Chapter 4](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/john-wick-chapter-4-runtime-three-hours), out in cinemas today: in its opening scene, Wick accepts a suit bag from Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, thus triggering his latest rampage. “The hitman,” Savile Row tailor Dominic Sebag-Montefiore says, “needs to be able to go everywhere.

I'll admit I would not have predicted we would be both at a fourth John Wick movie, the film would be nearly three hours long, and that critics and audience ...

We will keep our eyes on its box office performance, but it’s already clear that Chapter 4 is going to be a massive success both critically and commercially. No doubt plans for Chapter 5 are already in the works, and we’ll see just how far this thing can go. Early box office returns are trickling in and its possible it ends up as the series best showing there as well. John Wick: Chapter 4 is a full two hours and forty nine minutes, easily the longest in the franchise and as such, with more action than ever. Keanu Reeves has declared that the film is dedicated to Lance Reddick, who played frequent Wick ally Charon. Wick has now put out some of the best numbers we’ve ever seen from him.

That hasn't stopped audiences from turning out in droves for the movie, which they're currently rating even higher than critics. Director Chad Stahelski and ...

The first John Wick film was released in 2014, and it was followed by two sequels: John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019). Sometimes we don’t want to wait around in a movie theater when we’ve just been sitting there the last two or three hours. It’s also the longest, with a whopping 2 hour and 49 minute runtime.

John Wick: Chapter 4 goes in a different direction than previous installments in the franchise, allowing Keanu Reeves' master assassin to do something bold.

That might be a question for another movie though, and at the very least a transaction between two professionals who know the price of doing this business. In fact, he’s in such a rush that he does not realize John still has a bullet in his pistol, one that the Baba Yaga then plants in the smug bastard’s forehead. While John got out of this life for a while to be with his wife Helen (Bridget Moynahan), Caine also retired from the way of the gun to raise his daughter Mia (Aimée Kwan). While in John’s last moments, the Harbinger promises that the High Table’s account with John is closed, it’s cold comfort for a man bleeding out. By intentionally taking a bullet from Caine and for Caine, he has opened a window that John himself could never find—the escape hatch from the High Table’s clutches. It’s born from the same arbitrary and Sisyphean rulebook that made him excommunicado after he avenged the death of his dog. Yet when the sun finally rises above Paris’ Montmartre district—and after a spectacular series of action sequences where John shoots, stabs, and limps his way to the church on time—Wick is left with a choice. Reeves is already confirmed to appear in the spinoff film Ballerina (which is set before the events of John Wick: Chapter 4), so the filmmakers already revealed they are fine tinkering with the timeline. With Chapter 4, the filmmakers give closure to John by allowing the Baba Yaga to do something no one else in his circle has during the past four movies: give hope, and life, to someone else instead of taking it from them. Nay, the film cuts to a tombstone that has the epitaph John requested from Winston earlier in the movie. The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) and John’s second dog mourn the passing of a man Winston has clearly told them is gone, with the Bowery King asking Winston if he thinks John is in Heaven or Hell. He’s a destitute figure in the moment, looking as if he’s been alone all his life, standing apart from the countless dead and dying scattered around him.

The 61-year-old actor reprises his role as The Bowery King in 'John Wick: Chapter 4' and believes that the role gets the best from him as an actor. Laurence ...

Stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski on Keanu Reeves, 'John Wick 4' and the future of the franchise.

“You rode your bicycle, went to the woods and you had a stick,” Stahelski said with a smile. He’s attached to several non-”Wick” features and is an executive producer on the upcoming That spark is what Stahelski is chasing even as “John Wick 4” is set to open to the best reviews of the franchise. I try to steal from the best and see what I can put my spin on. “I was traveling to the Philippines, to Hong Kong, all over the United States ... Reeves trained nine months out in various skill sets to prepare for the shoot’s 14 set pieces and is a movie star uniquely adept at certain stunts, Stahelski beams — but performing them under pressure adds extra risk factors. Then again, he owes his career to the obsessions that enraptured him as a child growing up in Palmer, Mass., where his curiosity for martial arts began with Confident and unshowy, Stahelski speaks with a self-described brutal honesty borne of decades in the stunt world, where straight talk is a necessity of the job. I can’t unpack or take apart the tapestry and pick a thread. With each installment, Stahelski has scaled the action up to more operatic and physically demanding heights, and his “John Wick 4” scenes in particular are exquisitely wrought spectacles of carnage turned all the way up to 11. The third one is the first time I asked, ‘What’s me?’ And the fourth is probably the closest I’ve gotten so far.” “I’ve used the ‘John Wicks’ as a comfort zone to really explore who I am,” Stahelski told The Times.