Prolific for its groundbreaking and jaw-dropping action scenes, the John Wick franchise is only three movies in, and has delivered some of the best action scenes of the past decade. Praised for its impressive and brutal choreography and expert cinematography, the many impeccable action scenes turned John Wick from a low-budget action movie into one of the best and most successful action franchises of all time.
The franchise gave Keanu Reeves the comeback he deserved, delivering an awesome performance as the deadly assassin. But, the character and action in the franchise would not be as beloved or impressive without Reeves’ believable physicality in the action scenes. Keanu Reeves had to undergo much extraneous training for the role. The star trained in gun combat and martial arts, among many others. So with numerous creative and iconic action scenes, here are some of the best in this action-packed franchise.
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8 John Vs Cassian Street Fight - John Wick: Chapter 2
Lionsgate
This tense fight scene in John Wick: Chapter 2 pits the two assassins John Wick and Cassian (Common) against one another. The fight results in a thrilling and brutal fight scene. They tumble downstairs, get hit by cars, crash through windows, and exchange vicious blows against one another. The two assassins are very formidable opponents, with neither gaining the upper hand. Which makes for their rematch later on in the film, even more exciting and tense. This scene quickly made Cassian a fan favorite, with his awesome fighting style and Common’s compelling performance and physicality in the role.
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This scene is backed by a lot of tension, with Cassian searching for John with vengeance after he killed his former employer, Gianna D’Antonio, adding emotion and brutality to his fighting style. The whole fight scene isn’t accompanied by any music, adding another layer of tension and suspense to the scene.
7 Reflections of The Soul - John Wick: Chapter 2
The Reflections of The Soul scene, is one of the most creative set-pieces in the franchise. The whole scene is filmed in a room packed full of mirrors and reflections. The atmosphere of this scene sets it apart from the rest; the mirrors, the ambient music and the false reflections will confuse your own and John’s senses making this scene one of the most suspenseful scenes in the franchise. The cinematography in this scene was beautiful and meticulously planned, with every shot being perfectly framed and edited. We, along with the henchmen hunting John, are tricked by “The Baba Yaga’s” reflections. It is clear a lot of planning went into this scene, and in an interview with Cinema Blend, Chad Stahelski talks about the difficulties shooting this ambitious scene on a restrictive budget.
6 Home Invasion - John Wick
Lionsgate
As the first action scene in the franchise, audiences are left shocked and stunned at this brutally choreographed and beautifully shot action scene. Only moments before we are told how legendary John Wick is, with John being called “The Boogeyman”. This scene just proves why John Wick is so feared, even by the most dangerous in the assassin world. The poor henchmen have no idea what they are up against as John Wick handles this crew with ease. John feels like a predator, stalking his prey and attacking them with perfect headshots and deadly takedowns. If you didn’t believe how legendary and dangerous John Wick is, you will, after watching “The Boogeyman” go to town on these measly henchmen.
“The most expensive thing in John Wick 2 was that I wanted to do the mirror room sequence. I really wanted to do something like that. The first time I set that out, the production designer said, ‘Do you need that?’ I said, ‘Yeah. It’s an awesome idea. How are we going to do it? We have to figure out how to do it.’ And the first blueprints come back, and it’s a $1.5 million set piece. In our model, that wasn’t going to work! So do you scrap the idea? No. Do you build a $250,000 version? Well, no, because then it’s two mirrors on a wall. But there’s a big gap between a quarter of a million and a million-and-a-half”.
5 Escaping Casablanca - John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum
This thrilling action scene, finally featured something fans have been waiting to see; dog action. After negotiations go awry, Wick and Sofia (Halle Berry) must shoot their way out of a heavily-guarded fortress. What makes this scene stand out is Sofia’s pair of deadly German Shepherds, which destroy the guards with as much ease as Wick and Sofia. The use of the dogs is creative and exciting, with the two German Shepherds, leaping in the air and running up walls to pull henchmen from up high and Sofia ordering the dogs to chew on the guards before Wick or Sofia can put a bullet in the guards’ heads.
On top of this we get to see Sofia in action, who is almost as proficient as John. Halle Berry, similar to Keanu, had to go through extensive combat training for the scene, and Halle’s impressive and believable physicality, makes this scene so much more enjoyable. As always, the choreography and camera work were excellent, not shying away from showing the audience what was going on, with the awesome headshots, epic stunts, and amazing dog action.
4 The Catacombs Shootout - John Wick: Chapter 2
“The Baba Yaga” is unstoppable in this scene, taking down almost an entire army of henchmen as he navigates through the dark catacombs. After being double-crossed by Santino D’Antonio, Wick is forced to fight for his life against a bombardment of henchmen. John, however, saw this coming and planted two guns around the catacombs, along with his trusty pistol. Our favorite assassin doesn’t just take out D’Antonio’s thugs with pistols this time, he comes prepared with a deadly rifle and powerful shotgun. Dealing out more perfect headshots and brutal shotgun shots to the chest and face. Wick truly demonstrates his gun mastery, handling each weapon with ease, dispatching many enemies while he is in the middle of reloading, resulting in some of the best and impressive kills in the franchise. Reeves went through more strenuous gun combat training for this scene, to pull off the many quick and tactical kills.
3 The Continental Siege - John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum
John comes face to face with his greatest threat yet, bulletproof armor. After New York’s Continental Hotel gets deconsecrated, The Judicator sends an army of heavily-armored guards to take out John Wick and Winston, John is therefore left to protect himself and the hotel. This scene is essentially many scenes in one, with the fight starting off in the hotel lobby, as John struggles to take down these heavily-armored henchmen. Then we take a tour of the basement of the hotel as John grabs a shotgun with armor piercing shells, blowing off the thugs, legs, arms, heads, and faces before finally fighting a guard underwater in a very inventive action scene.
John Wick continues to outsmart his foes, by shooting off clips of powerful rounds into the thugs armor, stunning them long enough for John to get up close and personal and deliver brutal headshots through gaps in the armor. John even hurdles his empty rifle at a guard before grabbing him and using him as a shield. This scene is awesome, raising the stakes of the franchise, and delivering some of the coolest action in the franchise. One added bonus is that we finally get to see Charon; the hotel concierge shows off his skills and protects the hotel.
2 Knife Shop - John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum
As one of the most brutal fight scenes in the franchise, this scene is a perfect showcase of hand-to-hand combat. Its impressive and vicious choreography, and gorgeous cinematography culminate in an impressive and awesome fight scene. After being declared “Ex-Communicado” John runs into an abandoned knife shop, where he dispatches of enemies in some of the coolest kills of the franchise. This scene is simply jaw-dropping, as John displays his impressive skills with sharp objects, cutting and stabbing many foes before launching countless knives at the assassins’ chests and faces. The cherry on top of this brutal and thrilling set piece, is the close-up shot of John stabbing a knife through one of the assassin’s eyes. With no cuts or edits, audiences are treated to this final shot in all its gory glory, leaving almost every audience member wincing in their seat.
1 The Red Circle - John Wick
As the pinnacle action scene of the franchise, this scene launched John Wick to its success and popularity of today. After getting tipped off that the man who stole his car and killed his dog is in The Red Circle nightclub, John goes in guns blazing, killing anyone that gets in his way. John has his sights set on his target like a predator, and although Yosef ultimately escapes, John goes full-on beast mode against all the guards, with perfect headshots, deadly point-blank shots, and vicious hand-to-hand kills. The awesome electro DJ score that accompanied the scene added another layer of fun and enjoyment, giving the scene its epic status.
The scene quickly became among some of the best shootouts in cinema. This scene quickly made John Wick a fan-favorite action icon, with the unstoppable force, getting shot, tired and beaten added vulnerability to his character, and humanized “The Baba Yaga”, making audiences everywhere fall in love with the character.
