The upcoming adaptation of Ghost of Tsushima will be helmed by John Wick director Chad Stahelski, and this could help kill the curse of video game movies. Set during the samurai era, Ghost of Tsushima debuted for video game consoles in July 2020 and was an instant smash. With its reception and strong sales, a Ghost of Tsushima movie seems to have been inevitable, but the man attached as director is perhaps the most exciting part of all.
Chad Stahelski, a former stunt man and extremely well-versed martial artist, is best-known for his work on the John Wick franchise. Co-directing the original John Wick with his fellow alumni of the stunt world David Leitch, the movie became a solid hit in late 2014. Stahelski returned to direct John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, as well as John Wick: Chapter 4, set to be released on March 24, 2023.
The John Wick movies are among the most acclaimed action films of the modern age. Anchored by Keanu Reeves and growing to an outright competitor for The Expendables, the John Wick franchise has become a genuine action movie powerhouse. With Stahelski's pedigree in directing the series, this not only bodes very well for Ghost of Tsushima itself (which Takashi Doscher has also boarded as screenwriter) but possibly even for video game movies all around.
For decades, video game movies have been looked upon as the nadir of adaptations of any source material. Whether it's Super Mario Bros., Bloodrayne, or the admittedly entertaining Street Fighter, video game movies have an infamous stigma attached to them. That being said, their fortunes have been looking up in more recent days, with the Sonic The Hedgehog movies being a particular example of reversing an initial backlash over Sonic's design to become huge hits.
Under Stahelski's direction, audiences can very likely expect Ghost of Tsushima to be, at minimum, an excellent period action movie. The martial arts of the John Wick series is testimony to Stahelski's skill at directing action, while the franchise also shows him as an equally adept storyteller. Stahelski's direction coupled with the writing of Derek Kolstad has enlivened the John Wick movies with both compelling character development in John himself and the expanding exploration of the assassin underworld.
Applying the same directorial skills he brought to John Wick to the world of Ghost of Tsushima and Doscher's screenplay, Stahelski is fully equipped to bring the game to life. Add in the kind of katana-based action scenes the movie could end up delivering with John Wick-level flair, Ghost of Tsushima could push video game movies into a the plain that's eluded them for ages. Having a genre success helmed by Stahelski with John Wick's universe-building and stellar action would make Ghost of Tsushima something big for all video game movies. By way of its John Wick connection via Stahelski, Ghost of Tsushima might also be the tide that raises all boats for a genre that might finally be experiencing more consistent quality.
