The John Wick franchise has already given moviegoers some amazing action scenes. Three movies in, the franchise keeps finding ways to up the stakes and reinvent the wheel with new and creative sequences. These scenes may include gunfights in a night club, throwing knives, dogs, or even a pencil.
John Wick is an expert assassin and can figure out how to kill his enemies with basically anything. It's awesome to see Keanu Reeves making a comeback as an action star and he is doing it in spectacular fashion. Here are the 10 best action scenes in the John Wick franchise.
Motorcycles And Swords
In John Wick 3, Wick is being chased down by a group of assassins while riding motorcycles and holding swords. It sounds too crazy to be true, but nothing is too crazy for these movies. The camerawork is amazing here as the camera stays on Wick and his enemies as Wick beats them down and takes their swords while still moving at high speeds. The CGI is there, but it never distracts from the action on screen. Wick is such an impressive killer that he can still ride a motorcycle and swordfight at the same time. This series never slows down in terms of creating insane and creative sequences.
Horse Stable
After Wick is declared ex-communicado at the beginning of John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum, he is chased into a horse stable where he not only fights bad guys in hand-to-hand combat, but he also uses hoof-to-face combat. He taps the horses back, then the horses deliver an epic kick to the face that knocks his enemies out cold. Then, he rides one of the horses into the street and takes down two assassins chasing him down on motorcycles. This sequence is a textbook example of how this franchise continues to find creative ways of making unique action scenes never seen before. Wick shooting motorcycle riders while riding a horse is just absolute perfection.
Knife Shop
In the opening sequence of John Wick 3, Wick finds himself surrounded by enemy assassins in a knife shop. It only makes sense that this leads to the combatants using every type of knife that is available to them. Wick is a master knife thrower and just continues to throw multiple knives at a time into people's chests and faces. There are all types of sharp weapons used including axes, daggers, and butcher knives. Wick doesn't even need guns to deliver crazy blows to the face. As long as he has some type of weapon, he'll find some way to kill people. Wick challenges the famous phrase "never bring a knife to a gunfight."
Home Invasion
In this sequence in John Wick, audiences are given their first look at just how legendary and frightening Wick's skills are. Up until this point, all that is known about Wick is he is known as "the boogeyman" within the assassin world. The foes who show up to try to Wick's home were clearly not prepared for Wick. He has home-field advantage here and knows how to maneuver his home perfectly. Delivering perfect headshots and takedowns, Wick handles this measly crew of thugs with ease. There is a reason why some of the most powerful people are afraid of him and this scene proves why.
Escaping Casablanca
When will people learn to not mess with people's dogs in this movie? Wick and Sofia (Halle Berry) must escape a fortress in Casablanca after negotiations go awry. What makes this scene so awesome is that Sofia owns a pair of deadly German Shepherds. These dogs chew up enemies while Wick or Sofia may not be looking or Sofia orders them to bite someone and hold them there until Wick can give the enemy a headshot.
The camerawork in this scene is excellent as it makes sure that the audience can see everything that is happening including the dogs, the epic stunts, the gunfights, and the combat. It's nice to see the dogs in this franchise finally get their time to shine.
Street Fight With Cassian
Cassian (Common) was the bodyguard for Gianna D'antonio, who Wick was hired to kill. After completing his mission, Cassian is determined to kill Wick to get revenge. Cassian and Wick have a brutal fight through the streets of Italy. They hit each other with cars, tumble downstairs, and deliver vicious kicks and punches. It's an intense fight between two equally skilled assassins. The fight ends when the two find themselves crashing through the windows of The Continental where no fighting is allowed. The two have another great battle on a subway train where Wick ends up on top.
Reflections Of The Soul
While hunting Santino D'Antonio, Wick finds himself in a hall of mirrors exhibit in the museum. While there isn't as much fighting or gunshots as in other scenes, this scene has a unique atmosphere of suspense. There are several of D'Antonio's goons chasing Wick and the mirrors make Wick question where they could be. They could be behind each corner or a mirror could falsely display their location. The ambient noise also creates a false sense of relaxation that contradicts with the intensity of the scene. The scene ends with a cool fight with Ruby Rose's character as he battles his way through the mirrors.
Escaping The Catacombs
After killing Gianna, John has to escape from a DJ concert through the catacombs. Wick has to get through dozens and dozens of Santino's goons that are coming after him. Wick shows just how great he is with every type of gun as he delivers dozens of satisfying headshots to almost every opponent.
Some of these shots are brutal like a shotgun to the chest and multiple bullets to the face. Reeves went through gun combat training and it really shows as he navigates his way through the dark catacombs. Wick is singlehandedly taking down almost an entire army. Wick is truly an unstoppable force.
Bulletproof Armor-Piercing Shotguns
Heavily armed forces are sent into The Continental to kill Wick and Winston. Wick brings out the big guns-shotguns that are strong enough to burst through bulletproof armor. The gunshots in this sequence are so powerful that every blast has a huge impact. Wick continues to outsmart every bad guy that is sent after him. The combat is awesome and the headshots are absolutely vicious. There's even a part where the bullets actually adhere to underwater physics. One additional bonus in this scene is that Charon, the concierge at The Continental, finally gets his chance to show off his skills.
Red Circle Nightclub Shootout
Wick is tipped off that the man who killed his dog and stole his car is at the Red Circle nightclub. So, Wick goes in guns blazing and this epic action scene begins. This scene not only has awesome hand-to-hand combat and perfect headshots from Wick, but it is accompanied by an electro DJ score that takes the shootout to epic levels. The violence is chaotic as well as the atmosphere. The target ultimately gets away, but Wick's determination makes him an absolute beast during this sequence. Wick only gets away by the skin of his teeth, giving him some vulnerability. Still, Wick and a gun are an unstoppable duo.