[Warning: Spoilers ahead for the John Wick franchise, in particular John Wick: Chapter 4.]
As we waded into the mid-2010s, action cinema had become decidedly stale, particularly in the way the genre was shot and edited. The methods of action filmmaking hadn’t seen much innovation in some time, with the only notable shift of the late 2000s being the popularization of the ‘aged action hero’ following the release of 2008’s Taken starring Liam Neeson, who was in his mid-50s at the time.
The ensuing years saw an influx of action movies led by middle-aged actors, but none were more important than 2014’s John Wick, which not only revitalized the career of Keanu Reeves and established director Chad Stahelski as one of the foremost action directors in the world, but also altered the way in which modern action films are made, emphasizing longer takes, less cutting, and a new standard for fight choreography. Three sequels later, and the John Wick franchise is now one of the most critically and commercially successful action franchises of all time.
This is despite experiencing financing issues that almost led to the collapse of the production before it even began shooting (both cameras and guns). That is, until none other than Eva Longoria stepped in and provided the $6 million required to make the movie, earning her a producer’s credit in the process. This is examined in the documentary John Wick is Pain, which was just came out on May 9th, yet the release of this documentary is not even the most significant recent major news for the franchise, as it has recently been confirmed that there will indeed be a John Wick: Chapter 5, with both Reeves and Stahelski returning for their respective roles.
This is quite a surprising turn of events, not just because Reeves previously casted doubt on a fifth mainline movie, but also because John Wick himself seemingly died at the end of Chapter 4, in what admittedly seemed to be a fitting ending for the character. This, then, begs the question of how they will address his supposed death, of which there is only two real options.
The first is that John Wick is indeed alive but has gone into retirement once again, which necessitated faking his own death. This is certainly the most likely outcome, which would also be a new era for the legendary hero, as Stahelski himself admitted to Empire, “The saga of John Wick was pretty wrapped up,” before adding that “the only way to do a 5 is to have a new story that involves John Wick. It’s not a continuation, with the High Table. John dealt with his grief. It will be really different”. This could also be contextualized by the second, but admittedly less likely option, which is that John Wick is, in fact, dead, and Chapter 5 acts as a prequel to the events of the previous four movies, but it’s hardly the ‘next’ chapter in the John Wick saga if they intend to go this direction, and would necessitate a title change, although the language from Stahelski hardly suggests this would be the case.
Sadly, this is all that is known of the confirmed sequel at the moment, as even a franchise mainstay like Ian McShane, who plays The Continental proprietor Winston Scott, has yet to be confirmed as returning. Still, we at least have From the World of John Wick: Ballerina to look forward to, which takes place between John Wick: Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 – Parabellum and is set to release on June 6th. The movie will be led by Ana de Armas as Eve Marco, the titular “Ballerina”, while Reeves’ John Wick will appear in a supporting role.
