John Wick
About
John Wick is a 2014 neo-noir action film starring Keanu Reeves as the titular protagonist assassin, who seeks vengeance against mobsters for killing his dog. The sequel John Wick 2 was release on February 10th, 2017, with the third part John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum premiering on May 17th, 2019.
History
On October 24th, 2014, John Wick was released in theaters. In the film, the retired assassin John Wick (played by Keanu Reeves) receives a puppy named Daisy after his wife succumbs to a fatal illness. After forming a bond with the dog, a group of Russian mobsters kill his dog while stealing his car. Wick subsequently goes on a violent rampage to avenge Daisy.
John Wick: Chapter 2
In February 2015, directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch revealed that a sequel John Wick 2 was in development. In May, the sequel starring Keanu Reeves was greenlit by Lionsgate films and would be sold at the Cannes Film Festival. On October 8th, 2016, an official trailer for the sequel was released on YouTube, gathering more than 7.3 million views and 5,900 comments over the next four months (shown below). The fim was released on February 17th, 2017.
John Wick: Chapter 3
On December 19th, 2018, the official Twitter[7] account for the film series posted a picture from the 2019 installment, John Wick: Chapter 3. The post features Reeves and co-star Halle Berry as well as a picture of Reeves as Wick in the rain. They captioned the post, "Welcome to the next chapter." The post received more than 27,000 retweets and 64,000 likes in two days.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly on the sequel, director Chad Stahelski confirmed that there would be spin-off television series based on the films.[8] He also said that they would continue making John Wick films as long as people keep seeing them. He said, "If people go to see the movie, and it makes money, and they came back to us, Keanu and I have ideas for days."
Release
John Wick 3: Parabellum released on May 17th, 2019. The film opened to positive critical reviews, scoring a 74/100 on Metacritic[9] and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 88%[13] in the weekend following its release. Entertainment Weekly[10] wrote that the film is nothing "grander than a gorgeously choreographed, gratuitously violent action movie. But as gorgeously choreographed, gratuitously violent action movies go, it’s high art." Richard Roeper wrote the film was a "hard R live-action cartoon and it is superb, wall-to-wall action entertainment."[11] The film unseated Avengers: Endgame at the box office on its debut weekend, garnering a $57 million opening weekend, which was more than the first film made in its entire theatrical run.[12]
Online Presence
On October 25th, 2014, the /r/JohnWick[1] subreddit was launched for discussions about the film. On February 13th, 2015, YouTuber Nick DiNizio uploaded a montage tallying all the people killed by Wick in the film (shown below).
On May 7th, YouTuber DarkDark Productions uploaded a remake of the John Wick trailer in Grand Theft Auto V (shown below, left). On September 10th, YouTuber KeanuReevesTurk uploaded footage of Keanu Reeves training for the film, which garnered more than 3.22 million views and 600 comments over the next two years (shown below, right).
On December 19th, a 4chan user submitted a post asking if the film was "actually good or was everyone just memeing it?" to which another user responded that it was a "surprisingly ok" for being "like a CoD frag video" (shown below). That day, a screenshot of the post reached the front page of /r/4chan,[3] garnering more than 3,300 points (91% upvoted) and 125 comments prior to being archived.
On March 3rd, 2016, YouTuber Taran Tactical uploaded footage of Keanu Reeves training for John Wick 2 on a shooting range, which received upwards of 7.1 million views and 4,600 comments over the next year (shown below). The following day, the video reached the front page of /r/guns,[4] received over 3,200 points (93% upvoted) and 500 comments prior to being archived.
On January 24th, 2017, YouTuber Dean Wyatt uploaded a shootout scene from John Wick dubbed with audio clips of "Michael Jackson": making a variety of grunt noises (shown below, left). That day, the video reached the front page of /r/videos.[2] On February 7th, 2017, YouTuber uploaded a parody trailer titled "Dog Wick," in which a small dog takes down a group of mobster to avenge his murdered owner (shown below).
Reception
The first film gathered mostly positive reviews, having reached a score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes[5] and 68% on Metacritic.[6]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Reddit – /r/JohnWick
[2] Reddit – I added Michael Jackson grunts to a shootout scene from John Wick
[3] Reddit – Anon accurately describes John Wick
[4] Reddit – Keanu The One training for John Wick 2
[5] Rotten Tomatoes – John Wick
[7] Twitter – @JohnWickMovie's Post
[8] AV Club – As long as fans keep buying tickets, the John Wick series will go on forever
[9] Metacritic – John Wick 3
[10] Entertainment Weekly – All hail Keanu Reeves in the glorious and gratuitous instant action classic John Wick 3 EW review
[11] Chicago Sun-Times – "‘John Wick Chapter 3 -- Parabellum’ More fights, more insanity, more great dogs":‘https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/5/11/18619081/john-wick-chapter-3-parabellum-more-fights-more-insanity-more-great-dogs
[12] Variety – Box Office ‘John Wick 3’ Knocks Down ‘Avengers Endgame’ With $57 Million Debut
[13] Rotten Tomatoes – John Wick Chapter 3
Top Comments
Pat
Dec 23, 2018 at 05:36PM EST
Penis Miller
Feb 08, 2017 at 03:20PM EST