Action movies tend to have one unifying and defining element about them, action. While there had been a steady trend of action movies becoming somewhat similar to one another, one movie stood out as something new. John Wick introduced a new world of action, showcasing an action style that is still being replicated. However, these inventive action scenes are not all that has made these films popular. The John Wick films owe their success just as much to their character work as they do their action.
Released in 2014, John Wick gained popularity for the breath of fresh air that it brought to both gunfights and hand-to-hand combat. No longer were characters simply shooting at each other from across the room while ducking behind cover. John Wick uses guns as tools more akin to knives, with the titular character showcasing a style that mixed Judo with the Center Axis Relock method of using a firearm. There was a level of confidence and competence in how characters handled guns that lent itself to inspiring many other action films to follow suit. The fluid, but brutal, fighting style combined with the beautiful cinematography and music meant that these were action films unlike any that had been released in years in the US.
There are multiple interesting characters in John Wick, including the titular man himself. When John is first introduced, he’s shown to be a sad man who has just lost his wife. This meeting point engenders the audience to his character and makes them feel for him. What especially draws an audience in with his character, however, is that after this sad everyman introduction, the audience is then fed not-so-subtle hints that he might be more than meets the eye. John replies to Iosef in Russian and after his car is stolen he goes directly to the chop shop Iosef had gone to.
What’s most telling about John as a character, how feared he is among these hardened criminals. After slapping Iosef for stealing the car, Aurelio is immediately able to get Viggo to understand just by saying that it’s John Wick’s car. It’s after this that Viggo reveals who this unassuming man is; an expert former assassin capable of a great many things who once completed an impossible task that formed the foundation of Viggo’s syndicate. It’s these moments that showcase the strong character work. It’s not just about how John Wick acts, it’s also about the impact he makes on the world.
The supporting characters as well help flesh out the world of John Wick to an extreme degree. The big characters, such as John’s mentor Marcus, establish themselves immediately as interesting and fun to follow. Part of what helps with this character work is that many of the characters John Wick deals with are objectively fairly standard roles for the action genre. The ex-mentor, the old partner, the cold boss, and more are all roles that have been seen in other action movies prior to this one. It’s how John Wick utilizes the familiarity of these roles and plays with them that makes these films fun.
These side characters all have a clear history with John, and that history greatly influences how they choose to help or hurt him. His old mentor chooses to turn traitor against Viggo and help John escape. Perkins, on the other hand, only ever sees John as a former co-worker and thus doesn’t mind trying to get the bounty on his head. These characters made radically different decisions based on their history with the titular assassin.
Another telling aspect of just how much these movies focus on characters comes with the number of primary antagonists they have had. Each of these characters feels unique and different from one another. Viggo, while fearful of John, chooses vengeance for his son and undergoes an arc of his own. His final confrontation with John is one that neither character knew was brewing for a long time. Viggo had always quietly resented John for retiring, and John had always resented Viggo for the things he made him do. These characters hold grudges, and this permeates throughout the films as characters turn against or support John based on how they knew him from before.
While these character moments can sometimes slow down the pace of an action movie, they’re actually essential to making an action movie work. Having these character moments and backstory reveals is what leads to such intense fights. John going from a saddened widower to a man choosing violent revenge holds so much more weight when Viggo tells his son that he should be scared of this man. John’s first sequence of killing the hitmen in his house feels at odds with who the audience is introduced to, but is shockingly in line with how others view him. There’s a naturalness to this connection that stems from the solid character work that the John Wick films showcase.
