Movies about hitman John Wick have firmly won the attention of not only moviegoers, but also a wide Internet audience, which was greatly facilitated by the amazing Keanu Reeves. So the announcement of the fourth part did not come as a surprise-and we prepared 10 things from the already released trilogy that the viewer could miss for the intense gun-fu in the frame.
Expensive Swiss watches
Keanu Reeves’ weakness for wristwatches from various manufacturers is well known, but due to the actor’s reclusiveness, few have seen his entire collection in its entirety. Keanu wears a watch in most of his films, and the John Wick trilogy is no exception.
The official partner of the picture-the Swiss brand Carl F. Bucherer-offered an elegant, strict, and very thin model of Manero AutoDate with a diameter of 38 mm., a stainless steel case, and sapphire crystal front and back. black alligator leather strap. The issue price is about $3,500.
As befits a hired killer, John Wick wears a watch, turning the dial on his wrist towards his body. So he protects them from mechanical damage, keeps the disguise from unnecessary reflections and sunbeams, and can keep track of time without being distracted from business.
Exclusive alcohol
One of the features that makes the image of John Wick relatable to the mass audience is the habit of pouring alcohol into grief. A viewer who is not particularly versed in the topic will assume that ordinary whiskey is being poured in the frame. In fact, John drinks expensive Blanton’s bourbon, about $70 per pint.
The difference between American bourbon and European whiskey is the use of corn, not barley. Blanton’s is also made according to a special recipe in small batches, strictly by hand. Blanton’s differs from other bourbons in the absence of clear aging periods. The barrel is immediately bottled, but only when it is sufficiently ripe, according to the chief taster. So the taste of bourbon differs from batch to batch and from year to year.
The variety John drinks is called the Original Single Barrel. It has a strength of 46.5%, a golden color, a vanilla aroma, and a long aftertaste that gives notes of citrus and oak barrels. A real drink of a tough (and bad) guy, which is what John is.
Insurers keep Keanu away from dangerous stunts.
John Wick raised the bar for the action genre with action-packed action. In just 5 minutes, you can see how the main character shoots from all possible positions, fights off enemies, turns any object that turns up into a melee weapon, breaks through a window with his head, rolls down the stairs, rides a horse …
And in all the films, Keanu Reeves performs most of the scenes himself, resorting to the services of stuntmen only at the request of insurance companies in the most difficult moments—for example, with cars. He explains this by saying that he can run, jump, and somersault on his own. That at the age of “over 50” causes respect.
For Reeves, they developed a special training program that ensures safety as well as mastering various weapons and shooting techniques; knife and dagger fighting; judo; practicing falls; plastic movement; and various tricks like “pranks” on opponents.
Keanu starts training 4-5 months before filming and spends 4-6 hours a day learning from real professionals. As a result, Reeves, of course, did not become a master of shooting or hand-to-hand combat, but he owns everything that he shows in the frame at a good amateur level.
Clothing embodies the image of John and other heroes.
The image of John Wick is inconceivable without his appearance: a stately man dressed in a classic but stylish business suit, with perfectly polished shoes. No torn dirty rags and T-shirts, which “flaunted” action heroes like Stallone (Sylvester Stallone) or Bruce Willis (Bruce Willis).
Working alongside the producers and crew is a staff of artists and tailors who pre-make dozens of costumes to keep up with the schedule. Most of the effort, of course, goes to the main character-for Keanu, they sew 50 business suits per film.
Supporting actors cannot boast of such a variety, but they are not forgotten either. For example, one of Wick’s allies, King Bowery, played by Laurence Fishburne, is dressed in silk robes inspired by the Japanese kimono, and Sophia—in the world of Halle Berry—appears as a Moroccan Berber woman, with all the decorative elements and luxurious fabrics.
In an effort to revive the costumes, while working on the images, the artists sort through dozens and hundreds of options, look into old art books and even visit museums.
John’s costumes contain many details.
Costume designer Luka Moska works directly with Keanu Reeves. It is he who determines the variations in the appearance of the action hero—from color and cut to cufflinks and clasps.
Most costumes are made from charcoal gray fabric and textured. This solution, instead of, for example, a generic glossy black, allows Wick’s costumes to adapt to the lighting environment of the sets. Thus, the hero becomes part of the scene.
Certain clothing is made for only one scene and allows for stunts; the costume may have additional padding to cover Keanu’s body from injury, or be made of fabric that absorbs water easily to make the character look more effective when wet. Or, on the contrary, the suit will be made from a particularly durable fabric so as not to tear ahead of time.
The latter should not be surprising-while Reeves breaks through from one fight to another, his suits, like the owner, receive cuts, scuffs, or even traces of blood. All this does not appear on its own, but is applied by fashion designers in the right places, taking into account the opinion of the director, and the actor himself.
One of Luka Mosca’s lucky finds is to decorate Wick’s costumes more and more with details from film to film. This symbolizes his ascent into the “underworld.” Alas, on the big screen and during the flickering of struggling people, such details are not visible. Only the most attentive viewers can see the tricks of the tailor when certain decorative elements of clothing appear or disappear. Like the bright red cufflinks in the second movie.
References to ancient Greek mythology
The action of the John Wick series takes place in an alternate reality called the Underworld, and the writers emphasize this with symbolic references to ancient Greek mythology. In ancient Hellas, they believed in the existence of several worlds: our ordinary one is for people; Olympus is for the gods; Hades is for dead souls. The latter, as a rule, was also represented as underground.
It turns out that John Wick leaves the equivalent of Hell for the sake of his beloved, and when the last symbol of their love, the dog, disappears, he returns there again. The transition itself is also symbolic: the hero descends into the basement of his house (a deep basement, it should be noted), and smashes the concrete floor over the cache, which contains weapons and gold coins.
Furthermore, the ancient Greeks believed that the world of the living and the dead was divided by the river Styx, and the carrier of the souls of the dead along this river was called Charon. The head waiter of the “Continental” host and settle guests. It turns out that everyone who came to the “Continental” is floating on a safe river between the world of ordinary people and the underworld of hired killers.
As payment for his services, the ancient Greek Charon accepts … yes, the same gold coins that circulate in the world of John Wick as a means of payment for services.
And further, Have you ever wondered why the dog and not the cat appear in the film? Keanu Reeves loves dogs and even has a rock band with that in the name-Dogstar. But even in the myths of Hellas, the dog is a sacred animal of the goddess Hecate, the embodiment of the horror of the night in Hades. And as a sacrifice, they brought her puppies.
Attention to detail in every fight scene…
Endless ammunition is a hackneyed Hollywood cliché, which, however, is still not shy of action movie directors. Slightly more confused directors limit ammo and allow the protagonist to change firearms from time to time, but no longer count how many shots the character fires before reloading or where he got the grenade launcher.
In John Wick, it’s the other way around. Here, every battle scene is carefully calculated. Starting with determining the route of the protagonist, what weapons will be on his way, and what he can actually pick up, ending with how many shots can be fired from one or another “barrel”.
An attentive viewer can notice how often Wick reloads his weapon if he comes with him to the next dismantling. It even takes into account how many shots the enemy fired before the “gun” was taken away from him, after which the ammunition is not replenished by magic. John, if he picks up the barrel, is allowed to fire as many shots as there are rounds left.
The only sin was in the second film: in the catacombs scene, Wick fired 11 shots from an 8-shot Benelli pistol.
The tattoos on John’s back have their own interpretation.
John Wick’s bare back is as much a part of his look as his polished appearance. She was repeatedly shown in the frame and placed on official posters. The inscription in the entire back of Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat catches the eye – “Fortune loves the brave”.
This is a Latin saying dedicated to Fortuna, the ancient Roman goddess of Fortune (equivalent to the ancient Greek Tyche), and meaning “Fortune will save only the strong”—those who are ready to fight for their salvation. The saying was considered ancient even in pre-Christian times (more than 2000 years ago), since great wars happened before the Roman Empire.
So the warriors prayed to the goddess for good luck in battle, and this is still the motto of the army units of various English-speaking countries. As a result, it cannot be stated unequivocally that John Wick served in a battalion of US Marines.In addition, Wick’s service in the US Army is absent from the comic.
Below the inscription there is a tattoo “hands crossed in prayer”—this means that a person begs Fortune to have mercy on him. In the third film, we learn that, being a member of the Russian mafia, John also filled a cross around this tattoo. Together, they symbolize a person who believes only in luck.
Bloopers
Not a single John Wick movie is complete without movie bloopers. This applies to both small details and computer graphics. Here are just a couple of the most interesting examples.
When in the second part, Winston announces “excommunicado” and looks at his watch, it shows around 4:00 pm on the 20th. John had an hour to run or fight. However, the start of the hunt for Wick comes at 18:00, so the protagonist received more time than the rules of the Continental Hotel allowed. And when, before all this, the authors lit up the smartphone, it generally had the date of December 1.
