History Headscratchers / JohnWick

** Another explanation is that the medium is the message. Normally, Aurelio would be signing his death warrant by punching the son of a powerful mob boss in the face. What better way to communicate "you have fucked up so badly that I am 100% certain I could punch you in the face and your father will let it slide" than by actually punching Iosef in the face?

** Aurelio also specifically asks Iosef for more context and receives a very troubling response ("Did you kill him or what?" "No. Sure as Hell did fuck up his dog, though"), so Aurelio now 1) knows Iosef stole Wick's car B) didn't kill him C) killed John's dog. Aurelio is likely expecting a very aggravated John Wick by this point descending upon his shop guns blazing any second now, on top of this being a close friend of his.

* If you aren't allowed to try and murder people while inside the Continental, and John respects the rules, why didn't Iosef just rent a room and order room service while waiting for dad's mooks to kill Mr. Wick?

** The rule as stated is that no one may conduct business there. As in, contract killings. It is possible that a purely personal matter may be forgiven if management is agreeable.
*** Case in point: Winston bends his own rules twice to help John conclude his vendetta. Viggo likely didn't trust Iosef's safety there, instead preferring to drop him in a building packed with his own thugs.

*** To make matters worse, Iosef unlike Santino has no self control, respect for others and is extremely spoiled. During his stay at the Red Circle, he was treating his house arrest more like a vacation to Kiril's irritation. All it'd take would be a good looking female assassin to lure him to her room for sex and booze and he would have been dead of an overdose long before Wick got a chance to shoot him dead. Or a fight picked out that goes ''poorly'' for Iosef.

* At the beginning of the movie, when Viggo is telling Iosef exactly [[MuggingTheMonster who he fucked with]], Viggo makes it clear in no uncertain terms that John will seek revenge for the car and dog. However, how exactly does Viggo know what John's going to do? He didn't know the significance of the dog at this point in the movie; the first time he knew this, John told him during the interrogation. Viggo had reason to suspect John coming after his car, but no reason to think Iosef was the target.

** Going off the two above examples, Viggo explained that John did an 'impossible' job for him so he could leave the mafiya and be with his wife. Viggo knew how much John loved her, and probably had a good idea of what sort of mental state her death left him in and just how he might react to such an affront while in that headspace.

* Speaking of Perkins - why even go to the meeting? The source of the phonecall is obvious and her breach of conditions is clear, surely she'd know they wouldn't just want to exchange kind words?

** It is implied that Perkins is arrogant and stupid. When she makes the offer to Viggo to take out John on Continental ground, he explicitly calls her "brazen." That and she killed Harry for no reason and no payout when she could have knocked him unconscious. Someone that impetuous and arrogant probably didn't even think that Winston would have her killed.
** Actually, I think that there are some subtle hints that Perkins has not been an assassin for very long. ''Chapter 2'' establishes through Cassian and Ares that the assassins do private bodyguard work from time to time, and Perkins reports directly to Viggo throughout the film. If John and Marcus were Viggo's bodyguards before, it's likely that Perkins is the replacement. John specifically mentions he's never known her to get out of bed for less than $3 [million], and she tells him she agreed to do it for four. Viggo calls her brazen, John tells her that is "very unwise, I assure you", and Marcus tells Perkins he's not surprised she betrayed him. Viggo also refers to Marcus as "the last of the old guard", which would reinforce the idea that Perkins is new. Additionally, when Perkins and John fight, Charon asks John if he would like to make a dinner reservation for her-- which suggests that self-defence is not considered "business on Continental grounds." Winston never actually tells Perkins she's excommunicado. What he tells her is, "Your membership to the Continental has been, by thine own hand, ''revoked''." And then after she's gunned down, he pays Charlie to clean up the body. All of these facts together would suggest that she is not very familiar with the assassin world and (perhaps accidentally) exploited a loophole. Winston had her killed out of revenge, not business.

** If anything, it makes the later scene where Viggo kills him even more hypocritical for two reasons. First, he blames Marcus for not killing John despite knowing Marcus and John had a very close relationship. So he's blaming Marcus for the exact thing he's doing (i.e protecting someone close to him). Second, Viggo sold out Iosef to John so he could escape John's wrath, so by his vengeful logic he should first and foremost blame himself for his son's death. Marcus was at best a indirect accomplice.
** What world do you live in where two million dollars is a paltry sum of money? Sure, these guys are relatively rich, but neither Marcus nor John live in mansions or have such lifestyles that indicate that they just brush off million-dollar contracts.

*** Also, there's a point at which John says to Perkins "I thought you didn't go out for less than 3" and she responds that she was offered $4 million to break the Continental rules. If she really doesn't even bother taking a job for less than $3 million, clearly someone like John would be worth considerably more.

** Aurelio is caught between a rock and a hard place. Both John ''and'' Viggo are liable to beat if not murder him if he actively assists the other; remaining staunchly and visibly neutral is therefore his safest option. By refusing to let Iosef sell or stash John's car at his garage, he demonstrates to John that he's not abetting Iosef's conduct in any way. Likewise, by not warning Viggo about Iosef's screw-up on his own initiative, and instead waiting for ''Viggo'' to contact ''him'', he shows Viggo that he's being fair and impartial in spite of his subordinate status to Viggo ''and'' his personal friendship with John. As for throwing a punch at Iosef, my guess is that it's spontaneous anger at the idiot for forcing Aurelio into such a position, in the first place.
** You said it yourself: Aurelio is John's ''friend''. I know if some arrogant little shit showed up at my garage and bragged about beating up my friend and killing his dog, I would deck him in the face too. Aurelio isn't thinking rationally, he's ripshit ''pissed'' and lets Iosef know it. He also has absolutely no fear of Viggo's retaliation (he outright says that Viggo will understand) or Iosef's friends. Sure, there might have been better ways to resolve it with less violence, but in the heat of the moment, Aurelio was absolutely furious.

** Actually, I think that there are some subtle hints that Perkins has not been an assassin for very long. John Wick 2 establishes with Cassian and Ares that the assassins do private bodyguard work from time to time, and Perkins reports directly to Viggo throughout the film. If John and Marcus were Viggo's bodyguards before, it's likely that Perkins is the replacement. John specifically mentions he's never known her to get out of bed for less than 3 [million], and she tells him she agreed to do it for four. Viggo calls her brazen, John tells her that is "very unwise, I assure you", and Marcus tells Perkins he's not surprised she betrayed him. Viggo also refers to Marcus as "the last of the old guard", which would reinforce the idea that Perkins is new. Additionally, when Perkins and Wick fight Charon asks Wick if he would like to make a dinner reservation for her-- which suggests that self-defence is not considered "business on Continental grounds." Winston never actually tells Perkins she's excommunicado. What he tells her is "by thine own hand your membership has been revoked", and then after killing her he pays Charlie to clean up the body. All of these facts together would suggest that she is not very familiar with the assassin world and (perhaps accidentally) exploited a loophole. Winston had her killed out of revenge, not business.

*** Also, there's a point at which John says to Perkins "I thought you didn't go out for less than 3" and she responds that she was offered 4 million to break the house rules. If she really doesn't even bother taking a job for less than 3 million, clearly someone like John would be worth considerably more.
*** Perkins is, however, implied to be a maverick and more of an outlier. She's arrogant and brazen and neither respects nor sticks to the rules. She kills Harry on Continental grounds even when not being paid for it and doesn't seem to realise how deep in trouble she is until Winston revokes her membership and kills her. Perkins not taking any contract less than three million seems less like that being the common payout and more her being so self-absorbed and arrogant that she thinks her skills are worth way more than they really are.
*** Note that in the sequels a 7 million bounty gets a whole group of assassins after him, and 14 million has people jumping out of practically every street corner in the world. However 2 million (4 if they break the rules of the Continental which nobody in the sequels ever dares) only gets Perkins and Marcus (who wasn't actually interested) going for him. Which would seem to suggest that yeah 2 million isn't nearly enough for anyone sane in the assassin world to even think picking a fight with John Wick. And Viggo should know this.

** The third movie somewhat provides the answer to this when you can see the blackboard with the contracts on it. Wick's is BY FAR the highest at $14 million, and there is only a single other bounty above $1 million that is Open status at $2 million, most of the rest are in the $300k range or even less (there is a $7 million closed, presumably issued to a specific assassin). A $2 million open is a definite attraction, but keep in mind that the entire first movie takes place over only two days, most of the ones interested were probably still in the preparation phase - most assassins aren't going to risk going off half cocked at [[TheDreaded John Wick]] for $2 million [[TooDumbToLive like Perkins.]] As far as Marcus - Viggo didn't seem sure that he'd accept $2 million. Marcus COULD have told Viggo no, or demanded more money, but he accepted. Which is what enraged Viggo later in the movie - Marcus had accepted the contract and then not carried it out.

** Aurelio is caught between a rock and a hard place. Both John ''and'' Viggo are liable to beat if not murder him if he actively assists the other; remaining staunchly and visibly neutral is therefore his safest option. By refusing to let Iosef sell or stash John's car at his garage, he demonstrates to John that he's not abetting Iosef's conduct in any way. Likewise, by not warning Viggo about Iosef's screw-up on his own initiative, but waiting for ''Viggo'' to contact ''him'', he shows Viggo that he's being fair and impartial in spite of his subordinate status to Viggo ''and'' his personal friendship with John. As for throwing a punch at Iosef, my guess is that it's spontaneous anger at the idiot for forcing Aurelio into such a position, in the first place.

* Why did no one recognize John's obvious American accent when he talked into the radio he stole off the dead guard?

** In the time it would take the guards to think on and realize that the single word John spoke was wrong, John was already shooting at them.
** Later films establish that John is a Belarusian immigrant. So this is probably just a matter of the actor not being able to pull off the rightaccent while in-universe everyone else is hearing it.

* How come Viggo hasn't told Iosef who John Wick is and why he should be left alone? Seriously, all Viggo had to do to prevent this was to tell Iosef: "John Wick is our former assassin, and an extremely capable one at that. He's out of the organization now, which he earned, and we're leaving him alone. He will not rat us out or do anything to harm us as long as we leave him alone or treat him with respect."

*** Exactly. John left more than five years previously, when Viggo was ostensibly still a little fish in the pond, and was known to be retired and out of the game. Not only would Viggo probably hesitate to dredge up what he thought was ancient history and refer to a time when his organization was weak (thus preventing Iosef from knowing anything about John), the sheer odds that ''the one guy Iosef would decide to mess with'' would be John Wick were so astronomical that Viggo actually mentioned it during that first one-sided phone call he had with John. Plus, even if Iosef did ever hear about this guy, would Viggo have a picture of him up on the wall with the caption "Avoid under penalty of death"? Even if he knew about John, Iosef wouldn't know what he looked like.

** Viggo might have mentioned it casually during some conversations, just never had an extensive conversation about him because John was just a former employee in the end, however good, and Iosef doesn't look like he actually had any role in the organization, he just enjoyed the perks of being Viggo's son. Also, they don't look like they have a very close relationship, so I also guess they don't really talk very much (Viggo's disappointed by his son at the very least).

** I think there's also a bit of translation convention going on here as well; I'd assume most people in the west would be more familiar with the story of Baba Yaga than the actual Russian word for "boogeyman", and just smooshed the two together with an intended "scary mythic creature from legend which is going to fuck you good and proper" connotation. Iosef just translated it as "boogeyman" because translating it literally as "wicked witch" might have inserted an unintended note of bathos into what was clearly supposed to be a very ominous introduction to John Wick's actual HiddenDepths.

** He probably didn't expect being spared; after all, John has killed every single mook up until that point, so Avi might've preferred to go down fighting rather than getting shot in the back.

* John keeps forgetting that he had a sidearm! In the first movie, he spent a full minute fighting against one of Viggo's EliteMook in the Red Circle before being thrown off to the first floor and realizing he had a pistol tucked behind his shirt. While in chapter two, he fought off like 5 thugs barehanded, and only resorts to his gun once the big guy comes, why?

** Its very difficult to effectively draw a holstered weapon while getting pummeled all over with kicks & punches (particularly when the weapon is positioned behind the back)
** Wick was there to get his car and nothing else... Hence why he made Abram a peace offering. When taking the less lethal approach of empty hands fighting proved insufficient to deal with the GiantMook, Wick reverted back to his default CombatPragmatist ways.

* If John Wick is supposed to be retired for "five and change" years, how the hell does everyone recognize his car the instant they lay eyes on it? Is it really the only completely original 1969 Mustang rolling around in the area? And when John moved from New York to New Jersey for his retirement, he had to change the plates, removing this as an identifier even if anyone could remember them that long after learning they'd no longer see it around. This is, of course, assuming the second movie's implication that he got the car after retirement is incorrect.

** Actually, I think that there are some subtle hints that Perkins has not been an assassin for very long. John Wick 2 establishes with Cassius and Ares that the assassins do private bodyguard work from time to time, and Perkins reports directly to Viggo throughout the film. If John and Marcus were Viggo's bodyguards before, it's likely that Perkins is the replacement. John specifically mentions he's never known her to get out of bed for less than 3 [million], and she tells him she agreed to do it for four. Viggo calls her brazen, John tells her that is "very unwise, I assure you", and Marcus tells Perkins he's not surprised she betrayed him. Viggo also refers to Marcus as "the last of the old guard", which would reinforce the idea that Perkins is new. Additionally, when Perkins and Wick fight Charon asks Wick if he would like to make a dinner reservation for her-- which suggests that self-defence is not considered "business on Continental grounds." Winston never actually tells Perkins she's excommunicado. What he tells her is "by thine own hand your membership has been revoked", and then after killing her he pays Charlie to clean up the body. All of these facts together would suggest that she is not very familiar with the assassin world and (perhaps accidentally) exploited a loophole. Winston had her killed out of revenge, not business.
* IMFDB doesn't state which pistols Perkins' executioners are using; probably because it's hard to identify in such a wide shot with dark lighting. But doesn't their arrangement (four corners of a square surrounding her) leave them vulnerable to shooting each other, through her head, unless they're using very low caliber ammunition?

** Its a bad idea to do it in a perfect square, but if they're not standing at perfect 90-degree angles, they won't be in line of fire with each other. We don't see the exact angles at which the four killers are standing at.

*** Perkins is, however, implied to be a maverick and more of an outlier. She's arrogant and brazen and neither respects nor sticks to the rules. She kills Harry on Continental grounds even when not being paid for it and doesn't seem to realize how deep in trouble she is until Wintson revokes her membership and kills her. Perkins not taking any contract less than three million seems less like that being the common payout and more her being so self-absorbed and arrogant that she thinks her skills are worth way more than they really are.

** The third movie somewhat provides the answer to this when you can see the blackboard with the contracts on it. Wick's is BY FAR the highest at $14 million, and there is only a single other bounty above $1 million that is Open status at $2 million, most of the rest are in the $300k range or even less (there is a $7 million closed, presumably issued to a specific assassin). A $2 million open is a definite attraction, but keep in mind that the entire first movie takes place over only 2 days, most of the ones interested were probably still in the preparation phase - most assassins aren't going to risk going off half cocked at [[TheDreaded John Wick]] for $2 million [[TooDumbToLive like Perkins.]] As far as Marcus - Viggo didn't seem sure that he'd accept $2 million. Marcus COULD have told Viggo no, or demanded more money, but he accepted. Which is what enraged Viggo later in the movie - Marcus had accepted the contract and then not carried it out.

* Why does Aurelio flip out and punch Iosef and tell him to take the car and get as far away from him as possible when he asks for the Plate change instead of just saying "Yeah sure come back in a few hours" then just give the car back to John when he showed up a little while later? They're friends, so it's not like John's gonna walk in and kill him and his work crew on the spot before letting him explain himself. This wouldn't completely diffuse the situation as obviously John would still want payback and go after Iosef but it would save him a lot of trouble getting the car back later on and might even pacify John if slightly.

** It's also entirely possible that Wick would break the rules to get at Iosef even if it meant his death, so getting a room there would really only serve to let him know where you're sleeping. Not only that, but he'd be denied bodyguards to minimize the chance of 'business' and most of the regulars know Wick well enough to either side with him or just stay out of his way.

*** To make matter worse, Iosef unlike Santino has no self control, respect for others and extremely spoiled. During his stay at the Red Circle, he was treating his house arrest more like a vacation to Kiril's irritation. All it'd take would be a good looking female assassin to lure him to her room for sex and booze and he would have been dead of an overdose long before Wick got a chance to shoot him dead. Or a fight taken out that goes ''poorly'' for Iosef.

*** I'd like to dispute the idea that John would be willing to kill Iosef in the hotel, should he stay there. Weigh up his grievances with Iosef vs those with Santino. Iosef was a spoiled punk who assaulted him, killed his dog and stole his car. Ok, undeniably three painful actions which (as he made it clear later) deeply impeded his grieving process over his wife's passing (and let's keep Viggo's attempts to intervene separate from the actions of his son, a mitigation which Santino cannot claim). But Santino quite clearly has a lot more on his record, and let's keep score. 1) Brazenly capitalising on John's (hoped-for) temporary return to the fold to kill Iosef, so as to cash in a Marker and make the return effectively permanent (as it turned out John's only hope to never have to honour the Marker would be to avoid the fold and stay retired for the rest of his life, and bad luck plus his thirst for vengeance dashed that hope) 2) Forcing the Marker to be upheld by destroying John's house and the physical memories it contained with a grenade launcher 3) Further emotionally wounding John by having the Marker used so as to kill his sister Gianna, who John was close with on some level, and on top of that (as Gianna calls him out for) this will lead to a completely unprincipled man taking over New York as an (undeserving) High Table member and with all the ruinous chaos that that implies 4) This also caused Gianna to slit her wrists, which was upsetting for John 5) It gave Cassian [[ItsPersonal a death wish against John]], who is one of the adversaries who came closest to besting the Boogeyman 6) Upon Gianna's death Santino immediately ordered his team to hunt John down and then advertised an open contract on him in the USA, which would cascade (admittedly due to John's actions in revenge) into an ever-escalating and international contract for the remaining two movies in the series. So IMO it goes without saying that, not only do Santino's actions double those of Iosef in number alone, but they're also even more emotionally hurtful (and life-threatening in several cases) for Wick, making him more enraged and bloodthirsty than he was for Iosef. Therefore, it stands to reason that this is what caused him to flat out put a bullet in Santino's head in the NYC Continental lounge, and that he probably would not have gone to such extremes against Iosef as things hadn't escalated that far once he began hunting him (nor do they throughout the course of the first film). He wanted to use the Continental as a base and safe haven while he did this, after all, and is on good terms with the hotel and wouldn't risk those good graces. If Iosef did try to hide out there, John would probably speak to Winston about the matter, or wait for Iosef's coin supply to dry up, or find some other loophole to flush Iosef out without breaking rules and get his revenge in a permissible way.

** Yes. Alternatively, the driver may have noticed John's grenade-launcher and was trying to avoid its line of fire.
*** John didn't have a grenade launcher, he has a combat shotgun. Maybe the driver just panicked ... there seems to be a long list of moments in this movie where John wins because of surprise or unpreparedness on the part of his adversaries.

** Considering who Winston is, it's likely he'd recognize this foul play and tell Iosef to take a hike.

*** This line of speculation, while intriguing, was negated in the climax of the second movie. John absolutely did not stand to gain financially from killing Santino in the hotel lounge. It was purely personal, but in the eyes of the Continental management and the High Table above them, it still counted as business, hence the ever-increasing contract on John's head as a consequence thereafter. Also, remember that earlier John and Cassian busted through a window of the Rome Continental in their vengeance-fuelled fight to the death and were swiftly warned under no uncertain terms to immediately stop the confrontation so long as they were on hotel property, which further underlines the point. Both of these altercations stemmed as fallout from the same hired hit (even though John seemingly wasn't paid to do it, but ordered to by dint of his Marker to Santino), so that may have bearing on how they fall under the umbrella of "business", but it seems safe to say overall that violence on Continental grounds is absolutely, unconditionally forbidden except when defending from an unsanctioned attack (and would any of ''you'' be willing to put that to the test?), or for hotel security to enforce the rules accordingly.

*** I'd like to dispute the idea that John would be willing to kill Iosef in the hotel, should he stay there. Weigh up his grievances with Iosef vs those with Santino. Iosef was a spoiled punk who assaulted him, killed his dog and stole his car. Ok, undeniably three painful actions which (as he made it clear later) deeply impeded his grieving process over his wife's passing (and let's keep Viggo's attempts to intervene separate from the actions of his son, a mitigation which Santino cannot claim). But Santino quite clearly has a lot more on his record, and let's keep score. 1) Brazenly capitalising on John's (hoped-for) temporary return to the fold to kill Iosef, so as to cash in a Marker and make the return effectively permanent (as it turned out John's only hope to never have to honour the Marker would be to avoid the fold and stay retired for the rest of his life, and bad luck plus his thirst for vengeance dashed that hope) 2) Forcing the Marker to be upheld by destroying John's house and the physical memories it contained with a grenade launcher 3) Further emotionally wounding John by having the Marker used so as to kill his sister Gianna, who John was close with on some level 4) This also caused Gianna to slit her wrists, which was upsetting for John 5) It gave Cassian [[ItsPersonal a death wish against John]], who is one of the adversaries who came closest to besting the Boogeyman 6) Upon Gianna's death Santino immediately ordered his team to hunt John down and then advertised an open contract on him in the USA, which would cascade (admittedly due to John's actions in revenge) into an ever-escalating and international contract for the remaining two movies in the series. So IMO it goes without saying that, not only do Santino's actions double those of Iosef in number alone, but they're also even more emotionally hurtful (and life-threatening in several cases) for Wick, making him more enraged and bloodthirsty than he was for Iosef. Therefore, it stands to reason that this is what caused him to flat out put a bullet in Santino's head in the NYC Continental lounge, and that he probably would not have gone to such extremes against Iosef as things hadn't escalated that far once he began hunting him (nor do they throughout the course of the first film). He wanted to use the Continental as a base and safe haven while he did this, after all, and is on good terms with the hotel and wouldn't risk those good graces. If Iosef did try to hide out there, John would probably speak to Winston about the matter, or wait for Iosef's coin supply to dry up, or find some other loophole to flush Iosef out without breaking rules and get his revenge in a permissible way.

*** This seems the most likely answer, everyone always says that it's against the rules to conduct business, but John's on a purely personal vendetta. He's not accepting money for it, he's not doing it as a favor for anyone, it's purely a one-on-one grudge and thus exempt from the usual rules. Besides, John clearly doesn't care that much if he lives or dies as long as he gets to extract his vengeance, and Viggo has probably picked up on that... John would probably have considered it a completely fair trade to get killed himself once he'd offed Iosef.

** Actually, this Troper thinks that there are some subtle hints that Perkins has not been an assassin for very long. John Wick 2 establishes with Cassius and Ares that the assassins do private bodyguard work from time to time, and Perkins reports directly to Vigo throughout the film. If John and Marcus were Vigo's bodyguards before, it's likely that Perkins is the replacement. John specifically mentions he's never known her to get out of bed for less than 3 [million], and she tells him she agreed to do it for four. Vigo calls her brazen, John tells her that is "very unwise, I assure you", and Marcus tells Perkins he's not surprised she betrayed him. Vigo also refers to Marcus as "the last of the old guard", which would reinforce the idea that Perkins is new. Additionally, when Perkins and Wick fight Charon asks Wick if he would like to make a dinner reservation for her-- which suggests that self-defense is not considered "business on Continental grounds." Winston never actually tells Perkins she's excommunicado. What he tells her is "by thine own hand your membership has been revoked", and then after killing her he pays Charlie to clean up the body. All of these facts together would suggest that she is not very familiar with the assassin world and (perhaps accidentally) exploited a loophole. Winston had her killed out of revenge, not business.

** Car registrations are open public records, one doesn't have to be law enforcement to search them and get thr name and address.