John Wick

Greenlight Collectibles will be making official diecast models of the cars of John Wick. First up are John's Mustang and the Chevelle he was later loaned, both in 1:64 (Hot Wheels size, in other words, but way more detailed and pricey).

...Come to think of it, how did John explain having a motorcycle drive into the side of that Chevelle, anyway?

Because he's Batman John Wick.

So I saw the first movie and I have to said I liked, not as much as everyone said but that is pretty much hype backlash.

it is bad that I feel bad for Viggo sons? I mean he is a idiot but pissing off Baba yaga itself?....yeah.

He killed a dog and laughed about it.

You're pretty much dead to me after that.

Also it's hard for me to sympathize with Viggo's son after this scene:

The real evil of the deed isn't that he steal a man's car and kills his dog, it's that he does it both for basically no reason other than "I liked his ride". He murders a dog because it wouldn't stop barking.

He also uses a innocent woman as a human shield during the Red Club shoot-out.

It is honestly a lot easier to sympathize with Viggo, who has to deal with the wrath of his old friend he had no part in triggering. Movie itself seems to lean this way because Iosef gets a pathetic, karmic, satisfying death whilst Viggo gets to go out in a dignified manner ("Be seeing you, John.")

I dont think it get that way, is just the movie dosent let John to get a revenge fantasy like that since soon after, Viggo murder Marcus, something he can do because he help Wick and broke is contract, is son is a piece of shit sure but John decide to cause death on is way because some silly dog.

as Viggo said, were john goes, death follows

To quote Mike from Movies with Mike, "you did this to you". Iosef is the direct cause of his entire misfortune. He did this to himself. He has literally no one to blame but himself.

This movie operates on a highly mythological vibe. John Wick is both a person and the literal avatar of death itself. Iosef's sin was blasphemy, he insulted the Boogeyman's name. And for this he has to be smitten down by glorious, divine wrath.

There are also the divine rules of the Continental, which you never break. Period. Viggo's sympathetic quality is because he's just trying to handle the gargantuan mess his son made. But even he assures his doom when he breaks the rules of the Continental to get at John. It's yet another act of blasphemy against the proverbial gods.

Sure, death clings to John, but he was content with staying at home and honoring his wife's memory. Iosef had to come to his cause and fuck with him.

You kill my dog like that, (if I was allowed to have one, which I'm not thanks to the council's rules on dogs in high flats - though I had one as a kid), you would be lucky to get shot. Knives and hammers are much more easy to get hold of over here than guns are, and I've got a pretty good knowledge in how to use them effectively.

The Movies with Mikey video for John Wick is really very interesting. Everyone should see it, as it points out that how very mythologized the entire movie is (as is the sequel):

edited 1st Jul '17 7:54:30 AM by alliterator

Which it only highlight the somewhat petty struggle of to men, because for all John griving Iosff if kinda right: is just a fucking dog.

Also for me Viggo is sympathy because at the end of the day IT IS SON, we see him sad for is death and he kill Marcus for screwing him out(actually, I was surprise how marcus didnt see that coming) something he have himself coming and yet John decide to go again because in the end he was hurt.

for all the thing about being death avatar and all this mythos around him, the final fight was very quiet and look more like sad struggle between two men who hurt each other.

Did you miss his entire speech about how the dog was essentially the last shred of humanity he had? It's not just a dog. Really, I can understand sympathizing with Viggo, but Iosef doesn't have a single sympathetic trait in the entire film. He uses innocent people as human shields, he mistreats his friends and employees, he disrespects his superiors, and he kills a dog and steals a car for very petty reasons. His first scene also has him coming back from a hit he just executed for his father, so it's not like he's this innocent kid.

Viggo doesn't really help his case here by trying to patch things up with Wick via sending a 12-hitman squad to his house, which just serves to escalate the conflict. Then he breaks the rules of the Continental, which is the greatest sin one could commit in the JW universe. And yes, he is fighting for his son's life, but his son is a vicious moron who fucked up. Thicker Than Water only goes so far before it becomes outright immoral (if my hypothetical son did something of the sort I'd just let him die).

Him killing Marcus is halfway understandable but also intensely hypocritical for two reasons. 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). The second reason is that 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.

The final fight being less impressive is a result of the film's boomerang sense of realism. Despite this outlandish and bizarre world, the fight scenes often run on surprisingly plausible logic, so John Wick is slow, tired and weary by the end of the first film and Viggo is out-of-shape from sitting behind a desk for a while. Of course their bout won't be impressive.

Unexpected fanart.

Not explicit, although you might want to check behind you anyway.

(skip the intro to 2:40, it's horrible)

Mikey, the fabled man who did an analysis detailing how the first John Wick paralleled greek mythology and how the film was built around catharsis, did a second one talking about how Chapter 2 is about modern-day gods, by which he means technology, hollywood, video games. He called the first film "The Boogeyman Destroys Mt. Olympus", he calls this one "The Boogeyman Destroys Hollywood".

It's an interesting analysis, though I maintain the idea the second is the Ragnarok of the old gods of the Continental as the New God (Bowery King) rises.

Anyone heard anything about the comic series?

The official page says it's shipping soon, but I haven't seen any digital options either.

FYI, the movie is available to stream on HBO GO now.

"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)."

So is isoef close to Viggo, no matter how jerkissh the guy is, he blame Marcus for falling into is contract which is not different for what Isoeff did in the first place, Viggo allow John to do finally did what he wanted: to kill is son and ONLY is son, Marcus could have killed John in the church and instead help him.

"The final fight being less impressive is a result of the film's boomerang sense of realism. "

Kinda but I think is because the third act is somewhat divorce for the story in a good way: John here is not boogeyman anymore, just a man who hurt someone(Viggo) and is being hurt in return(By Viggo killing Marcus) there is not sense of judgment here, just to people REALLY trying to murder each other.

Powerful ending.

Heh.

My Alternate Character Interpretation is that John is a man who fell into old habits with the first movie. His wife was a more realistic version of a Morality Chain than most with the dog allowing him to just relax and enjoy retirement.

With no dog, he wanted to go on a killing spree again because at least there's SOMETHING he knows how to do.

I also think selling out his son was Daddy's Moral Event Horizon and after he did it, he was suicidal because he realized it wasn't worth living afterward.

edited 14th Nov '17 12:13:20 AM by CharlesPhipps

I managed to read the first issue of the comic.

It's not bad. It's not as well-written as the films (there's some rather clumsy flashbacks midway through) and it suffers from Recycled Plot (once again someone fucked with John, once again revenge is his goal and once again john has a pet, in this case a stray cat) but it's not bad. The first issue primarily serves to introduce the plot: John is back from somewhere (implicitly back from some sort of military service) and is trying to lead on a quiet life, when he stumbles upon old enemies of his trying to kill his old buddy Charon (the receptionist of the Continental). Said old enemies are apparently something to do with the drug trade and their chief is someone called Three Bills who seems to be our Big Bad.

Interesting info about the 'verse and Wick himself;

• We get some glimpses into John's childhood. Apparently he was involved with the drug trade since his early years until the relationship escalated into a bloodbath at some point.

• John and Charon go way back.

• We see Charon handing a coin to a cop, implying the police force is part of the Continental economy.

• The ending of the issue shows the Russian mob setting their sights on John, so we may see how he got to know Viggo eventually.

Overall, it's so-so. Can't say I condone some of its decisions, but it's not bad at all. There are some nifty moments ( John leaping across a window using a sofa cushion to shield himself from the shards and then killing 6 people was very Wickian) and it looks like it'd pick up in the next few issues.

Some news on John Wick 3.

The main antagonist is Hiroyuki Sanada, who co-starred with Reeves in 47 Ronin. He's the head of his own syndicate. Lawrence Fishburne, Common, and Ruby Rose(!!) are all returning as well.

Also, I thought this was an interesting, if short, review.

Why is Ruby Rose surprising? She was left in almost an identical situation as Common.

Almost, but John pulled the knife on Ares rather than leaving it in like with Cassian. So I figured she was supposed to die there.

...I didn't expect Ares to return either. They played that more like a death than a "she'll be back," moment.

Maybe she'll get a decent fight with John this time.

I guess I just interpreted it differently. Looking at the trope page I am clearly in the minority but it's funny you specifically said it wasn't an "I'll be back" moment since, well, she went out saying "be seeing you" which isn't terribly far off.

The way I interpreted that was it was a reference to when John killed Viggo. The "be seeing you" line is used ironically - they know they're about to die, so they're saying that they'll see him again in hell.

Because of that interpretation, I don't know how I feel about Ares surviving thematically.

edited 19th Jan '18 8:16:20 PM by Soble