John Wick

For the record, the prequel TV series mentioned a few pages back in this thread isn't just rumored, but currently under production by Lionsgate.

Since it's in a different media, I started a thread on the show in the TV forum.

Briefly, the show has a Working Title of The Continental. Obviously it's focused on the hotel chain, but Keanu as Wick may make an appearance. Film director Chad Stahelski is involved, but to what degree is uncertain due to other calls on his time, including JW3.

I'm of two minds. It sounds like both an excellent idea with tons of potential and a chance for everything to go wrong. The JW universe relies a lot on its Show, Don't Tell approach and highly stylish visual flair. I worry a tv show would sidestep those characteristics.

I'm hoping it features more side stories from the universe that happen to be set chronologically before the movies rather than trying to be an obvious prequel to them.

Worst comes to worst, just have a brief scene of John having one last drink at the bar after the impossible job and just before leaving the underworld permanently for the Grand Finale. Or so he thinks.

edited 16th Jun '17 11:16:59 AM by Krieger22

I agree. I'd find cool if John Wick only sporadically showed up, and was often talk about as this mythical figure. And whenever he showed up, it was in humanizing ways, like him discussing with Winston about retiring, getting out.

A cool idea for this show would be focusing on side-characters of the movie. Such as Kiril (Iosef's bodyguard in the first film and the only mook who matches Wick in combat), Ms. Perkins, Ares and Cassian. It'd help because I think Ruby Rose, Common and the chick who played Ms. Perkins whose name escapes me are all affordable on a tv budget.

Hell, have the Sumo Assassin and the Violin Lady as side-characters. So we see who they were before their grisly meeting with John Wick.

edited 16th Jun '17 1:50:06 PM by Gaon

Whaaaaaat.

I am leaning on the side of cautious optimism here.

I would want any series to focus more on the world and setting of John Wick than the character himself. That's what the films are for.

A show should give the setting time and space to breathe and peel back some more of the mysteries, reveal more of the players and movers and shakers behind the scenes.

The other thing I think a series should do is *not* try to replicate the films' actions scenes for several reasons. One is an issue of time and resources. The reality is that a major motion picture will have the schedule and budget to devote to the amazing action scenes we have in the films, and a television series won't. Don't try to duplicate the films' spectacle.

Two, going off that first point, is that the films focus on Wick. *He* is a major reason - *the* major reason - for the spectacle. He's a one-man murder machine with a body count that puts the Terminator to shame. He's a frickin' legend even amongst the other assassins. Insano extended headshot sequences are his specialty - and I emphasize *his.* Leave those to Wick - and by extension, the movies.

Instead, what I think a series should do for their action scenes is to take the principles demonstrated in the films and scale them down to adapt to the small screen - and in doing so, show characters who aren't at the same level of Wick, but who exist within the same, shall we say, philosophy of genre action. By this I mean clearly filmed and edited action scenes, showcasing plausible actions by skilled individuals intent on maiming and killing each other, with plausible weapons handling showcasing things like magazine capacities, reloads, disarms, etc. Not every action scene needs to be an extended setpiece a la the Red Circle or the Catacombs with dozens of mooks getting gunned down in an intricate ballet of gunplay to capture the *feeling* of the Wickverse.

Heavily implied that John may be the only person in existence who is capable of what he does.

I want there to be a major plot/storyline of the first season where our protagonist characters are trying to stop someone from creating a drug that will make you "almost half as good as John Wick" and acting like such technology will bring about the end of the world.

He's not the Baba Yaga, he's a very naughty boy, oops, sorry, he's the guy you send to kill the Baba Yaga.

There seemed to be a de-mythicizing of John in the sequel - his impossible task wasn't performed by him alone, Cassian actually fights him on even footing, he faces opponents like the guy on the street that knock him on his ass. He's not the only person in existence capable of these feats, he's just someone really good who ended up with a mythical reputation. - his reputation actually exceeds him.

Even the feat that Viggo tells about him - killing three men in a bar with a pencil - is recreated in the sequel, and It's not the moment of badassery Viggo uses to establish how big of a threat John is, it's John literally fighting for his life.

edited 19th Jun '17 7:17:29 AM by Soble

in both films the idea seems to be more John Wick is a legend because he's essentially unstoppable and he doesn't fuck around rather than him just being that OP, Even in the first film, Viggo, Perkins and Kiril (a random Iosef henchman, mind you) manage to put up a fight against Wick.

Both movies make clear he's still human. The scary thing is how he's able to keep up in spite of this.

I don't think it's impossible for a tv-show to do action like JW, Aos did what's essentially John Wick-lite once, and Daredevil has had multiple single-take elaborate action scenes. It's difficult but it's not impossible.

Well if that is too tough/expensive to pull off on a weekly basis, they could do Person of Interest. That was a relatively cheap show with some cool fight scenes (though totally different from the JW style). Season 2 even had a scene that mirrors the end of Wick vs Cassian (whole "knife is stuck in your heart, you can either live or fight me", plus the fight being between two master assassins).

I do think the show should only do Wick-like efficiency if it's focusing on a character like Cassian. If someone like Marcus showed up, it should follow a different logic. I stand by the best idea for me would be to focus on lesser characters of the franchise and have a revolving door cast shifting between Kiril, Ares, Cassian, Perkins, Violin Lady, Sumo Guy, the Beggar Assassin and with special guest appearances by Laurence Fishburne and Willem Dafoe once every blue moon.

I think it was either Keanu or the director who commented, that there's John and then there's John Wick. The latter cannot be beaten, but the former can be and is emotionally very damaged.

It was Keanu, and it was actually the other way around (John, the vulnerable family man, and John Wick the unstoppable war machine).

Chapter 2 more or less directly references this by having four different occasions someone dramatically calls the main character "Mr. Wick" as the soundtrack swells up and there's a dramatic pause (Abram Tarasov does it, a Jewish guy who holds John's clothes does it, The Sommelier does it and later on the Bowery King does it). And every time John looks uncomfortable, as if that isn't his actual name.

edited 19th Jun '17 12:52:45 PM by Gaon

That's what I said. Or did I mix "former" (John) and "latter" (John Wick)...

edited 19th Jun '17 1:00:46 PM by TerminusEst

It was actually my mistake, but still.

Point here is you don't mess with the Boogeyman.

John Wick is getting a comic book prequel showing his origin.

Written by Greg Pak (of Incredible Hercules fame) and drawn by Giovanni Valetta (from the Tarzan Pathfinder comic).

I am excited (look at that gorgeous art!) but also cautious (I'm really not sure about showing John Wick's origin story. As a character he works best without one).

edited 20th Jun '17 2:02:50 PM by Gaon

As someone who doesn't have easy or instant access to comic books and would rather have lore information doled out in the original format, news of comic book prequels always sadden me.

I love comics but I don't want John to have a definitive origin.

Payday 2 dropped some hints, but I will be pissed if they depict the impossible job.

I agree.

It's possible we'll just be getting a "Year One" type of story where we see John Wick fresh out of the Marines, slowly entering the criminal world and getting to kickstart his friendship and relations with Viggo and Winston. Which is still not optimal, mind you, but it's less bad than the Impossible Task.

edited 22nd Jun '17 10:06:37 AM by Gaon

Since these got overlooked due to the announcements of the TV series and comic book:

I had John pegged as the guy who would just lurk around whoever borrowed his phone charger until it was returned.

Another Symphony of Violence short, because why not?

Maybe going after the people who borrowed his phone-charger is the plot of the prequel comic book. ("Man you just dropped that phone charger down the gutter. Who did that belong to, anyway?" "..John Wick." ".....Oh.").

You could say there are three symphonies of violence, in a sense. The museum shootout of Chapter II is synchronized with Vivaldi's the Four Seasons, with the gunshots providing the percussion.

Also: Michael Nyqvist, who played the iconic exasperated Big Bad Viggo Tarasov in the first film, passed away after a brief battle with lung cancer. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Let us remember his best damn scene in the movie:

Within the angle of this franchise, it's tragic because I really wanted John Wick to die in Chapter 3 (this seems to be where his story is heading, according to the directors), and during his death he'd see hallucinations of Viggo, Ares (as both say "Be seeing you" as their Famous Last Words) and then finally his wife (who'd tell him "Come on John, let's go home"). Michael's death puts a stop to that. R.I.P.

RIP Mr Nyquist. You were excellent in John Wick.

That was a damn good scene, yes. Gonna miss him.

edited 28th Jun '17 2:20:59 PM by AdricDePsycho