John Wick is one of the best and most successful action series of all time, and with the release of John Wick: Chapter 4 in March 2023, that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Aside from its masterful use of Keanu Reeve's star persona, the series' action choreography and inventive kills put it in its own league.
According to his enemies, John Wick is a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will. Even among the waves of highly trained assassins thrown at him throughout four movies, John has no equals and few rivals. His skills and inventiveness make him deadly with any weapon, from pistols to whatever he can grab off a table.
This article discusses violence and contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4
10 John Explodes Out The Gate
John Wick
John Wick brought Keanu Reeves back into the limelight. A large part of John Wick's charm is the thematic parallels between Wick and Reeves. Like how Keanu exploded back into the film world with John Wick, John starts his revenge quest with a bang.
When someone returns to their field after retiring, it's always possible that they may have lost their talents. However, the titular assassin proves his skills with an epic kill in John Wick. John sneaks out of the shadows to execute multiple hitmen in an explosive scene, which proved that both Wick and Reeves meant business.
9 John Kills His Capturers
John Wick
The central conflict of John Wick is not the army of thugs John has to take down to get to his dog's killer. Instead, it's whether his revenge means the end of his peaceful life. He threw away a life of violence for love, but with that gone, he's going down a dark path.
John sits in a darkened warehouse after his enemies capture him, and he prepares for his execution. He calmly kills the scores of henchmen thrown into his path and finally lets his rage out. After an assist from a friendly sniper, John turns the situation around and chokes out his captor, fully enraged for the first time.
8 John Murders Two Assassins With A Pencil
John Wick: Chapter 2
John may not be the first movie character to kill someone with a pencil, but his ruthlessness is a signature part of his charm. In the first John Wick film, Viggo said the titular assassin once killed someone in a bar with a pencil.
In John Wick: Chapter 2, John is fleeing from the disastrous aftermath of his coerced Italian job. He fights through a legion of hitmen, hoping to kill the legend and cash in his bounty. One group, a duo of smartly-dressed assassins, corners a wounded Wick. After a brief struggle, John dispatched them both, in glorious gore, with just a pencil.
7 John Kills Killa In His Nightclub
John Wick: Chapter 4
A recurring scene in the John Wick movies is the club brawl, which appears in the first two installments and returns in John Wick: Chapter 4 in spectacular fashion. Each of these action setpieces is epic.
Chapter 4's club scene starts with a fixed poker game that ends when Wick weaponizes his cards. After discovering that Killa orchestrated an ambush at his club, John is forced to fight through a horde of skilled assassins. This fight highlights just how injured John is at this point. Most notably, though, Killa is put on the receiving end of John's wrath.
6 John Shoots Iosef
John Wick
Iosef Tarasov, played by Alfie Allen, is the arrogant and violent son of a Russian crime boss who unwittingly sets off the events of John Wick. By the time John finds Iosef at the Red Circle nightclub, he is tired and bleeding. One of Viggo's henchmen attacks John, so he has to retreat to receive proper medical attention.
John takes down a warehouse full of guards and comes face-to-face with Iosef, who complains that a dog doesn't warrant this kind of revenge. This only angers John more, and he promptly kills Iosef.
5 John Kills Sumo Assassin
John Wick: Chapter 2
During John's escape from various hitmen during John Wick: Chapter 2, he comes face-to-face with a killer called "Sumo Assassin." Played by Yama, a former professional sumo wrestler, Sumo Assassin is adept at using his size to his advantage and throws Wick through glass signs like a piece of luggage.
John is adaptable, and after taking his foe's gun, he climbs on the Sumo Assassin's back and fires away. It takes multiple shots into the shoulder and two straight down into the head to bring down this assassin.
4 John Shoots Gregori
John Wick
Gregori, Iosef's sidekick, doesn't have much of a role in John Wick beyond taking orders. His death, however, is an important and highly cathartic moment in the film. Though Gregori wasn't in charge, he killed John's dog at the beginning of John Wick, and his death is the starting pistol for one of the film's best action sequences.
Gregori is playing Xbox in a locked-down warehouse. He has a false sense of security, given the snipers located around the compound. Suddenly, a bullet rips through the window and into his head, crossing a name off of John Wick's list.
3 John Rides A Horse And Kills Assassins
John Wick 3: Parabellum
Fans considered horses as gentle, graceful creatures until John Wick: Parabellum. At a horse stable, John proves he can turn anything into a functional and deadly weapon.
Wick begins the fight unarmed, but after trying to pick up a criminal's gun, he is thwarted. Undeterred, he mounts a horse and knocks down his opponent with the animal's massive frame. While that seemed like the end of the fight, John then waits for the man to get up. He sharply strikes the horse's side and watches the animal kick back, killing the other man.
2 John Kills Goons
John Wick 3: Parabellum
John Wick may be very good with improvised weaponry, but he is at his best with his chosen weapon: a pistol. When John finds himself on the run in a room filled with antique, non-functioning revolvers, he makes it work.
In this Parabellum scene, John scavenges functioning parts from various revolvers as hitmen try to breach the building. Wounded and under pressure, he assembles a working firearm and meticulously checks as the door breaks down. Just as his pursuers bust in, John calmly tests his weapon and proves that his talents go beyond simply pulling triggers and breaking arms.
1 John Kills Ernest
John Wick 3: Parabellum
John Wick isn't a short man, but next to the Siberian hitman Ernest, he may as well be a child. At almost seven and a half feet, Ernest tries to get the jump on John before his bounty comes into effect. John, looking through a hidden cache, is caught unaware, but that never stops him.
Ernest corners John in a library, perhaps thinking there aren't many weapons there. Luckily, John is resourceful and manages to use the library books as a formidable weapon. He slaps Ernest with books, and after gaining the upper hand, John breaks Ernest's neck with a book.