John Wick: Chapter 4 is said to be the longest film in the series yet, and director Chad Stahelski has put the extra runtime to good use. John Wick 4 will feature more mythology and ninjas, Stahelski recently told Variety while doing press for his latest production, Netflix’s Day Shift.
"I love mythology. I love a good myth. I don’t really believe — at least for the ‘John Wick’ movies — in a three-act structure. I believe in storytelling and leaving it. You know, we’ve always seen John Wick as Odysseus. So we take the time we need to tell the story. As long as we don’t fall asleep watching it, we keep it going. But I guess there is a bathroom limit."
John Wick: Chapter 4 will find Keanu Reeves’ titular assassin on the warpath as he goes after the High Table. For those unaware, the John Wick universe consists of a council comprising the representatives from the most feared criminal organizations of the world, called the "High Table," and they’ve laid out rules that every assassin, mob boss, or even a small-time thug working under them must follow or otherwise face fatal consequences.
John Wick broke the rules multiple times and teamed up with the rogue crime lord, the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), at the end of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, to take down the high table. Every succeeding film in the series has introduced more of the underworld mythology while exploring Wick’s past and cranking up the action set pieces. John Wick 4 will be no different.
Where John Wick 3 had ninjas on motorcycles, JW4 will put them in cars, but there will be a lot of them, all to be eventually brutalized by Keanu Reeves. "Ninjas in cars, I guess. I don’t know! It’s always ninjas, man," Stahelski said.
Chad Stahelski has always been an admirer of Japanese culture and cinema, with Akira Kurosawa being one of his biggest inspirations, and it's reflected in Stahelski’s work as well. Furthermore, John Wick 4 was filmed in Japan and features Hiroyuki Sanada and Rina Sawayama in key roles, with the trailer showing them fighting bad guys with Katanas and Keanu Reeves wielding nunchucks. There will also be an epic battle between Sanada and Donnie Yen’s characters.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Will Be The Longest, Most Epic Film In The Series
John Wick: Chapter 4 will have a high bar to meet in terms of action. The earlier films, with their brutal yet stylish fight scenes, created problems for Stahelski and the crew on John Wick 4, but they found a way to overcome it, and the film will feature the best action sequences of the series yet.
John Wick is sort of a mythical boogeyman in the films, and even a passing mention of his name has the fiercest criminals cowering in fear. It really becomes challenging to create a compelling narrative with such an indestructible protagonist, but Stahelski says that’s where his best ideas come from. How to make John Wick suffer? And John Wick 4 will find new and interesting ways to make the hitman suffer.
John Wick 4 will also boasts a stacked cast consisting of Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Clancy Brown, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Scott Adkins, and Marko Zaror.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will hit theaters on March 24, 2023.