M
Matthew Razak
Guest
John Wick. Mr. Wick. The Babayaga. Jonathan. Jardani Jovonovich. Keanu Reeve’s mass murdering action hero goes by a lot of names, but no matter what he’s called, his franchise has been nothing but awesome. However, just which parts are the most awesome? We answer that here with this ranking of every John Wick movie and TV Show (yes, there’s a TV show) as we take a look at which is the best and, which is the worst.
Ranking Every John Wick Movie and Show From Worst to Best
For a franchise that got its start as a one-off action movie with a struggling star, John Wick has become a box office juggernaut, exploding into four films, a TV Show, a video game, and the upcoming Ballerina spin-off film. It also launched the directing career of stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski and brought us a reunion of Lawrence Fisburne and Reeves. It’s hard to believe considering that Reeve’s also portrayed Neo in The Matrix and Bill from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but Wick has become his most iconic role. From the non-stop physical abuse to the not-so-secret world of well-dressed assassins, the franchise has created a world people want to keep returning to.
Most important, however, the movies have given us some of the most groundbreaking action and fight sequences ever, with every film so far having at least one scene that lives in the pantheon of the greatest fight sequences of all time. And while the movies may get increasingly complex in their world-building, so far, Mr. Wick’s universe has not overstayed its welcome. In fact, it’s fair to argue that none of the films/shows below are bad, just varying levels of good. But what’s the worst of the best? Read on.
5. The Continental
When The Continental was announced a lifetime ago in 2019, it created quite the staggering amount of buzz, but, by the time it released in 2023, that hype had dwindled a bit and, for the most part, the series came and went without the fanfare one might expect from the piece of universe expansion for John Wick. It also didn’t help that the series was housed on the redheaded stepchild of streaming, Peacock, or that it turned out to be just OK. Far from bad, the show, which tells the story of how Winston took control of New York’s Continental and met his loyal friend Charon, features a grittier ’70s take on the franchise with a bit less kung fu and a bit more standard gun fights. The action is OK, and the story is fine, especially thanks to an unhinged turn by Mel Gibson, but, in the end, The Continental feels like it’s missing one key piece: John Wick himself.
4. John Wick: Chapter II
Ranking the rest of these movies is often just a matter of preference since they’re all good, but John Wick: Chapter II feels like the weakest of the four films starring Keanu Reeves. The movie, on the whole, feels like a bridge film between the first and the more confident third. This may be because the original movie was never set to launch an entire franchise, leaving the filmmakers to spend a bit too much time explaining why Wick was back again after seemingly escaping from the High Table a second time. There are stellar action sequences, of course, especially a perfectly muted fight between Wick and Cassian (Common) on a metro and the extended concluding action sequence set in an art exhibit full of mirrors, but nothing that demands the film sit above any of the others. Chapter II is a brilliant action movie relative to almost all other action films, but when compared to its brethren, it is just a little less.
3. John Wick: Chapter IV
John Wick: Chapter IV is a lesson in bombast. The movie, a whopping 169 minutes long, takes everything up a level from the three films before it in the most glorious of ways. It turns Wick (and often those he fights) into bulletproof killing machines, has action sequences that run for 20+ minutes straight, and dives so deep into the lore of Wick that it can barely breathe. It is the perfect example of bigger-is-better thinking and it almost nearly pulls it off to perfection. From the multiple showdowns with Caine (the legendary Donny Yen) to the ridiculously prolonged stair fight at the end of the film, nothing in this movie thinks about going small, even once. The result is a film constantly on the edge of spiraling out of control and sometimes doing so. It’s that small amount of “too much” that puts this film in the number three spot instead of above the first film or even all the way up at number one.
2. John Wick
It’s hard to remember considering the fact that the next three films are basically non-stop action set pieces, but John Wick takes its time. The film spends a shockingly long time setting up the revenge thriller to come without once tilting its hand that there are more layers behind it. It takes the now-legendary death of Wick’s dog and a tone-shiffting fight sequence to truly kick the movie into high gear. Even then, you don’t fully understand the scope until crime boss Viggo Tarasov’s prolific diatribe to his son about just who John Wick is. So, while the film may not have the same ridiculous action as the ones to follow, it makes up for it in spades by delivering a tightly wrapped revenge thriller that is instantly iconic and, importantly, establishes a hidden universe that you desperately want to know more about. Put all this together, and John Wick might be the best movie as a movie in the entire franchise.
1. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parrabellum
Why does John Wick: Chapter 3 have a subtitle? Who knows, but about five minutes into it, you realize you don’t care. Parabellum explodes onto the screen, having let Chapter 2 do all the heavy plot lifting to get us to a point where Wick is simply set to kill as many people as possible. From there, it delivers multiple iconic fight and action sequences, with each somehow topping the next. While subjectively, this may be the weakest storyline of the films — Wick basically is running from one fight to the next — it doesn’t matter because it’s what the story needs. Stahelski is at his best with three with nearly every fight being a constant “Oh shit” moment. From the fight sequence in a vintage weapon museum to the battle alongside Sofia Al-Azwar (Halle Berry) and her two dogs to the movie’s bonkers final fight, Parrabelumm delivers. Expanding the Wick universe exponentially and delivering ramped-up action to a preposterous scale, the film rises to the top of a collection of movies and shows that all deliver.
And that is every John Wick movie and show ranked. Do you agree? Let us know.
Click here to view the article...
Ranking Every John Wick Movie and Show From Worst to Best
For a franchise that got its start as a one-off action movie with a struggling star, John Wick has become a box office juggernaut, exploding into four films, a TV Show, a video game, and the upcoming Ballerina spin-off film. It also launched the directing career of stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski and brought us a reunion of Lawrence Fisburne and Reeves. It’s hard to believe considering that Reeve’s also portrayed Neo in The Matrix and Bill from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but Wick has become his most iconic role. From the non-stop physical abuse to the not-so-secret world of well-dressed assassins, the franchise has created a world people want to keep returning to.
Most important, however, the movies have given us some of the most groundbreaking action and fight sequences ever, with every film so far having at least one scene that lives in the pantheon of the greatest fight sequences of all time. And while the movies may get increasingly complex in their world-building, so far, Mr. Wick’s universe has not overstayed its welcome. In fact, it’s fair to argue that none of the films/shows below are bad, just varying levels of good. But what’s the worst of the best? Read on.
5. The Continental
When The Continental was announced a lifetime ago in 2019, it created quite the staggering amount of buzz, but, by the time it released in 2023, that hype had dwindled a bit and, for the most part, the series came and went without the fanfare one might expect from the piece of universe expansion for John Wick. It also didn’t help that the series was housed on the redheaded stepchild of streaming, Peacock, or that it turned out to be just OK. Far from bad, the show, which tells the story of how Winston took control of New York’s Continental and met his loyal friend Charon, features a grittier ’70s take on the franchise with a bit less kung fu and a bit more standard gun fights. The action is OK, and the story is fine, especially thanks to an unhinged turn by Mel Gibson, but, in the end, The Continental feels like it’s missing one key piece: John Wick himself.
4. John Wick: Chapter II
Ranking the rest of these movies is often just a matter of preference since they’re all good, but John Wick: Chapter II feels like the weakest of the four films starring Keanu Reeves. The movie, on the whole, feels like a bridge film between the first and the more confident third. This may be because the original movie was never set to launch an entire franchise, leaving the filmmakers to spend a bit too much time explaining why Wick was back again after seemingly escaping from the High Table a second time. There are stellar action sequences, of course, especially a perfectly muted fight between Wick and Cassian (Common) on a metro and the extended concluding action sequence set in an art exhibit full of mirrors, but nothing that demands the film sit above any of the others. Chapter II is a brilliant action movie relative to almost all other action films, but when compared to its brethren, it is just a little less.
3. John Wick: Chapter IV
John Wick: Chapter IV is a lesson in bombast. The movie, a whopping 169 minutes long, takes everything up a level from the three films before it in the most glorious of ways. It turns Wick (and often those he fights) into bulletproof killing machines, has action sequences that run for 20+ minutes straight, and dives so deep into the lore of Wick that it can barely breathe. It is the perfect example of bigger-is-better thinking and it almost nearly pulls it off to perfection. From the multiple showdowns with Caine (the legendary Donny Yen) to the ridiculously prolonged stair fight at the end of the film, nothing in this movie thinks about going small, even once. The result is a film constantly on the edge of spiraling out of control and sometimes doing so. It’s that small amount of “too much” that puts this film in the number three spot instead of above the first film or even all the way up at number one.
2. John Wick
It’s hard to remember considering the fact that the next three films are basically non-stop action set pieces, but John Wick takes its time. The film spends a shockingly long time setting up the revenge thriller to come without once tilting its hand that there are more layers behind it. It takes the now-legendary death of Wick’s dog and a tone-shiffting fight sequence to truly kick the movie into high gear. Even then, you don’t fully understand the scope until crime boss Viggo Tarasov’s prolific diatribe to his son about just who John Wick is. So, while the film may not have the same ridiculous action as the ones to follow, it makes up for it in spades by delivering a tightly wrapped revenge thriller that is instantly iconic and, importantly, establishes a hidden universe that you desperately want to know more about. Put all this together, and John Wick might be the best movie as a movie in the entire franchise.
1. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parrabellum
Why does John Wick: Chapter 3 have a subtitle? Who knows, but about five minutes into it, you realize you don’t care. Parabellum explodes onto the screen, having let Chapter 2 do all the heavy plot lifting to get us to a point where Wick is simply set to kill as many people as possible. From there, it delivers multiple iconic fight and action sequences, with each somehow topping the next. While subjectively, this may be the weakest storyline of the films — Wick basically is running from one fight to the next — it doesn’t matter because it’s what the story needs. Stahelski is at his best with three with nearly every fight being a constant “Oh shit” moment. From the fight sequence in a vintage weapon museum to the battle alongside Sofia Al-Azwar (Halle Berry) and her two dogs to the movie’s bonkers final fight, Parrabelumm delivers. Expanding the Wick universe exponentially and delivering ramped-up action to a preposterous scale, the film rises to the top of a collection of movies and shows that all deliver.
And that is every John Wick movie and show ranked. Do you agree? Let us know.
Click here to view the article...