John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
- Before Keanu Reeves was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- The incredible score for John Wick: Chapter 4 was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is a 2023 American neo-noir action thriller directed by Chad Stahelski, the longest and most ambitious entry in the franchise at 169 minutes. Keanu Reeves returns as the legendary assassin, who must fight his way to freedom by challenging the High Table directly, battling across continents from the Osaka Continental to the Berlin nightclub scene to the streets and stairways of Paris. Bill Skarsgård plays the Marquis de Gramont, a High Table representative who deputizes the blind assassin Caine, played by Donnie Yen, to kill Wick.
The action choreography reached the franchise's most extraordinary heights — the Osaka Continental sequence featured a neon-lit, multi-floor battle of breathtaking scale, the Berlin nightclub fight used a rotating dance floor as a combat platform, and the climactic 222-step stairway battle at Sacré-Cœur was one of the most grueling and inventive action sequences ever filmed. Donnie Yen's blind assassin Caine, fighting with a cane sword and preternatural hearing, was the franchise's most compelling antagonist. John Wick: Chapter 4 earned $440 million worldwide on a $100 million budget and was acclaimed as one of the greatest action films ever made.
