John Wick was very, very nearly our biggest movie surprise of last year, and for very good reason. The action flick not only reignited Keanu Reeves star status with his badass turn as the titular ex-hitman, but also introduced the world to the action choreography genius of stuntmen-turned-debut-directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. But the movie wasn’t all just incredibly well put together reasons for Keanu Reeves to go all “The One” on some unfortunate bad guys, as the movie also boasted a very intriguing world where killers had their own currency, holy ground and more.
This interesting mythology immediately had fans asking about the possibility of exploring this universe further, and it looks like we’re going to be in luck. With John Wick hitting DVD and Blu Ray in the US yesterday, Movies.com spoke to Stahelski and Leitch who informed them that they already have begun developing a sequel.
“We’re in development right now… We have ideas for days and without blinking twice we know we can outdo the action from the original. It’s the matter of story and how much you like the character. That’s always the most important. If there’s great action but you have a character that no one likes and doesn’t have charisma you’re not going to watch it. Look at any great action star, whether it’s Harrison Ford or Liam Neeson or Robert Downey Jr., pick a name, you love the guy first. Good action, bad action, you just love them in action. So we want to make sure we have a story and a character that everybody loves and then we’ll dress it with action that we promise will be awesome.”
Outdo the action without blinking? With John Wick boasting arguably the best gunfights since Keanu Reeves had a thing for leather coats and punching Lord Elrond, that’s quite a claim. Based on what we’ve seen of their work though, I think Stahelski and Leitch may just be able to back it up though. And it would be glorious(ly violent).
Although it would seem to be a given, the co-directors weren’t able to confirm that Reeves would return. They clearly want him back though, saying that “If we could work with Keanu Reeves for 10 movies you’d have a really cool career.”
With the world they’ve built, they could technically focus on a different assassin instead of Reeves, but as Leitch added “You gotta go on a journey with the guy and have to like the guy”. At this point, I think it’s safe to assume that everybody likes Stahelski and Leitch though, as they are the hot new kids on the block right now and have already been linked to the Chris Pratt led comic book adaptation Cowboy Ninja Viking. Who knows, after that jaunt, they could be back to guide Keanu Reeves through another bout of epic ass-kicking. And I cannot wait!
Last Updated: February 5, 2015
Lourens Corleone
February 5, 2015 at 08:42
Nice
James Francis
February 5, 2015 at 09:27
Hmmm, not that excited. John Wick was good, but repeated viewing shows that it was not put together as well as you suggest. There are several strange dialogue moments that suggest weird editing gaps – as if far more was shot and the final product had been cut down significantly. It also had some large plot holes and strange character motivations that are fine in a first movie, but tend to glare in a sequel. All that suggests to me that the people behind this aren’t as experienced as they seem and I suspect Reeves pulled a few favours to make this the slick beast that it was. All that might be a problem in the sequel. I personally think this one should be left alone, before we end up with another Taken 2 or Another 48 Hours.
CypherGate
February 6, 2015 at 09:45
I thought this movie was brilliant. It was some over the top action sequences with tons of CG etc.