Franchises such as Kill Bill, The Fast and the Furious, and Mission Impossible stand out among the pack for embracing the wild allowances of their plots, and for balancing ambitious action with stunning stunt sequences. John Wick joins the iconic group by not taking itself too seriously, while improving its style and lore with each new movie. While the John Wick franchise does not skimp on the action and gore, it still embraces the campiness that comes with new entries growing bigger in scope.
For a franchise that began with Keanu Reeves’ titular character wanting to get revenge for the death of his dog, it has since to expanded to see John Wick on a globe-trotting adventure as he evades an army of assassins. By not shying away from the camp or humor, the John Wick franchise has gone one to become one the most success action franchises in history. With a spin-off movie, Ballerina, and series, The Continental, in the works, the franchise continues going from strength to strength, and it shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
The John Wick Franchise Makes Violence and Campiness A Winning Combination
A winning combination for most violent action movies is to inject elements of comedy. Of course, this is not going to be viable for every action movie out there, but it has proved incredibly successful for franchises such as John Wick and Kill Bill. The John Wick franchise adds humorous and camp elements to show that it doesn’t take itself too seriously despite the blood and violence that is seen. This is a good way to make a violent movie have more appeal, as this shows it brings more to the table that just mindless action. It also provides moments of levity for those who are easily turned off by blood and gore. By embracing camp and humor, it becomes a fun watch that helps the viewer not focus on the violence in the movie, instead seeing it as a by-product of the story and not a main focus.
The Exaggerated World Building & Lore Adds To Its Appeal
The John Wick movies notably have an intricate backstory and lore that is built upon with every movie. Sometimes a movie, TV show, or video game doesn’t need an in-depth story to sell well; sometimes, it is just all about the fun. But when it comes to John Wick, it manages to blend the entertaining fight scenes and comedic moments with a story that helps keep the viewer emotionally invested in the characters and John Wick’s journey.
The franchise starts with John Wick as a hitman who comes out of retirement to get revenge for his dead dog, but the story and lore of the franchise have since been fleshed out as the series grew. The High Table and now-iconic coins were added to give the story more heft. The High Table is a council that is made up of 12 crime lords that control the criminal underworld in the franchise’s world, and have served as the overarching antagonists of the franchise, but became more featured in John Wick 2. One item that greatly helps expand the lore and has become iconic in the John Wick franchise is the gold coins. These are used by the High Table and criminal underworld as currency for items and services. Rather than using regular currency that could be tracked and used to bring down the operation by law enforcement, the coins have a real-world monetary value and are used by criminals rather than traditional money.
These clever pieces of lore, and even The Continental Hotels which serves as a neutral territory for the criminals, help make the overall story more interesting and gives the franchise a purpose outside of Reeves fighting people and kicking ass. Plot points like these have continued to be expanded and built upon with every movie, taking it from a movie about someone wanting revenge for his dead dog to one of the top action franchises in the world today, which is well on its way to becoming a billion-dollar franchise.
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