When Keanu Reeves uttered the phrase “I’m thinking I’m back” in the trailer for the first John Wick film, it seemed like a self-aware quip intended to kickstart a self-aware homage to his career in the style of The Expendables or Red.
That is almost certainly not what Chad Stahelski created; viewers expecting jokes and gags may have been shocked to watch a heartbreaking story about a man who is mourning the loss of his wife, and only experiences another tragedy when his new puppy is killed by vicious gangsters.
John may be talented at causing violence, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy it.
In fact, the franchise has continued because John keeps getting drawn back into conflicts that he wants desperately to move on from.
It’s this tragic element of the character that elevates the John Wick saga over the other action franchises of its time.
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