Throughout the history of Hollywood, many fictional heroes have seen their odysseys drift in and out of the pop culture zeitgeist, but it’s the serialized plights that tend to stick out the most. From the Man with No Name and Marty McFly, to Frank Drebin and Max Rockatansky, the great cinematic protagonists and the worlds built around them have captured imaginations across generations. 82v5w

Arguably, the man of the current moment is John Wick, the latest and greatest of action heroes to have tucked themselves into Keanu Reeves’ back pocket over the course of his career. His adventures have consistently scored high with critics and ticket sales since 2014, and the train won’t be stopping any time soon. Even now, he’s dominating the Hulu sphere with not one, not two, but three different excursions.

Per FlixPatrol, John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum are all charting together on Hulu’s film rankings in the United States at the time of writing. A respective third, fourth, and 10th place finish for the noir-tinted, body-dropping epics are sizing up against the likes of Twilight (sixth place), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (eighth place), and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (ninth place) for one of the most biblical streaming wars yet.

The John Wick films follow Jardani Jovonovich (also known as John Wick, Baba Yaga, and The Bogeyman), a retired hitman who built himself a mythical reputation within the international assassin community. But when a group of Russian-American gangsters kill his dog, John snaps back into action and sets off on a vengeful journey, which leads to greater and greater conflict with the assassin underworld.

The special sauce of the John Wick films lies in their elite technical prowess, rather than any true narrative brilliance. Although, it’s not completely lacking in the latter department, either. There’s a thesis established in the first film regarding the rules that assassins must follow, lest they be no different from bloodthirsty animals. This, of course, serves to highlight how these rules make the act of killing even more disturbing, as though murder can be justified by following the rules like a sports match, and also by carrying it out on those who break said rules.

But, again, it’s the way that John Wick presents itself that makes it so effective, rather than what it’s presenting. Disciplined camera work and neon dystopias make for visual treat after scrumptious visual treat, and the worldbuilding — always shown and never told — is refreshingly organic to the point of being world-class. It helps, of course, that the world itself has so many curious bells, whistles, and backstories occupying it, and even better is how they all ultimately end up in service to John and his plight rather than anything self-indulgent.

Indeed, you’re never going to see a John Wick film thrive on realistic combat, sturdy intrigue, or revelatory emotions, but you’ll also be hard-pressed to find a franchise that not only does what John Wick does, but accomplishes it so robustly and consistently time and time again. To channel the man himself: “Good, lots of good.”

It’s a good thing Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have more gumption than they know what to do with, else we wouldn’t have been gifted the full form of one of the all-time finest action franchises in John Wick. With four movies under its belt, a fifth one in development, a spinoff film due next year, and a prequel miniseries set to grace Peacock next month, the John Wick mythos still remains a gold mine of untapped stories, and we’re thankful to be occupying the timeline where it didn’t stop at three movies.

That, of course, implies a timeline where John Wick did, in fact, call it quits after John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and it’s a timeline that apparently flirted quite dangerously with our own.

In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, Stahelski himself reminisced on the days when he and Reeves were all but certain that Parabellum would be John’s swansong, noting how a fatal end for the eponymous hitman was originally planned for Chapter 3 before logistics dictated a more open-ended ending.

“Keanu and I thought that doing a cool thing like a tragedy – everything over a long enough timeline is a tragedy – but wouldn’t it be cool if we found a cool way to balance out that John gave his life, and it became a five-hour movie. So we’re like ‘Okay, let’s just stick with what we know; we’ll have John do this, we’ll put Sophia in here, we do this, we do something cool,’ and we’ll kind of leave that open end where John has Winston, and we’ll leave it like ‘Okay, he’s gonna go after the High Table.’”

He would go on to reveal that the dubious would-be ending to the franchise quickly dashed any plans on pumping the brakes on John Wick, and the rest is history.

“And then we did the third movie, and then were really done, and then it was a year later, and we both felt like we kind of let everybody down on the ending of number three… People really like John, and so they’re like “What the f***, guys">The Continental: From the World of John Wick, a three-episode miniseries that tells the story of how Winston seized control of New York City’s Continental Hotel, premieres on Peacock on Sept. 22, with later episodes releasing every Friday until the series finale on Oct. 6.

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With all their absurdity, gratuitous violence, and somewhat unbelievable physics, the fight scenes in John Wick are the best in the business. Part of that is down to the work of director Chad Stahelski, who himself was a stuntman and knows how to organize a great action scene. However, another large reason for the brilliance of John Wick’s out-there violence is the actual stunt coordinator, Stephen Dunlevy. And, with the announcement that a new film — Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas — is entering the canon, he’s had an opportunity to explain why the writers and creators have gone in this direction, and why the art of ballet is so important to the franchise.

Ballerina follows de Armas as she trains to become an assassin like the titular character of the John Wick franchise. The spin-off (which takes place between Chapter 3 — Parabellum and Chapter 4) is very much focused on her character, although it’s been confirmed we’ll see the return of Keanu as Wick, as well as one of Lance Reddick’s last on-screen appearances.

During an interview with Screenrant, Dunlevy was keen to discuss the importance of the dance art in the John Wick world, especially with regards to how it turns the assassins into the badasses they are — and not just in of giving them the ability to spin elegantly between bullets, nunchucks, and knives:

“One thing we wanted to stay away from was like, ‘Oh, it’s a ballerina,’ having her pirouette into a kick and everything like that. In the world of John Wick they learn ballet because it’s the determination and grit to be able to create that physicality being able to stick through ballet. That’s where we’re going with that world. It’s the grit and determination to keep going even when your toenails are falling off, they’re bleeding, you’ve got a damaged ankle. You’ve got to wrap it up and keep going. And that’s more where we’re focused with that.”

So, it seems that Wick’s ability to carry on despite gunshot wounds and a few well-timed smacks to the head stems somewhat from time dealing with the pain of learning ballet. While we’re sure the grace and flexibility of the training certainly help too, this perspective makes a lot more sense, given the extended action sequences and the fact that the assassins often find themselves having to recover from some pretty gnarly injuries.

Ballerina will focus on the early stages of de Armas’ character’s assassin career, unlike the rest of the franchise which follows Wick coming out of retirement to avenge the death of his puppy. As a result, many fans are incredibly excited to learn more about the mysterious, often confusing John Wick universe, specifically how these elite killers are trained, and how they become the monstrous murderers they are. It will also give us a chance to delve deeper into how Wick is seen in the world, beyond the fact that everyone is absolutely terrified of crossing him. Additionally, it’s been said to be yet another revenge movie, so that much-loved aspect of the franchise remains.

Dunlevy confirmed all of this in that same Screenrant interview:

“You’re dealing with John Wick, with Keanu. That character is an older grizzled combat veteran. He’s seen it all, done at all. So he has a more refined style. Everything he does, he’s survived it. With Ana [de Armas]’ character, in Ballerina, what you’re seeing is a younger, more rookie-ish assassin that’s coming through. She’s going to make mistakes her. She’s going to learn. Part of the amazing thing with those characters is the ability to adapt to the surroundings, and to use weapons that are everyday objects and things like that. What you’re going to see in that more is you’re going to see her learning to adapt to her surroundings, and her environments. And seeing, basically, where that training came from. Why John Wick has survived so long is because of the foundation of training they’ve got. So you’re going to see her make mistakes and adapt and survive.”

While plenty of Ballerina remains up in the air, with what we know so far, we’re sure it will be as mesmerizing as any performance of Swan Lake.

John Wick: Chapter 4 continues to dominate the box office and serve as the perfect reminder of why you should never mess with someone’s dog. While there’s no telling when and where the titular character’s rampage will end, cinemagoers are taking this opportunity to look back at some of the highlights from the franchise, with one going so far as to suggest Chapter 3 – Parabellum is one of the few good threequels in cinema history.

Quoting Christopher Nolan from one of his recent interviews, where he said “there are no good third sequels,” the made a case for why Parabellum might have broken this industry curse, casually glossing over numerous fantastic movies that would beg to differ.

Social media was ready to respond with a flurry of counterarguments, and some of the movies they thought of were actually among the best in history. Who could deny that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, winning 11 Academy Awards in 2003, is one such flick?

pic.twitter.com/PQb1wcKRB1

— TheRationalNewYorker (@TRR2468) March 27, 2023

What about Toy Story 3? Would that supersede John Wick 3?

Can we bring animated movies to the debate too? Cause I got a little something here to add. pic.twitter.com/j46pr4DAMb

— treystar679 (@treystar679) March 26, 2023

And going for threequels that aren’t necessarily perfect, but really, really good, people can think of stuff like Return of the Jedi and The Prisoner of Azkaban off the top of their heads.

Return of the Jedi anyone??? Perfect no, but good, absolutely pic.twitter.com/AhN4qZS86m

— Docypoos (@addiemac2020) March 27, 2023

pic.twitter.com/PYdS1fNWQM

— TheRationalNewYorker (@TRR2468) March 27, 2023

Besides, Parabelluim was probably one of the weaker entries in the John Wick franchise.

John Wick 3 was easily the weakest of the franchise. Full stop.

— DudesExMachina (@DudesExMachina) March 26, 2023

John Wick is understandably the talk of the town for the time being, so don’t be surprised if you run into any more of these hot takes in the days and weeks to come.

The entire entertainment industry was plunged into a state of shock yesterday when character actor Lance Reddick suddenly ed away at the age of 60, with the news of his death coming completely out of the blue.

After all, the veteran of countless high-profile movies and TV shows had been hitting the press trail for John Wick: Chapter 4 as recently as this week, and it was no surprise that so many of his friends, colleagues, and contemporaries were quick to voice their utter shock and disbelief at the ing of a star who could always be relied on to give a solid performance regardless of which genre or medium he was appearing in.

The fourth installment in the ass-kicking action franchise hits theaters next week, and will be tinged with bittersweetness as a result. Reddick will reprise his role as wizened sage and Continental veteran Charon, and was lined up to return once again in both Ana de Armas-led spinoff Ballerina and the in-development Chapter 5.

With that in mind, his reflections on the past, present, and future of John Wick in an interview with Collider conducted only several days ago is more poignant and powerful than anyone wanted it to be.

“For me, it’s two things. First of all, I’m just amazed that it’s gotten to this point because it started as such a small, almost an independent film that I wasn’t sure was going to be much more than maybe a cult hit that I knew was just a great script that turned into this juggernaut.

So, the fact that I’m part of not just such a big franchise, but such a big franchise that’s so, so well done, and it literally changed action films and then created a world that you’d never seen before is amazing to me. And then, the fact that I’ve been fortunate in my career to have had that experience, particularly television, more than once. So I’m just kind of, “Damn, this is my career. This is cool.”

With Chapter 4 earning rave reviews to continue John Wick‘s ascension as arguably the finest cinematic universe in the industry, it’s reassuring to know that the future is in safe hands, even if it’s tragic that Reddick won’t be around to see where it ends up heading next.

Halle Berry has confirmed that her character Sofia Al-Azwar won’t appear in the fourth John Wick installment, but fans might still get to see the badass assassin in her own spinoff movie.

Sofia served as a much-needed ally to the titular Jonathan Wick in Chapter 3 – Parabellum, showcasing an impressive sense of marksmanship and combat versatility that put her on par with Wick’s own killing chops as the two of them essentially took on an army of gunmen in one of the film’s action-packed sequences.

Casablanca’s Continental Hotel’s manager didn’t stick around for long, though, bidding her protege goodbye and leaving him to face the Elder, who is supposedly the leader of the criminal underworld.

Unfortunately, Halle Berry has just revealed to IGN that her character Sofie won’t be making a comeback in the as-of-yet untitled John Wick: Chapter 4, though there’s a chance that we might see her in a spinoff film.

“Sofia’s not in the next John Wick movie,” Berry said. “There could possibly be a Sofia… her own movie. So she might not be in John Wick, but she might be doing her own thingy-thingy.”

While that “thingy-thingy” might still be a few years down the road, Berry joked that it could put “some ointment on a little sore,” referring to her canceled James Bond spinoff film, which was supposed to revive Jinx, Die Another Day’s Bond Girl, for a solo outing.

Finding success on streaming is an unpredictable business at the best of times, with the ebbs and flows of what on-demand audiences have a hankering for changing on an almost daily basis.

For the most part, a movie will spend a few days working its way up the most-watched list before taking up residency in the Top 10, unless of course we’re talking something brand new and exclusive.

However, the ass-kicking tour de force that is John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum has somehow rocketed up the charts by almost 100 places since yesterday as per FlixPatrol, with Keanu Reeves’ third outing as the sharp-suited and sharpshooting assassin having leapt from 98th position to sixth.

There’s no discernible reason why other than the fact it’s awesome, with the titular hitman traversing all across the globe in the same of vengeance, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake as he’s wont to do. John Wick is now widely lauded as one of the best franchises in the business, which places next summer’s Chapter 4 under even more pressure than any of its predecessors.

Based on what’s unfolded so far, we’ve got no doubt that director Chad Stahelski can deliver yet again, but subscribers have clearly been scratching their John Wick itch with Parabellum if the Netflix rankings are any indication.

Halle Berry definitely wasn’t easing into a comfortable director’s chair for her directorial debut, Bruised. In a recent Vanity Fair interview, the star reports six-hour training sessions in the gym to into the shape of her MMA fighter character. The training overlapped into her time filming John Wick 3 and the actor stated that she found inspiration in Wick star Keanu Reeves, marvelling at the 57-year-old’s ability to perform Wick’s challenging action sequences.

Reflecting on her own training process for Bruised, Berry said, “When I started training for John Wick I already knew that Bruised was coming. I sort of got the offer to do those movies around the same time. So the beauty of that was when I was training for John Wick I was also training for Bruised at the same time, in a small way. Part of that training was just getting my body used to five, six hours of training a day. I was changing my diet, learning about recovery. I was really pushing myself to the limit and I knew that was what I’d have to do for Bruised. It was one big period of time when I knew I’d do these two movies back to back that would challenge me like I’ve never been challenged before.”

In Bruised, the actor/director portrays former UFC fighter Jackie “Pretty Bull” Justice, who overcomes multiple challenges to earn a new shot at a Mixed Martial Arts title. Bruised reached the number one most watched spot on Netflix after it was released on the service prompting them to offer Berry a further multi-film contract that would allow her to add to her directorial resume.

Berry is already well known to audiences for her work in blockbuster tentpoles such as the X-Men films and the James Bond franchise but also in critically acclaimed work such as Monsters’ Ball for which she earned the Acadamy Award for her performance. Bruised marks a new chapter in Berry’s career and the new Netflix contract ensure we will be seeing more of her behind the camera efforts in the years to come.

The star doesn’t appear to be disappearing behind the camera though. She is scheduled to next appear in the Rolan Emmerich Sci-Fi disaster film Moonfall which will be released in theaters in February 2022.

Keanu Reeves is a man with many memes and nice moments to his name and it is no surprise another has come up.

The Canadian thespian sat down for an interview with Esquire about his storied career — and its recent resurgence. In the interview, Reeves revealed he took a page from the book of Samuel L. Jackson — who has itted he likes to watch himself work — and went to see the most recent installment of his John Wick series with a friend, in contrast to the private screening room setting that many actors might choose.

“I didn’t know if I was going to get the chance to do another one and I just wanted to see if people liked it,” Reeves said. “It was cool when people started laughing during the knife fight in the opening. I went with a friend … I wanted to be with an audience because I didn’t know if I would get to see it again or another one would happen. I wanted to soak it in, to see it on the big screen. These movies are made for the big screen. We even got some popcorn too.”

The feature also featured a quote from his Matrix Resurrections co-star Carrie-Anne Moss, who gave evidence of what we’ve suspected about Reeves — that he’s a solid dude.

“His work ethic is unlike anyone I’ve ever met, and I’ve seen it up close,” Moss declared. “He trains harder, works harder, cares more, always asks more and more questions to understand the depth of what we’re doing.”

What do you think of Keanu Reeves? What other performer could you see watching their work publicly? Do you have thoughts on what he should do in the future or how the John Wick series should come to an end? Let us know below.

While there’s no boundaries as to when you can enjoy the unrestrained thrills of the action genre, the weekend is always the best option for a lot of people. If you don’t have to worry about work, then there are few things better than turning off your brain, putting your feet up, cracking open a cold one and watching sh*t get blown up.

Amazon subscribers are clearly in agreement, at least if we take the platform’s current Top 10 most-watched list at face value. As per FlixPatrol, four awesome actioners boasting plenty of running, gunning, shooting, stabbing, car chases, punching, kicking, pyrotechnics and all the rest have been keeping viewers more than occupied.

Topping the charts is Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody, which reinvents the Better Call Saul star as an unlikely yet entirely convincing action hero. Genre stalwart Jason Statham is just behind him in second, as Guy Ritchie’s lean and mean revenge thriller Wrath of Man continues to play well on the small screen.

A little further back in seventh we have Daniel Craig’s spectacular final outing as James Bond in No Time to Die, which is putting a dent in the VOD market despite recently crossing $700 million at the box office, with old faithful Keanu Reeves once again proving his enduring popularity as John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum occupies the tenth and final spot.

If Keanu Reeves isn’t the greatest action hero of the modern era, then he’s pretty damn close. The 1980s had been dominated by musclebound meatheads like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and the rest, but Die Hard signaled a paradigm shift.

Bruce Willis’ John McClane proved that audiences were just as invested, if not even more so, in a character they could relate to. Eventually, biceps and brawn were replaced by smarts and quick-thinking as the action genre’s prime sensibilities, and few stars have proven their worth as regularly as Reeves.

Point Break, Speed, The Matrix and John Wick could comfortably be named a quartet of the most exhilarating actioners of the last 30 years, and the latter two both have fourth installments in the works. The Matrix: Resurrections is coming to theaters and HBO Max in December, but we have to wait until May 2022 for the return of Reeves’ sharp-suited assassin.

That hasn’t stopped his most recent outing from finding new life on Netflix, though, with Chapter 3: Parabellum currently riding high on the Netflix most-watched list, where it occupies a space on the Top 25. Audiences will never grow tired of Keanu kicking ass, and the good news is that he’ll play John Wick for as long as he’s wanted.

Keanu Reeves might not possess the sheer bulk of cinema’s other legendary action stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Dwayne Johnson, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the best to ever punch a hapless henchman in the face or gun down a series of faceless goons in epic and spectacular fashion. Point Break, Speed and The Matrix are without a doubt three of the most entertaining action classics of the last 30 years, but Reeves somehow added even more excellence to his repertoire when he first suited up as John Wick. On paper, the idea of a revenge flick motivated by a retired hitman spurred back into action by the murder of his dog is pretty flimsy as far as plots go, but the finished product was an altogether different matter.