Featured Image Credit: Lionsgate
Topics: John Wick, Keanu Reeves, TV and Film
Claire Reid
Warning - contains major spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 in this article
Keanu Reeves has spoken about the surprise ending of John Wick: Chapter 4, and the possibility of a fifth movie.
Reeves has played the titular character in the franchise since 2014 and reprised the role for the latest movie, which was released this month. You can see a trailer for it here:
John Wick: Chapter 4 has received wide praise from critics and cinema-goers alike, boasting an impressive 95 percent on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and a solid 8.5 out of 10 on IMDB.
However, some fans were left surprised by the flick’s ending, which appeared to show Wick succumbing to a mortal wounding, with his life flashing before his eyes.
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Speaking at the premier of the movie, Reeves explained why the ending went the way it did.
He said: “We had the opportunity [to do another film] because of the audience [response to] Chapter Three, and we were like, ‘What was the ‘why?’ And when Chad [Stahelski, producer and director] and I were talking, the ‘why’ was death and it was John Wick’s death.
"For him to get his peace, or freedom, in a way… that was the reason to make the movie. It can’t just be, ‘Let’s do another one.’ It was really about death or a way of dying. We were really inspired by the Hagakure.”
For those unaware, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai is a renowned book that takes a look at the history of samurai and also shares Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s thoughts on the samurai code.
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Reeves also revealed that the scene was actually one of his favourites.
“If I just looked at from [the perspective of] John — John Wick — maybe him at the end on the stairs.
"When he says, ‘Helen.’ That, for me, after like eight years of playing the role and after shooting the [fight scene on the other set of stairs], that part that was [a link] to the past.”
As to the future, Reeves remains cautiously optimistic about the possibility of another John Wick movie and says it’s all down to whether fans want another or not.
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“You have to see how the audience responds to what we did,” he said.
“The only reason we’ve had a chance to make these movies is that people have liked what we have done. So I think we have to wait and see how the audience responds to it.”