It’s effortless to see the John Wick series as one particular that aims to rejoice the action style as a full. Throughout four movies, the title character has alternated in between likely on violent rampages of revenge and battling for his lifestyle, continuously battling various legal corporations and assassins. The four flicks contain every sort of about-the-best action scene less than the solar, from vehicle chases, gun fights, fist fights, and plenty of sequences with Wick and his foes using all kinds of unconventional weapons in hand-to-hand battle.
Mainly because of this variety of motion, the John Wick sequence ends up staying a single that remembers a lot of common motion movies, from revenge thrillers to previous martial arts films, to motion-packed criminal offense movies. The most recent movie, John Wick: Chapter 4, is significantly weighty on references to traditional motion pictures (not all of them belonging to the motion genre), with the following staying some of the most innovative and entertaining shout-outs in the movie.
10 ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia is a traditional 4-hour epic that tells the tale of T.E. Lawrence. It starts with his demise in 1935 right before flashing back again to show Lawrence’s dramatic everyday living tale, concentrating on his involvement in a revolt towards the Ottoman Empire by Arab tribes during the Very first Planet War.
It can be a biopic and a war film, while certainly not as action-packed as John Wick: Chapter 4. However, the 2023 motion film involves a shout-out to one of Lawrence of Arabia’s most well-known pictures: 1 in which Peter O’Toole blows out a match followed by a smash-lower to a shot of a desert landscape. The same matter is done in the opening of the fourth John Wick, and cheekily, it is Laurence Fishburne’s character who does it. The spelling might be various from “Lawrence,” but the pronunciation’s the exact.
9 ‘The Warriors’ (1979)
Couple videos outline the time period “cult basic” as properly as The Warriors. It is really an motion-packed thriller that could’ve only been designed 40-ish several years back in the finest way feasible, telling a simple and entertaining story about different New York City gangs partaking in a road war after the titular gang is framed for the murder of one more gang chief.
The most important figures needing to combat for their lives versus enemies who want them lifeless is reminiscent of John Wick getting attacked by adversaries in John Wick: Chapter 4‘s fascinating last act. Both equally films also have a DJ who reviews on the motion on the streets, and both of those play the music “Nowhere To Run” at 1 level, far too.
8 ‘For a Couple of Dollars More’ (1965)
The next motion picture in the famed Pounds Trilogy by Sergio Leone, For a Couple of Bucks Far more, is a considerable move up in high-quality from the currently reliable Fistful of Pounds. Clint Eastwood returns as the gentleman with no identify, but thieving the demonstrate is Lee Van Cleef, actively playing a bounty hunter who teams with Eastwood’s character to hunt down a fugitive, with his reasons for performing so being personalized.
So there is certainly a gentleman with no title in For a Few Bucks Extra and a character named “Nobody” in John Wick: Chapter 4. Also, in each and every movie, two diverse figures have a pocket view that plays a tune and has a photo of a cherished 1 inside of when opened, which feels like a far more express reference.
7 ‘The Tale of Zatoichi’ (1962)
The very first entry in a 26-film-extended collection, The Tale of Zatoichi, introduces the titular character. He is a blind swordsman, masseur, and gambler. Just about every motion picture sees him embarking on a unique experience, with most of them involving him supporting a new set of characters, ordinarily by safeguarding them from nefarious criminal gangs.
He is a lethal but lovable hero, and thanks to becoming in so quite a few flicks, he racks up a big system rely (a lot like John Wick’s title character). John Wick: Chapter 4 options a character named Caine, who’s also a blind swordsman with a beat model that’s related to Zatoichi’s. He is played by Donnie Yen, and his great motion scenes will likely delight lovers of Zatoichi.
6 ‘Cowboy Bebop’ (1998)
Cowboy Bebop may be most effective identified as an anime collection, but it also happens to be one particular of the most entertaining and cinematic of all time and also experienced a motion picture that served as a (kind of) prequel in 2001. It’s an motion/sci-fi/crime sequence that follows a team of incredibly unfortunate bounty hunters chasing different targets by means of room in the course of the 2070s.
Without the need of spoiling both Cowboy Bebop or John Wick: Chapter 4, the finale of both share some similarities, mostly when it comes to environment and visuals (the two are also very intense to check out). It is really very likely an intentional homage, looking at as at the time on a time, Keanu Reeves was viewed as for the position of Cowboy Bebop’s protagonist Spike Spiegel in a dwell-motion film that never came to be.
5 ‘The Killer’ (1989)
The Killer is John Woo at his greatest, and contemplating John Woo is 1 of the very best filmmakers in motion motion picture history, that helps make The Killer an absolute classic. The plot entails a hitman in search of redemption following he unintentionally injures a bystander in an assassination, though at the identical time, a police detective is on his path.
The dynamic among John Wick and Caine is fairly reminiscent of the dynamic among the two principal figures in The Killer. Both movies have their respective pairs on opposite sides of a conflict, while each individual finally has a level of regard for the other. Also, equally movies have each pair of characters conversing in a church throughout a non-motion scene, generating the link a very little additional explicit.
4 ‘The Very good, the Terrible, and the Ugly’ (1966)
The closing film in the Bucks Trilogy is the iconic, humorous, and explosive The Great, the Lousy, and the Hideous. It really is by some means even superior than For a Number of Dollars Extra and follows 3 figures who are all hunting for buried treasure made up of $200,000 worthy of of gold.
Just about every of them has info the other people don’t, which guarantees they need to have to operate begrudgingly jointly at some details, even although each and every gentleman inevitably wants to assert the gold for himself alone. It all culminates with a spectacular duel, and in the same way, John Wick: Chapter 4 features a memorable duel and two adult men who are at odds but often require to cooperate, with John Wick and Caine owning that type of dynamic.
3 ‘The Matrix Revolutions’ (2003)
The 3rd movie in the Matrix collection is possibly its minimum acclaimed, but as a summary to the primary trilogy, it even now has a respectable sum to offer you. Along with John Wick, it is the sequence that Keanu Reeves is best recognised for, and The Matrix Revolutions, for all its faults, does have some unforgettable motion sequences.
The ideal of all those is likely the climactic fight in between Reeves’s Neo and Agent Smith, which has them clashing in a weighty downpour of rain. The huge action sequence of John Wick: Chapter 4’s second act is equivalent to this, offered it also characteristics combatants fighting less than torrents of water, and it makes use of slow movement comparable to Revolutions‘ ultimate fight, way too.
2 ‘The Grandmaster’ (2013)
The Ip Male collection stars Donnie Yen in one of his very best-regarded roles. Throughout four motion pictures, it tells the existence story of Ip Gentleman (born Ip Kai-man), who’s very best known for remaining a legendary martial artist who was regarded as a grandmaster of a distinct beat type that emphasizes self-protection known as Wing Chun.
The Grandmaster, nonetheless, is not portion of the Ip Male collection and options Tony Leung Chiu-wai as the famous and titular grandmaster. Nonetheless, despite Donnie Yen currently being in John Wick: Chapter 4, the movie finishes up referencing The Grandmaster a lot more specifically, mostly through its use of coloration, which director Chad Stahelski states was motivated by the Wong Kar-wai movie.
1 ‘The Exorcist’ (1973)
Sure, The Exorcist is a very unique film from John Wick: Chapter 4. It really is an legendary horror movie alternatively of an action motion picture, and is notorious for continue to keeping a excellent deal of electric power decades on from its launch, many thanks to its efficient blend of religious horror, unsettling imagery, and traumatic family drama.
Nevertheless, each have incredibly challenging-to-look at scenes involving one or a lot more characters falling down a lengthy established of stairs. That’s in no way suggesting that either movie has a patent of sending characters toppling down a steep stairway, but offered how extended a single distinct tumble in John Wick: Chapter 4 is, it is tough not to see it and believe about other outstanding stair stunts, specially The Exorcist’s.
