It’s possible you’ll not have realized it from the poster alone, however John Wick: Chapter 4 arguably has simply as many references to mythology as Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Surprise Girl, and 300, the likes of which peak in each subtlety and significance throughout the immediately iconic staircase sequence previous the movie’s climax. Whereas in a roundabout way primarily based on any current Greek myths, as within the case of the aforementioned superheroes (Gerard Butler’s Leonidas included), the John Wick franchise itself has been an act of mythmaking from the very starting. With a comparatively modest opening installment that simply saved rising and rising with each new cinematic chapter, director Chad Stahelski brilliantly utilized the Hollywood myths of the motion movie style. John Wick pulls from Keanu Reeves’ iconicity and his personal involvement with The Matrix to promote the character of this retired, widowed murderer as a legend within the hidden society of invisible killers who stroll amongst us day-after-day. With a closing field workplace tally of $432 million worldwide, the announcement of John Wick: Chapter 4‘s streaming launch date is lastly right here, debuting completely on Starz on Friday, September fifteenth. With that in thoughts, it’s time to look again on probably the greatest motion sequences of the final yr to see simply as effectively it holds as much as each trendy audiences and people of the distant previous.
The mythology Stahelski borrowed to promote John Wick’s legendary standing extends far past the Greek, with the primary movie of the franchise immediately dubbing Wick because the ‘Baba Yaga’ (extra generally recognized within the West because the Boogeyman). Whereas Wick bears little resemblance to the precise Baba Yaga, who kidnaps and cooks kids in a home that walks on two large fowl legs, the mythological references hardly cease there. The late Lance Reddick’s character of the concierge goes by the identify Charon, the spirit that guided Historic Greece’s departed souls alongside the River Styx, taking them to their closing resting place in Hades’ Underworld. Because of this, Ian McShane’s Winston has been in comparison with the God of the Underworld himself, with members of this twisted world even utilizing the identical cash that will be required to journey on Charon’s boat (the identical cause that each one the funeral scenes in Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy characteristic the our bodies being burned with two cash over their eyes, guaranteeing they carry cash for secure passage with them).
Nevertheless, as each fan of the franchise is aware of, the John Wick films are about one factor above all: motion. So how does the franchise incorporate mythology past the occasional name-drop? The reply is as delicate as it’s sensible, with the jaw-dropping climax of the staircase sequence (which some have even in comparison with The Exorcist) bearing a robust resemblance to the Greek fantasy of Sisyphus, some of the broadly mentioned philosophical Greek myths of all time (and there are loads to select from).
The parable particulars the divine punishment of King Sisyphus of Ephyra (recognized in trendy occasions as Corinth), who cheated dying not simply as soon as however twice (we’ll admit, John Wick’s cheated dying many, many extra occasions than that). Within the first occasion, after being punished for revealing one in every of Zeus’s secrets and techniques, he tricked Thanatos (the personification of Loss of life itself) into trapping himself in his personal chains, stopping the dying of anybody on Earth till he was launched. Within the second, he manipulated his spouse into foregoing his correct burial to persuade the Gods of the Underworld to return him to the land of the dwelling in order that he may resolve and punish this archaic type of spousal disrespect.
As punishment for believing that he may outsmart Zeus and the gods themselves, Hades utilized his personal crafty in forcing Sisyphus to roll an enormous boulder up a steep hill in Tartarus (the deepest circle of this model of Hell), solely to have slyly forged an enchantment on the boulder, inflicting it to roll down each time Sisyphus pushes it to the highest. This could make sure that Sisyphus spends eternity rolling the boulder up the hill, solely to observe it fall again down each time, endlessly endlessly tortured by the futility of his fixed labor.
If the acts of dishonest dying a number of occasions and the fixed futile labor that comes with it aren’t sufficient to affiliate Wick with Sisyphus’s cautionary story, the connection is made painstakingly clear when John Wick, with merely minutes left to get to his closing duel with the Marquis and each murderer on this planet making an attempt to kill him themselves, runs up an exhaustingly huge staircase to get there. He dispatches dozens of assassins on his approach in a scene that pulls no punches, solely to be beat when he reaches the highest and is pushed to the underside of the staircase, forcing him to start out another time. Fortuitously, the second time, he had some assist from Donnie Yen’s Caine, an immediate fan favourite, to not point out probably allegorical to Greek mythology’s resident blind prophet Tiresias, however the symbolism surrounding the set piece nonetheless stands.
Reinforcing the importance of the set piece additional is the truth that it’s lined up immediately after one other gorgeous lengthy take that includes an overhead shot of Wick blowing individuals away with incendiary Dragon’s Breath ammunition. Visually, it’s a marvel to behold, and whereas Stahelski claims to have been influenced primarily by the video Hong Kong Massacre, the digicam angle has additionally been known as a ‘God’s Eye’ shot, utilized by administrators corresponding to Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho to present the viewer the sensation that God is watching over the occasions happening. Provided that the Excessive Desk are themselves stand-ins for the Gods of the Underworld, Wick, like Sisyphus, could be interpreted on this occasion as being punished for his actions by the gods themselves. If there’s any brilliance past the motion and neon cinematography in John Wick, it’s the truth that it could possibly incorporate so many influences from philosophy to video video games, marrying the disciplines for excellent results.
A number of writers and philosophers starting from Franz Kafka to Albert Camus have obsessed over the parable of Sisyphus, drawing parallels between the futile and repetitive nature of his wrestle with that of the widespread working individual, who’s compelled day-after-day to clock in to no matter 9 to five job they might have, push as arduous as they will to make it by means of the day, solely to get up and do it another time till retirement. Camus even goes as far as to liken Sisyphus’ stroll down the hill, by which he’s capable of benefit from the little issues, like the sweetness surrounding him, with the time individuals have off in between shifts (which, let’s be sincere, is primarily spent resting, ready for the subsequent working day to return).