John Wick 4: 'But Why Though?'

John Wick 4: 'But why though?'

John Wick isn't 'back'. He never left. He merely bided his time till the world needed him, needed the Baba Yaga to remind the world about the necessity of doing things with Style.

The importance of Style in John Wick 4 is inversely proportional to John's regard for the generally accepted rules of a firefight. The word Style was the running theme of John Wick 4, and the film's director managed to find a dozen ways to manifest Style on the big screen and crammed them all into a 2-hour-plus action movie.

Truth be told, he shouldn't have. Truth be told? He shouldn't have.

John Wick 4 starts with John making his move against the High Table after the events of Parabellum. John's strategy in this case is to make as big a mess as he can with his first move, then pop the heads of whoever comes to clean up the mess like a macabre game of Whack-a-mole.

In response to this, the High Table empowers the Marquis De Grammont with carte blanche access to the Table's resources and unleashes their new hunting dog against the infamous Baba Yaga. The High Table's new Hound wastes no time in drawing blood wherever it can by destroying the continental hotels, starting with New York, and the deaths that result becomes one death too many in John Wick's already full ledger of souls he has dealt the Ruska Roma haircut.

John, therefore, decides to cut off the head of the snake and goes to challenge the Marquis to single combat. According to the old laws of the High Table which governs the relationships between the members who sit at the table.

Along the way, John meets up with old friends at the Continental Hotel in Osaka, duels a blind man brilliantly played by Donnie Yen, and deals with a Man-Hunter who is saving John for when John's bounty gathers the requisite number of digits and zeroes to make him worth the killing.

John also beats up Scott Adkins wearing a fat suit.

Why though?

That question, that 'why though?' That was what struck me halfway through John Wick 4. The Osaka Continental was a gorgeously designed, Japanese-Themed Hotel for Assassins. Seeing Donnie Yen fight like a blind man was a creative exercise in character design, and Scott Adkins turning a single hand of cards into a work of art was a testament to the amount of work he had put in to prepare for his rather short, but impactful role.

However, none of these new characters and locations were really interesting.

Every new character and location had a point in John Wick 2 and John Wick 3; Parabellum. The D'Antonio siblings in John Wick 2 gave us an insight into the High Table and the conflicts among the table's members.

Cassian and Ares served by introducing the concept of Bodyguards as a counterpart and a countermeasure against Assassins.

In Parabellum, the Adjudicator and the Ninjas introduce the methods the High Table relies on to enforce their rules and rule over their subjects 'Under the Table'.

Even the Ruska Roma were poignantly important as the organization gave the audience insight into John Wick's childhood as a Belarusian orphan raised to serve the High Table.

Every character and location in John Wick 2 and 3 had a purpose as they answered questions about the John Wick universe and deepened the immersion of the audience into the story of John Wick's journey through the world under the High Table.

John Wick 2 and 3 interested me. John Wick 4, however, was a mind-numbing ride through willy wonka's chocolate factory with rivers of blood instead of chocolate, and trees that bore as its fruits lead and death. It's really cool, but why? What is the point of it all?

In John Wick 4, John goes to Osaka to meet an old friend, who is also the concierge of the Osaka Continental. A fusion of neon lights and Japanese tradition that is heavily inspired by the Yakuza motif. Japan's efficient modernity, clean steel edges lit up with gaudy neon, a monolithic testament to the present day beneath which lay the rigid adherence to the traditions that underscored the 'extreme way' of the Yakuza of old.

But why did John Wick need to go to Japan? As exquisitely thought out as the Osaka Continental was, what purpose did John Wick's detour to Japan serve?

That is the issue that underlies John Wick 4, what is the purpose of the Osaka Continental? What is the purpose of the Marquis, or Caine, or the Harbinger? All of their roles in the narrative could be replaced by characters already introduced in previous movies. The Harbinger could be the Adjudicator from Parabellum, Caine could be played by Cassian from JW2, and having John resolve his differences with these characters from the previous movies may have given John Wick 4 greater impact. According to the theme that the movie had about the end of John Wick.

Ultimately, John Wick 4 was a stylish movie that introduced new, cool things that pushed the story of John Wick to a new level.

But why though? When the story of John Wick was supposed to end?

👆🏻

Total kiss my ass vibes yo! 🤣🤣🤣

no one knows what you’re going through. only you know. so don’t use broad labels other people would use on you to describe yourself or your behaviour. don’t call yourself a bad friend when you know you haven’t had energy lately. don’t call yourself a bad or unworthy person if you know you’re been trying to heal but made some mistakes in the process. don’t call yourself dumb because you’re struggling on understanding a topic you’ve never touched before. don’t say you’re unlovable when you know you get attached quickly to people who are wrong for you and then they inevitably leave. don’t give judgement on yourself without trying to understand your own perspective. trying to understand yourself and being empathetic towards yourself is what will help you become a better person. step into your own shoes rather than see yourself from the perspective of others.

Why would an ex-First Sword of Braavos take on a gig as a weapon trainer for the daughter of a Westerosi Lord ? Isn't it a great step down from his previous position ? What was he even doing in KL anyway ? When Westerosi nobility look for weapons instructors, they usually go for kngihts, not old bravos.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten this question, but I looked and couldn’t find a post where I’d answered it before, so I might as well. 

Syrio took the job precisely because he’s the ex-First Sword. The old Sea Lord died, there was an election, and the new man wanted his own First Sword instead of Syrio, so Syrio needs to find a new job. 

And the problem with being a bravo in Braavos is that there are a lot of bravos looking for work, so competition is fierce and underemployment is rampant (hence why so many bravos run protection rackets or resort to mugging or begging with menaces). We don’t know whether the Sea Lord died of natural causes or whether Syrio left in disgrace because the Sea Lord died on his watch, but it could well have been the case either way that he found it difficult to find employment in the city, because it’s not the best branding. 

Alternatively, one of the ways you get work as an ambitious bravo looking to make your name is to kill a bravo with an established name, like say Syrio Forel. Now, the First Sword doesn’t run, but Syrio Forel might have grown weary of killing hot-headed young men and decided to move to somewhere that wasn’t something he had to deal with on a regular basis.

As for why King’s Landing? It’s a big city near to Braavos that doesn’t have a culture of bravos, as most of the Free Cities do (remember, water dancers are from Braavos, but not all bravos are water dancers). And while the nobility might not hire him for their sons, King’s Landing has a thriving merchant community (and not a small number of foreign merchants) who might want their sons to learn the blade even if they’re unlikely to become knights.

Also….he could also be an actual dancing master. A lot of swordmasters taught dance as well - footwork, balance, timing, etc. are critical to fencing so a lot of the skills carry over, the training rooms are essentially identical so if custom flags in one area you make up the difference in the other. 

Quidditch

It's very important in the Harry Potter narrative.

It is a sport that is so pervasive through the Magical World that anything related to the sport is kind of a 'neutral ground' for wizards and witches from both sides of the wizarding war.

Also, you know shit is going down when quidditch gets cancelled. Every major conflict incident int the books occurs after quidditch is cancelled, or affected in some way.