John Wick: Chapter 4 is not only one of the best action movies of recent years. Director Chad Stahelski has incidentally made one of the best video game adaptations of all time.
Before confusion arises: No, John Wick is not a video game adaptation. No secret template exists for you to play on PlayStation or Xbox. The series was created entirely for the cinema. But with Part 4 at the latest, the influences from the world of video games can no longer be overlooked. Director Chad Stahelski is open about this and cites The Hong Kong Massacre as a major inspiration.
Where Hollywood sank one video game adaptation after another, Stahelski delivers one of the best “video game adaptations” unbidden with John Wick: Chapter 4. His monumental action film adopts numerous elements we know from the world of video games, from the clear level structure to mission explanations to the fight against a larger-than-life final boss.
John Wick 4 feels like a video game adaptation, even though there is no John Wick video game at all
One of the most breathtaking action scenes in John Wick: Chapter 4 takes us through an entire Paris flat. First we see Keanu Reeves coming up the stairs and beating up some antagonists. The camera then moves further up the stairs and finally takes a bird’s eye view. Without cutting, we glide across the rooms. This top-down shot was directly inspired by The Hong Kong Massacre.
The gameplay trailer for The Hong Kong Massacre:
Although John Wick: Chapter 4 is not a designated adaptation of the material, it captures the essence of the game. Where many video game adaptations obsess over bringing characters and storylines to the screen, Stahelski is primarily interested in form and aesthetics. He ignores everything that a story entails from a narrative point of view and focuses solely on images and movement.
Chad Stahelski takes video game elements and creates cinematic works of art on top of them
Fully elegant and unflinching, the camera wanders over the flat – a clear contrast to the obstacles that stand in John Wick’s way in the form of heavily armed opponents. This scene seems unruly and weightless. It sucks us into a great flow of movement and yet every encounter of body and weapon is felt. Stahelski skilfully plays with the supposed contradictions.
No hollow images, no empty spaces: Stahelski understands that stories can also be told on a visual and auditory level. The floors of the flat are decorated with props, as if John Wick were walking straight into a painting. We have warm and cool colours. Light and shadow. Muzzle flashes and popping blows. Not just characters: here an entire place casually comes to life.
The top-down shot is probably the most impressive example of how Stahelski incorporates the form, aesthetics and sense of space of a video game into his production. However, it is by no means the only one. Again and again he takes up game dynamics and develops them further in the live-action context of his film. Be it in the frenzy around the Arc de Triomph or between waterfalls in a Berlin club. (Order John Wick 4 now as a limited Steelbook *)
