(Warning: minor plot spoilers ahead)
From rags to riches
Before I get into what makes John Wick
so awesome, I have to say something about the people who made it
happen. Chad Stahelski has never directed anything before the first
and second John Wick movies, but he does come from a background of
intense action movie history. He only worked as a stuntman at first,
an easy job for a former kick-boxer. In fact, his very first
uncredited work was Keanu Reeves' stunt double in Point Break. His
long career in this field granted him enough prestige to become stunt
coordinator and martial arts choreographer, especially after working
on a great range of movies, low budget action flicks to huge
blockbusters like The Matrix and everything in between. He eventually
teamed up with writer Derek Kolstad, who only since 2012 started his
screenwriting career with low budget flicks (both of them starring
Dolph Lundgren...). They somehow managed to secure about 20 million
US dollars from Thunder Road Pictures and a few small production
companies for the first movie, probably after they got talents like
Keanu Reeves and Willem Dafoe on board. After a rough first weekend
in a full autumn of 2014, despite hot critical reception, John Wick
managed to double its revenue in just a few months, securing a well
deserved sequel.
