John Wick 4 starring Keanu Reeves has unwittingly become one of the best “video game adaptations”.

Before anyone gets confused: No, John Wick is not a video game adaptation. There is no secret template that you can play on PlayStation or Xbox. The series was created entirely for the cinema. At the latest with part 4, however, the influences from the world of video games can no longer be overlooked. Director Chad Stahelski is open about it and names some The Hong Kong Massacre as a great inspiration.

Where Hollywood sank one video game film adaptation after the other, Stahelski delivers one of the best “video game film adaptations” with John Wick: Chapter 4 without being asked. His monumental action film adopts many elementswhich we know from the world of video games, starting with the clear level structure and mission explanations to fighting a larger-than-life final boss.

John Wick 4 feels like a video game adaptation, even though there is no John Wick video game

One of the breathtaking action scenes in John Wick: Chapter 4 takes us through an entire Parisian apartment. First, we see Keanu Reeves coming up the stairs and beating up a few opponents. The camera then moves further up and finally takes a bird’s eye view. We glide across the rooms without a cut. This top-down shot was directly inspired by The Hong Kong Massacre.

The Hong Kong Massacre gameplay trailer:

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 focus on bringing characters and storylines to the screen, Stahelski is primarily interested in shape and aesthetics. He ignores everything that a story entails from a narrative point of view and focuses solely on images and movements.

Chad Stahelski takes video game elements and creates cinematic works of art on them

Full of elegance and undeterred, the camera wanders over the apartment – a clear contrast to the obstacles that stand in the way of John Wick in the form of heavily armed opponents. Unruly and weightless this scene works. It sucks us into a great flow of movement and yet every encounter between body and weapon can be felt. Stahelski skilfully plays with the supposed contradictions.

No hollow images, no empty spaces: Stahelski understands that stories can also be told on the visual and auditory levels. The floors of the apartment are decorated with props as if John Wick walk straight into a painting. We have warm and cold colors. light and shadow. Muzzle flashes and popping punches. 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 far from 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 the frenzy around the Arc de Triomph or between the waterfalls in a Berlin club. (Order John Wick 4 now as a limited Steelbook *)

When movie villains are reloaded like non-player characters from a video game

In the Paris roundabout, John Wick tries to find a way out of a labyrinth that is constantly shifting. Cars shoot out of nowhere like walls while the Villains like NPCs (non-player characters, who usually only serve a specific purpose) tumble through the area. They attack, fly out, and get back up to join the fray again. Because that is their only purpose.

Stahelski adopts the idea of ​​(re-)spawning in this sequence. In the video game world, that’s the (Re)Entry of figures meant, which you got rid of as a player shortly before. Often these are vanquished enemies that come back again and again when you die or don’t make significant progress.

The hopelessness of the eternal supply of opponents reaches its climax in John Wick: Chapter 4 before the steps of Sacré-Cœur. Just as Reeves’ killer thinks he’s fought his way free, he’s pushed down from the top of the stairs. He tumbles down all 237 (!) levels while the henchmen of the High Chamber simply be reloaded – a frustrating level!

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In John Wick 4 we fight our way through countless levels and opponents with Keanu Reeves

The level design and the construction of action scenes go hand in hand with Stahelski, as the club sequence in Berlin proves. Multiple levels including final boss: When John Wick takes on the villain Killa (Scott Adkins), the camera and light frames the moment as if we are about to follow a fight taking place on one of the stages of a classic beat ’em up game like Mortal Kombat.

Two characters face each other and unpack their moves. Whoever has the best combination wins. Stahelski could easily put a graphic over the pictures telling us about energy reserves, special abilities and the remaining lives of the characters informed. But at this point he would only be imitating a video game. Stahelski has long been one step further. He has internalized the video game aesthetic.

Game elements flow dynamically into John Wick: Chapter 4, as if certain perspectives we would associate more closely with a shooter were naturally inherent in Stahelski’s cinematic vocabulary. Most video game adaptations completely lack this intuitive approach. It will be all the more exciting when Stahelski actually adapts an existing video game: Ghost of Tsushima.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is running since March 23, 2023 in German cinemas.

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