John Wickfixed one of Hollywood’s most annoying action movie tropes, and the entire genre was better for it. Every so often, one or two touchstone action movies will come around that leaves an indelible mark on the genre as a whole. In the 1980s, it wasRamboandThe Terminator, as every other action movie seemed to have a body builder screaming as they unloaded an entire machine gun clip onto enemy soldiers. In the 1990s, it wasDie HardandSpeed, and everything that followed them featured an average police officer stuck in some life or death scenario, usually with a timed bomb.
John Wickactually was one of those touchstone action movies for the 2010s. Ever since it became an international sensation, there have been dozens ofJohn Wickclonesthat try to mimic its style and tone. Bob Odenkirk’sNobody, Charlize Theron’sAtomic Blonde, and Chris Hemsworth’sExtractionare all great examples, as they all had the same slick style, over-the-top brutality, and complicated action sequences thatJohn Wickpioneered. In fact,John Wickactually replaced the last dominant source of mimicry in action movies, and it did the entire genre a favor by getting rid of its most annoying trend.
John Wick Offered An Alternative To Hollywood’s Shaky-Cam, Bourne-Style Action Films
John Wick Showed Hollywood Good Fight Choreography Could Replace Bourne’s Shaky-Cam Style
BeforeJohn Wickset the pace of action movies, it was Matt Damon’sBournefranchise that was the dominant power in the genre. Unfortunately,theBournefranchise had a patented “shaky-cam” style, where the camera itself would shake during chase and fight scenes to add a level of immersion, and that was one of the action genre’s favorite aspects to mimic. Suddenly, everything from Damon’s ownElysiumtoThe Hunger Gamesfeatured shaky-cam for its most intense moments, and it was the dominant style for most of the 2000s and early 2010s.
Where To Watch John Wick
Where can you watch the first John Wick (and all the sequels) right now? Check out where to stream all four movies, including the 2023 film.
Shaky-cam ruled supreme in the action genre, untilJohn Wickcame around.John Wicktook inspiration from martial arts films and relied on the choreography and fighting abilities of its stars to make action scenes intense instead of trying to make themlookintense with a filming technique. Because Keanu Reeves is a seasoned martial artist,John Wickcould film its fight scenes clearly, and it ended up providing an alternative to shaky-cam. There was suddenly another way to put the “thrill” into the action-thriller genre, and one that audiences clearly appreciated.
Bourne’s Shaky-Cam Scenes Worked, But It Quickly Became A Hollywood Problem
Paul Greengrass Mastered Shaky-Cam, But Other Hollywood Movies Used It To Cut Corners
Shaky-cam is one of the most annoying trends of the 2000s, but it wasn’t a problem in theBournemovies. That’s mainly because director Paul Greengrass knew how to use it sparingly for maximum effectiveness.The shaky-cam in theBournefranchise didn’t obstruct the well-crafted fight scenes, and it actually added a new layer of frenetic, close-up energy to them. Greengrass showed viewers the parts they wanted to see, and he used shaky-cam to make them hit even harder. Shaky-cam was, however, a problem for other movies that weren’t nearly as skillful with the technique.
2002
$214,034,224
84%
2004
$290,835,269
82%
2007
$444,100,035
92%
2012
$276,144,750
56%
2016
$415,484,914
54%
The main problem with shaky-cam is that few people other than Greengrass knew how to use it.For many Hollywood films that were trying to imitate theBournemovies, shaky-cam was a way to hide poor fight choreography and make underwhelming scenes more exciting. Some of the worst examples of shaky-cam can even be found in good movies likeThe Hurt LockerorMan of Steel. Particularly bad examples of shaky-cam can turn a reasonably well-choreographed action sequence into an indiscernible blur of a moment. But, since theBournetrilogy was a hit, every other movie from that decade wanted to follow suit.
John Wick’s Fight Scenes Set A New Benchmark For Hollywood Action Movies
John Wick’s crystal clear action scenes and completely steady camera signified a proverbial crossing of the Rubicon for Hollywood.After years of movies imitating theBournefranchise’s shaky-cam, viewers didn’t want to go back, and every action movie after about 2016 had to follow inJohn Wick’s footsteps if it wanted to succeed. It wasn’t enough to just disorient viewers with blurred images of violence - now action movies have to highlight each brutal detail of their fights and clearly show viewers what they want to see.John Wickquite simply changed modern action movies in a tremendous way.
