Keanu Reeves dropped by Comic-Con to reveal John Wick 4 sneak peek teaser

The film won’t hit theaters until March 2023, but that didn’t stop Keanu Reeves from swinging by Comic-Con to introduce a sneak peek teaser for John Wick Chapter 4simply titled John Wick (which can be confusing as this is also the title of the original movie that launched the entire franchise). According to Deadline Hollywood, Reeves crashed the Collider’s Directors on the directorial panel, including: John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski as panelist.

(Spoilers for the first three films in the franchise below.)

As I’ve written before, John Wick (Reeves) is a legendary hit man (known as the Boogeyman or “Baba Yaga”) who tried to retire when he fell in love and got married. Unfortunately, after the death of his wife, he is pulled back into the dark underground world by an act of senseless violence. Nothing will stop John Wick from seeking retribution. The first John Wick grossed over $88 million worldwide for a film that cost approximately $30 million to make, and it was praised for its fast pace, heart-wrenching action sequences, and stylish noir to feel.

So of course there was a sequel. In John Wick: Chapter Two, Wick faces off against a slew of Russian bad guys, but is forced (by the professional assassin’s code) to carry out one last quest. Of course he succeeds – he is John Wick – but the client, Italian crime boss Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), tries to cover his tracks by placing a bounty on Wick’s head. Wick kills Santino—who was recently named to the High Table—at the Continental Hotel in New York, which is supposed to be a safe haven for killers, and is declared “excommunicato,” cutting him off from any means the hitman usually takes underground. has offers.

And that’s true John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum picked up, as Wick scrambled to find allies (and ammunition) to fight pretty much the entire underworld of assassins, all very eager to claim the $14 million bounty on his head. The title refers to the old saying, Si vis pacem, para bellum: “If you want peace you have to prepare for war.” Wick essentially declared war on the High Table and the escalation went exactly as you’d expect when everyone’s favorite dog-loving hit man is involved.

parabellum ended with a final twist that is neatly set up John Wick: Chapter 4. John negotiated a deal with the elder for the forgiveness of his many violations against the High Table in exchange for killing Winston (Ian McShane), manager of the NYC Continental Hotel where Wick killed Santino. That’s because Winston had refused the order to relinquish his position as punishment for helping John. But when the time came, John refused to complete the mission.

So the High Table sent in its army of assassins, Winston provided the firepower, and John pretty much killed them all. In the ensuing conversation with the Adjuticator, Winston declared allegiance to the High Table and shot John, who fell from the roof to the floor. He survived and was rescued by the henchmen of the badly wounded Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), and the two vowed to work together for revenge.

The big question is whether Winston’s betrayal was a calculated move. Did he actually want to kill John? Stahelski told Digital Spy in 2020 that this was open to interpretation, but either way we’re sure to see some fallout from Winston’s pick in Chapter 4. Stahleski made one thing very clear in a swearing interview with IndieWire: After ruthlessly killing over 300 people (so far), John might survive, but he won’t be riding into the sunset with a new love interest. “There is no happy ending at the end,” he said. “He has nowhere to go.”

The four principles return for this episode: Reeves, McShane, Fishburne and Lance Reddick as Charon, the urban janitor of the NYC Continental. One of the new characters is Akira, played by Japanese singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama in her feature film debut. She was cast after Stahelski saw her combine dance and martial arts in a few of her music videos, so we can definitely expect fight choreography that plays to her strengths. The cast also includes Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård, Clancy Brown and Scott Adkins in unnamed roles.

Chapter 4 will take place in Japan, America, Paris, Berlin and Jordan. There aren’t many plot details in the Comic-Con teaser, but do we need it? Franchise fans know what they want and they trust Stahleski to deliver it. The teaser delivers. We see footage of John slamming into a pole with a rope, already bloodied from constant use, between a smorgasbord of action shots: there are samurai swords, nunchucks, bows and arrows, “dog fu”, daggers and of course guns, rifles, rifles . “Have you thought about where this ends?” a man asks John. ‘The Table will never stop. You know that. No one, not even you, can kill anyone.’

But John Wick never stops either. Yes, there is coming chapter 5; the studio intended to film it simultaneously with Chapter 4but between the pandemic and Reeves’ scheduling conflict over filming The Matrix Resurrections, it decided to focus only on the fourth episode. Reeves has said he will keep making John Wick movies as long as they keep making money. parabellum raised $362 million worldwide. If the next two chapters do just as well (or better), the franchise will be with us for a long time to come.

There’s even a spin-off movie ballerina, in development, with Ana de Arnas playing a young woman raised as a hit man who vows revenge on the killers who killed her family. A key scene in parabellum depicted a training school for young girls, similar to the one John Wick grew up in, with intensive ballet training. The spin-off film will focus on the adult version of one of those girls. A limited TV series is also being developed, the continentalfocused on a young Winston in the 1970s, played by Colin Woodell.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is scheduled to hit theaters on March 24, 2023.

List image by YouTube/Lionsgate