What’s Aged the Best?
The whole concept of the Continental, the markers and the assassin world
In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:01Read transcript
- John Wick loves his wife, his dog and his car; add two kids and that is one host, who likes two of his three dogs and is told to free Olivia; it is called super weird that weirdos secretly relate to the most evil assassin in history, and another host relates too, since Wick has a dog, a car and principles but a lonely life.
- Why Common is so loyal to Gianna is questioned, since he seems out for revenge rather than the seven million; he was down in the nightclub because she told him to go upstairs and greet the guests, a poor choice on her part, and he is blamed the way Brett Brown is blamed for the Sixers loss.
- The two rules that cannot be broken, no blood on Continental grounds and every marker must be honored, are a pick: out-there rules that people stick to, with an almost childlike tag or capture-the-flag logic where arcane expansions get added; the whole construction of the Continental and its mythology with its cool figures is called genius.
- The gearing-up sequence has aged well: the tailor in the back of the Chinese laundromat, the weapon sommelier in Italy asking how his tasting is, even the bank, the whole secret alternate universe.
- The Continental drink scene with Common is loved because the two men are trying to kill each other and then have a cocktail, with Common made to drink gin from a tall glass and looking like a dork; the Gianna scene is creepy but great, with a weird vibe, and it took a couple of viewings to understand that he shoots her to save her from hell, with a great overhead shot of the blood pooling.
- Chad Stahelski directed all three films and the first was co-directed with David Leitch, who went on to Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde and the forthcoming Hobbs and Shaw; both were Keanu's stuntmen for years, Chad on The Matrix, and the cinematographer made Danish genre movies before becoming the key cinematographer for the director of The Shape of Water, so a pulpy, bloody movie is made by brilliant artisans, which is the sweet spot; the joke is John Wick 2 is Shape of Water except entertaining.
- The honor of the contract killers and the markers ties it to a Western or samurai movie, a classical action setup where a promise must be kept and even the killing has to be done a certain way; caring about Gianna not going to hell shows a moral guy, and honor and codes are called classic Long Island.
- Putting a contract out like buying a stock or calling an operator has aged well; if the world were real one host would bet on it, Common at plus 700, though bookies would never take bets on the undefeated Wick, the Kevin Durant or the Mountain of assassins.
- The Continental is picked as a world to live in, Soho House for assassins and a rich-guy hangout, though at 800 dollars a night nobody needs a Labrador in the lobby, like a Kempton (as transcribed); Lance Reddick from The Wire as the concierge has a shaky accent; the red leather bar is one of the favorite movie bars, with hotel bars around Columbus Circle the closest New York equivalents; a boutique hotel renaming itself the Continental would be ballsy, a promo stay has been done, and the Intercontinental chain makes the name confusing.
- No movie ever set up a sequel better than the end of John Wick 2, the best version of wanting the next one now.
- Ian McShane as Winston is the best use of his late-period speechifying, a great guy to hand three pages of dialogue; he would have won the Dion Waiters for John Wick 1, which the show never covered; here he shows up in three key sequences and explains the mythology, making rather than giving the rules.
- Compared with over-plotted Marvel, Game of Thrones and J.J. Abrams movies stitched together, the simplicity has aged best: an understandable story with time to embellish, no comic-book or Wikipedia homework, and an exception to the fear of telling simple stories that cannot spawn five sequels.
- McShane calling him Jonathan is both condescending and respectful, like someone calling you Christopher; everything McShane says is a rhetorical question.
- Shea Serrano calls the speaker Seanathan, which he thinks started after John Wick came out (transcribed as 'won'), and it is in his face all the time. — Sean Fennessey
- The final agreement is the whole concept of the Continental, the markers and this world, with the coins as part of it: how much they are worth, how many he has, how heavy they are and why they never fall out when he rolls around.