In 2014, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch—veteran stuntmen and part-time directors—could hardly have imagined what *John Wick* would become. Today, it is no longer just a movie, but a massive and sprawling franchise. Action films are now measured against “John Wick”; it has become the flagship of the genre in an era of its total crisis. Keanu Reeves also reaped a special reward—after a string of failures with his return to action films like “47 Ronin” and “The Master of Tai Chi,” he finally found his hero and stopped getting bruised. But even here, it wasn’t without bruises and scrapes—throughout the entire “John Wick” series, Reeves willingly pushed himself to the limit, masochistically testing his body’s endurance and performing most of the stunts himself. No wonder Stahelski, looking at his limping colleague, would say: “John Wick is pain.” It seems this will become the franchise’s philosophy, since it was filmed not without creaking knees and nervous exhaustion.
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