The out of nowhere hit action franchise John Wick has revolutionized action on the big screen. With its fast-paced fight scenes and genre-defining setpiece design, the three films and multiple upcoming sequels or spin-offs are among the most influential films in the modern era.
The term "Martial Arts movie" is a loose and non-specific genre specification that debatably doesn't quite fit John Wick. Nearly every film with a fight scene features at least a little inspiration from real-world fighting styles, but the iconic assassin's unique skillset takes clear cues from a variety of fascinating sources.
The pulse-pounding method of violence executed by both Wick and his countless enemies is colloquially referred to as Gun fu. The term, interchangeable with terms like gun kata or bullet ballet, originated with the Hong Kong action godfather, John Woo. Woo sought to find a new method of filming shootouts, subverting the expectation of boring gunfights by intermingling them with hand-to-hand combat. Chow Yun-Fat was the star of Woo's action catalogue and the first performer to bring gun fu to life on the big screen.
The first big American film to borrow these techniques native to Asian action cinema, oddly enough, also centered around Keanu Reeves. The Matrix trilogy gained enormous fame by bringing the Hong Kong-style into their repertoire, and its leather-clad aesthetic became the new standard. Years later, John Wick would adapt the Hong Kong invention, the American refinement and put Keanu in the center once again with their own twist that made them the current go-to action film.
Mr. Wick's take on gun fu is an eclectic mix of fighting styles that combines multiple martial arts into one fluid style. The largest base element of Wick's martial arts mastery is Judo, a Japanese combat system created in 1882. Judo has been an Olympic sport since the 1960s, and its competitive variant is one of the most popular contact sports for years. The art of Judo is based around achieving maximum impact with minimal effort, allowing smaller or weaker fighters to defeat larger opponents.
The primary focus of Judo is throwing the opponent, points are scored in the sport through tossing the competitor and that element remains key to combat Judo. John Wick's most iconic move in the films is to throw his enemy to the ground and finish him off with a clean gunshot. Wick uses Judo techniques like the Ippon Seoi Nage (one arm shoulder throw) or the Hiza Guruma (knee wheel) to knock opponents off their feet before the killing blow. Many of Wick's opponents also heavily rely upon Judo, opposing the assassin with comparable grabs and flips.
Wick also wields styles that are derivative of Judo, primarily the art of Jiu-Jitsu. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was created by the iconic Gracie family in 1920, interpreting Judo techniques into a newer fighting style. The art is based heavily around ground fighting and submissions, as a sport and as a combat system, the goal is to restrain or disable the opponent through joint locks and chokeholds. The line between Judo and Jiu-Jitsu can be a bit tough to define, as they share several techniques, but many of Wick's ground-based maneuvers were Brazilian developments. Wick loves to put an enemy in a triangle choke or an armlock before moving in with a weapon. Wick can also often be seen dropping onto his own back in order to throw the opponent using his weight, a classic BJJ technique.
Wick's martial arts mastery isn't limited to his hand-to-hand techniques, he is also known to be a master with a knife. For most of Wick's bladed encounters, he relies upon a Filipino martial art known as Arnis. Wick favors a straight-bladed knife, like the double-edged automatic knife he takes on assignment in John Wick: Chapter 2, but many of his enemies wield the iconic karambit dagger. Arnis has an unclear history, but is well-known as a native-inspired knife and stick combat system. The best single scene for a close-up look at some of the techniques and footwork Wick takes from this art is clearly the train knife fight with Common's character Cassian. That classic brutal knife duel effectively showcases John Wick's knife fighting style of choice through his complex live hand moves and elegant hakbang movement.
No discussion of John Wick's fighting style would be complete without his weapon of choice, his enormous selection of guns. Keanu Reeves trained extensively in a shooting sport known as 3-gun, which involves navigating a course full of active targets and accurately taking them down while switching between multiple firearms. Fans have seen countless times how Wick effectively incorporates the weapons of his fallen enemies into his fluid rampages. Wick's mastery of close-quarters shooting blends perfectly with his many martial arts to form the combat system that fans know and love.