When “John Wick” blasted into theaters on October 24, 2014, moviegoers misplaced their minds over the movie’s ingenious amalgam of hand-to-hand fight and gunplay. It was doubly spectacular on account of Keanu Reeves’ seemingly easy facility for performing lots of his personal stunts. Clearly, nobody was stunned that the star of “The Matrix” franchise might brawl and shoot convincingly, however the diploma of problem seemed to be off the charts. Simply whenever you assume you have seen each potential iteration of martial arts fight on display, alongside comes stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski to indicate motion junkies that there is nonetheless loads of room for throwdown innovation.
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If you happen to’re a hardcore fan of the style, you realize that filmmakers have blended these gunplay and hand-to-hand fight earlier than. The Wachowskis first launched the thought in “The Matrix,” which impressed Kurt Wimmer to go completely gonzo by inventing “gun kata” in his ludicrously entertaining “Equilibrium.” Wimmer was to this point forward of the sport that the now-disgraced duo of Harvey and Bob Weinstein dumped his film into theaters on the finish of 2002 as a result of, partially, they did not assume moviegoers would get off on this newfangled motion idea. “Equilibrium” subsequently grew to become a cult hit, however it will take one other decade for studios and mainstream audiences to totally embrace the artwork of “gun-fu” (a time period coined by CHUD webmaster Nick Nunziata 23 years in the past).
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Whereas Stahelski did not invent gun-fu, he unquestionably took it to the subsequent degree with the sensible 87North stunt crew in the first “John Wick” movie. This preventing model has solely grown extra subtle over the, to this point, 4 function sequels and sole tv spinoff (“The Continental: From the World of John Wick”). For these curious in regards to the origins and growth of gun-fu over time, there is a behind-the-scenes documentary on the best way from director Jeffrey Doe titled “Wick Is Ache,” and one of many movie’s most shocking reveals is that Jason Statham nearly had the honour of introducing the punch-kick-bang self-discipline.
Jason Statham’s Protected was too grounded for gun-fu
/Movie’s Ben Pearson lately interviewed Stahelski in regards to the documentary (which the filmmaker didn’t direct or produce), and, on the finish of their chat, famous that Boaz Yakin’s action-thriller “Protected” was practically floor zero for the 47North type of this extremely lethal martial artwork. Although Statham is not any shrinking violet in terms of performing as lots of his personal stunts as potential, “Protected” turned out to be the flawed match for the crew’s gun-fu antics.
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Stahelski clarified that they are on very pleasant phrases with Statham (47North did the stunts on David Ayer’s “The Beekeeper”), however admitted that introducing gun-fu in a comparatively grounded movie a few homeless ex-cop and former MMA fighter who finds himself defending a younger woman who’s being hunted by such prison outfits because the Russian mob, the Chinese language Triads and the NYPD would’ve been jarring for moviegoers:
“Logistically, that will be so odd for that film. Tonally, logistically, financially, it was by no means going to work. We have been the goofy ones who have been pitching it, realizing that there is no approach it was a fantastic character alternative for him. A few of the Aikido, and the person strikes, certain. However myself, Jason, and Boaz the director, have been like, “Yeah, it is cool, however…”And there is a little trace of it in there, when Jason’s doing the disarms within the restaurant and stuff. It was in there. And Jason might do all of it, no drawback, and f***ing Jason’s superior, man. I really like watching his s***. It is simply, it wasn’t the best character, tone, and film for that.”
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Stahelski additionally mentioned how 47North’s growth of recent motion filmmaking methods comes from “f***ing about within the health club.” He unabashedly permits that the motion within the “John Wick” universe has was a Looney Tunes model of fight (which calls to thoughts Michael Davis’ gleefully nutty “Shoot ‘Em Up” starring Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci). Maybe they’re going to be capable of get Statham in on the Wick gun-fu enjoyable someplace down the road. It’d really feel like a missed alternative to not pit him towards Keanu earlier than they each age out of this bone-bruising style.
