John Wick: Chapter 4 brought the John Wick franchise to new heights, but there is one record it broke that the franchise should not try to top. Starting with the original John Wick in 2014, an action franchise was unexpectedly born, serving as a comeback of sorts for iconic action movie actor Keanu Reeves.

While each installment of John Wick movies was met with critical and financial success, John Wick 4 was a mᴀssive hit. The movie earned the best reviews, with 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, while also becoming its highest-grossing entry, with $447.1 million (via Box Office Mojo). However, it also completed a trend of the sequels that has gone too far.

Each John Wick Movie Has Been Longer Than The Last

The Franchise Went From Short Action Movies To Three-Hour Epics

Looking back at the original John Wick, it is surprising how big the franchise got after that. Not only did the budgets grow, but the mythology of the John Wick universe was expanded on more and more, creating more epic sequels. This led to a trend in which each of the John Wick movies was longer than the last.

Highlighting the growth the franchise made over nine years, the first John Wick movie was 101 minutes, while the fourth movie was more than an hour longer at 169 minutes. While the latest spinoff in the John Wick universe, Ballerina, was 125 minutes long, it brings up the question of how long the upcoming John Wick 5 will be.

John Wick: Chapter 4 Was Arguably TOO Long

John Wick 4 Was Nearly Three Hours

As much as John Wick 4 has been praised by critics and fans, the extensive runtime of the movie is perhaps one of its few flaws. To be fair, the film was ramping up to conclude the John Wick story thus far. As a result, it makes sense that there was a rather big story to tell.

The audience also needed to spend time with John to build to that emotional John Wick 4 ending that felt like a nice cap to the entire franchise. Certainly, when it comes to the action sequences in John Wick 4, none of them drag in the slightest. However, it is the moments in between that pad the runtime unnecessarily.

The overall experience of John Wick 4 is thrilling, but at nearly three hours long, it is harder to revisit than the franchise’s other movies. The runtime was also easier to accept when it seemed as though this could be the final John Wick movie. With the franchise continuing, it may still feel earned, but not as necessary.

John Wick 5 Would Benefit From A Shorter Runtime

John Wick’s Return Can Bring Down The Franchise’s Scale

The trend of all the main John Wick movies up to this point would suggest that John Wick 5 would clock in at over three hours. While it is certainly possible the franchise is going for an epic return for Keanu Reeves’ character, the fifth movie should be a shorter sequel, for the sake of the audience and the story.

Even with John Wick surviving, he finally beat the High Table, and that storyline can be closed. The world of John Wick is so rich in detail that there are plenty of other corners to explore. The movies have also done a wonderful job building this mythology, and we don’t need as much explanation.

John can have an intense and action-packed adventure without having to build on what has come before. Ballerina proved that smaller stories in this world work fine so long as they deliver on the same action. John Wick 4 may have been a true action epic, but it’s okay to dial things back now.