John Wick franchise director and creative overseer Chad Stahelski ᴀssures that John Wick: Chapter 5 will maintain a high bar for action quality, despite Keanu Reeves now being 60 years old. With each new installment in the hit action franchise, Stahelski and Reeves have upped the ante in terms of action, with Chapter 4 representing a critical and commercial high point. Ballerina has just hit theaters and a Caine spinoff is on the way, but Reeves’ time as Wick may not be over just yet, as John Wick: Chapter 5 is confirmed to be in active development at Lionsgate.

During a recent interview with THR, Stahelski is asked whether John Wick 5 will take it easier on Reeves, who does many of his own action sequences, now that he’s about to turn 61. The director makes clear that Reeves’ age won’t lower the quality of the action, explaining that the star’s past physical constraints were actually responsible for shaping a key part of the franchise’s fight stylization. Check out his comment below:

“For the first John Wick, Keanu had a really bad knee injury and he couldn’t punch and kick. So we came up with the Jiujitsu and gun-fu. We’re not going to lower the bar [for John Wick 5]. We’re just going to move the bar to something we haven’t done before.”

What This Means For John Wick 5

What Keanu Reeves Has Said About Returning As The ᴀssᴀssin

Though stunt performers will take over for particularly dangerous moments, such as Wick’s tumble down the stairs at the Sacré Coeur in the acclaimed John Wick: Chapter 4 or the various car hits featured throughout the franchise, Reeves does much of the actual hand-to-hand fighting himself. Considering just how many throws, twists, and grapples are involved in the franchise’s gun-fu fighting, and just how much the franchise prides itself on showing Reeves doing these activities with wider angles and longer takes, making a John Wick movie is especially physically demanding for the star.

Reeves himself commented on this recently in relation to John Wick 5, telling CBS News that, while his heart wants to make another sequel, “my knees are saying right now, ‘You can’t do another John Wick.'” With Reeves’ prior knee injury shaping the entire approach to action in the first installment, it’s possible that a fifth installment would put a new spin on fight sequences once again, adopting an approach that is more mindful of Reeves’ potential physical limitations without sacrificing Wick’s lethality.

Our Take On Stahelski’s John Wick 5 Comments

The Director Has A Proven Track Record

With the four John Wick movies, Stahelski has proven himself one of the most innovative and reliable directors working in action today. As a former stunt performer, he clearly knows how to make action be both legible for audiences and wildly entertaining. Stahelski, then, is certainly the best possible person to evolve this action style, and it could actually make a fifth film feel like a fresh experience for audiences that subverts expectations.

While the action in a potential fifth movie is sure to be entertaining, it seems like the primary issue Stahelski faces now is coming up with a compelling enough story idea that justifies continuing the saga after the satisfying John Wick: Chapter 4 ending. Many questions remain about what exactly John Wick 5 will look like if it does end up coming to fruition, but audiences can evidently expect more outstanding action.

Source: THR