oThe Baba Yaga has finally returned with the release of John Wick: Chapter 4. As expected, Keanu Reeves has delivered some bloody and spectacular kills throughout this three-hour, action-packed epic.
Over the years, viewers have seen John murder people with just about every weapon that comes to mind, but he and his fellow assassins went above and beyond when it came to dishing out creative kills in this fourth chapter. In a film filled with deaths, these kills are undoubtedly the best of the best.
Note: This article includes spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4.
7. Caine chimes in
Actor Donnie Yen, whom audiences may remember from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, dominated this film as Caine, the blind assassin hired by the Marquis de Gramont to kill John. Despite lacking the ability to see, Caine has presented himself as a frightening and almost superhuman fighter on par with Daredevil.
In one scene, Caine plants motion-sensing devices that detect and alert him of any enemies approaching him. These devices allow him to shoot down a few assassins trying to sneak up on him from afar. They even help him take out an assailant that’s right next to him. Though Caine has his limitations, he still proves to be quite capable of killing his opponents with the resources at his disposal.
6. Knives out
Along with Caine, one of the most notable new additions to the John Wick universe is Akira, the Osaka Continental’s concierge and Koji’s daughter. Though she works at the front desk, she proves herself to be a very skilled fighter as she battles the assassins Gramont sends to invade the hotel.
She makes an especially brutal kill as she repeatedly stabs a man in the back as he crawls up a staircase. He tries to escape her, but she rides on his back all the way to the top, digging her blades into him until he finally collapses. And John thinks he had a hard time with stairs in this film.
5. Killing Killa
To regain his membership in the Ruska Roma crime family and duel the Marquis, John sets out to assassinate Killa, the gold-toothed head of the German High Table. Though he may not seem like much of a fighter, Killa surprisingly gives John a run for his money thanks to extraordinary strength and agility.
But after slicing his neck with a playing card, shooting him in the butt, bashing his face, and throwing an ax into his backside, John finally sends him falling over a railing headfirst into a staircase. Killa is finally killed, making for one of John Wick’s most brutal and exhausting kills ever.
4. Killing the Marquis
The film climaxes when John duels Caine for his freedom at Sacré-Cœur. In a scene that looks like a mix of Barry Lyndon and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, John and Caine, who is fighting in place of the Marquis, take their positions and fire their pistols at each other.
When John is shot and bleeding to death, the Marquis takes Caine’s pistol so he can kill John himself. But due to his arrogance, the Marquis fails to notice that John never fired his gun, giving the latter the opening to shoot his enemy dead and finally free himself from the Table.
3. Dojo drum kill
When the Marquis’ assassins invade the Osaka Continental looking for John, he ends up fighting his way through countless enemies across the hotel’s neon dojo. Though there are plenty of remarkable kills in this sequence, the one that stands out the most is when John shoots an assassin against a giant white drum.
The way blood splatters out of the henchman’s head and onto the drum makes it look like a drip painting made by Jackson Pollock, further cementing the idea that John Wick is creating pure art with every one of his fight scenes.
2. Mr. Nobody’s payback
At one point in the film, John battles the assassin known as Mr. Nobody, who travels with a dog that assists him in combat. Though John has the opportunity to kill Mr. Nobody, he sees the latter’s dog about to be shot by Chidi and decides to save it, as John knows all too well the pain of losing a pet.
John’s act of kindness pays off later on when Mr. Nobody saves him from Chidi while he’s trying to reach Sacré-Cœur. And in an extra bit of payback, Mr. Nobody sics his dog on Chidi’s privates before putting a bullet in his skull. In case everyone has forgotten, never mess with a man and his dog.
1. Dragon’s breath shootout
If John Wick’s gun-fu wasn’t cool or deadly enough, this film takes it up a notch by having him use a shotgun that literally shoots fire, hence its name, “Dragon’s Breath.” One specific kill can’t be singled out as John wields this outstanding new weapon.
There’s an entire one-shot sequence in which John unleashes the Dragon’s Breath on a whole horde of assassins, setting them all ablaze as the camera looks down on everything like a classic Legend of Zelda game. The scene even uses the dubstep song from the iconic nightclub shootout in the first film, which only illuminates how much the franchise has evolved through the years.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theaters.
