Since the first movie debuted in 2014, John Wick: Chapter 2 on), the John Wick series blends gun fu with martial arts, inspired by similarly high-octane action classics like Equilibrium, The Matrix, and John Woo's entire filmography.
In turn, John Wick's martial arts style has inspired the likes of Atomic Blonde and Nobody, ensuring that gun fu continues on. John Wick also has many real martial artists onboard for choreographing fights. Mark Dacascos, Roger Yuan, and Tiger Chen are just a handful of those who have brought their skills to the John Wick franchise, with John Wick: Chapter 4 also enlisting Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Marko Zaror. These martial artists are crucial in bringing a character like the Baba Yaga to life onscreen. Here's every martial arts discipline seen in the John Wick franchise so far.
Gun Fu
The preferred John Wick martial art of most long-time franchise viewers, gun fu is the theatrical combination of marksmanship principles with the fundamentals of classic martial arts films. In the west, gun fu has been popularized by The Matrix, Equilibrium, John Wick, Kick Ass, and Kingsman: The Secret Service. However, gun fu actually originated in '80s Hong Kong cinema. Although there were western movies before the '80s, it was John Woo and Chow Yun Fat movies like A Better Tomorrow and The Killer which first established the shooting angles, dynamic sequences, and sheer style that gave birth to gun fu — the foundations of John Wick's fighting style.
Judo
One of the martial arts seen throughout the John Wick franchise is judo, with John himself being its primary . Founded by Kano Jigoro, judo is well-known for its throwing techniques. John is a highly skilled judoka, and throughout the franchise often relies on various judo throws to catch his opponents off-guard. John also frequently blends his judo skills with his use of guns, throwing or sweeping an enemy to momentarily incapacitate them before putting them down with a bullet. Halle Berry's Sofia in John Wick 3 has a very similar approach to fighting as John, blending judo throws with gunplay in the movie's battle in Morocco.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
The John Wick movies also heavily feature Brazilian jiu-jitsu — a crucial part of how Keanu Reeves' trained for John Wick. Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or BJJ, is all about grappling, positioning, and combat on the ground, with chokes and t manipulations, and is a staple of the MMA world. John is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu exponent, while the first John Wick also had his enemy Ms. Perkins (Adrianne Palicki) utilizing it as her main fighting style. The gi of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner can also be used for chokes, which is something Perkins implements with her leather jacket in her fight against John.
Karate
Karate has many different sub-schools, including but not limited to Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, and Kyokushin, the latter of which John Wick 4 star Hiroyuki Sanada is a practitioner of. Translating as "Empty Hand", karate is a punching and kicking-oriented martial art, and was arguably made most famous in the West by Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid franchise. Though John is partial to fighting off his enemies with throwing techniques, he also uses punches and kicks drawn from karate, with several of John's opponents also being karateka.
Tae Kwon Do
While countless martial arts teach kicking techniques, Korean Tae Kwon Do is particularly well-known for its emphasis on kicking. John faces several enemies who display skills in Tae Kwon Do, and one of the best examples of Kirill in the first John Wick, played by Daniel Bernhardt. In their nightclub encounter, Kirill is a challenging adversary for John with his swift and powerful kicks, while other assassins in the John Wick series are skilled kickers with training in Tae Kwon Do, as well.
Kali
Originating from the Philippines, kali or escrima is heavy on combat with both sticks and knives. Apart from being a crucial aspect of John Wick's fighting style, kali was also one of the many fighting styles used/studied by Bruce Lee. John is a knife fighter with deadly skills, as is his major opponent in John Wick 2, Cassian (Common). Co-fight choreographer Jonathan Eusebio explained in an interview (via Maxim) that kali was the basis of John's knife fighting skills, which also extend to his ability to eliminate opponents with a pencil, a feat that is part of what fuels the legend of Baba Yaga.
Kung Fu
Most other martial arts throughout Asia can trace their lineage to kung fu in some way. The many different subsets of kung fu vary greatly from hard to soft in their emphasis and approach to combat. The John Wick franchise most prominently features kung fu in John Wick 3 when John encounters a gang of assassins in New York City's Chinatown — including one portrayed by Keanu Reeves' good friend, Man of Tai Chi. Meanwhile, Donnie Yen's John Wick 4 role will also inject kung fu into the series. Many different forms of kung fu exist, with China's famed Shaolin Temple being regarded the cradle of kung fu for a millennium and a half, and it's perhaps the most widely recognized martial art by name in the West.
Sambo
The Russian martial art sambo is another combat art in John's arsenal, but was first created in 1920's by Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oschepkov. A hybrid of different fighting techniques, sambo is closely connected to Judo with a similarly great emphasis on throwing techniques. Considering John Wick's Eastern European background, it makes sense that he has significant training in sambo alongside various other martial arts. Additionally, a scene in John Wick 3 when John meets The Director (Angelica Huston) shows a group of Ruska Roma students in sambo training. Not only was this great for the international sambo community, it also finally explained the highly aggressive and dynamic wrestling in John Wick's fighting style.
Shoot Wrestling
Born out of Japanese pro-wrestling, shoot wrestling began as an endeavor to bring the authenticity of MMA into choreographed pro-wrestling fights. Blending an array of different martial arts, shoot wrestling is technically a style of live-fight choreography. Alongside strong style wrestling, shoot style has become increasingly popular in the west thanks to collaborations and cross-promotions by the WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling. John Wick martial arts choreographer Jonathan Eusebio revealed in the aforementioned Maxim interview that shoot wrestling was also a component of Keanu Reeves' training to portray John Wick.
Aikido
Another martial art well-known for its throws, aikido focuses on redirecting the momentum of an opponent's attack to use their energy against them. This was a big focus of John Wick 3, with John now frequently dealing with multiple opponents. As Eusebio explained in Maxim, the fight choreography of John Wick 3 factored this in, and oriented John's fighting style to incorporate more aikido elements. In John Wick 3, with John now a man on the run, his throws often see him taking down one enemy in such a way as to continue the energy of their attack away from him, and enabling John to immediately turn his focus to the next opponent.
Ninjutsu
From classic Duel to the Death and Lone Wolf & Cub, to the undaunted popularity of the Naruto franchise, ninjutsu has been a staple martial art in entertainment for the last 50 years. As for John Wick's fighting style, John Wick 3 was where the franchise pulled in a wider range of different martial arts than ever, and brought ninjutsu into the equation with John's Shinobi enemies led by Zero (Mark Dacascos). The ninja of feudal Japan employed a range of different stealth and espionage techniques alongside weapons and unarmed fighting.
Zero's students rely on exactly this kind of attack, surprising John from the shadows in the climactic battle in the Continental. They also wielded weapons traditionally wielded by ninja, such as the Wakizashi or short sword. Several contemporary schools also teach modernized forms of ninjutsu, including the Japanese Bujinkan Association, along with American ninjutsu teacher Stephen K. Hayes' modern school, known as To-Shin-Do.
Silat
Globally popularized by the success of The Raid movies, and fittingly, two of that series' own stars, Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian, appear in John Wick 3 as two of Zero's Shinobi students. Rahman and Ruhian are both genuine silat exponents, and also wield the signature silat knife known as the kerambit in their fight against John.
The John Wick series has certainly come a long way from its B-movie debut, to now being the model that action movies collectively seem eager to follow, whether in the general assassin movie concept or the series' approach to orchestrating action. Meanwhile, the franchise's martial arts fights remain a crucial element of its popularity with their creativity and eclectic nature. When it comes to showcasing a wide collection of different forms of martial arts, no current Hollywood action movie series, and perhaps none in the entire world, does it better than John Wick continues to.
