John Wick 4’s original title has almost spoiled the whole film

This article contains spoilers For “John Wick: Chapter 4.”

John Wick did not become the pre -eminent action hero of this generation by dying, but that certainly did not hurt. In 2014, the character made his debut in his first film, which presented Keanu Reeves as a former damaged killer who embarked on a quest for revenge lowered blood after the son of a crime boss was introduced into his house and kills John’s new puppy. This is enough to send anyone in a blind rage, but the character of Reeves took his time, finding his weapons under concrete in a hammer scene which saw the actor adopt a surprisingly method approach, before finding all those responsible for the death of the poor puppy. It was only after that that he let out his assault, holding 77 people through the film’s execution time, before finally offering the Lord of the Russian crime of Michael Nyqvist, Viggo Tarasov, in a satisfactory conclusion that underlined the myth of John Wick in public conscience.

John Wick has increased in power with each subsequent input of the franchise. Chad Stahelski, the director of each film in the main saga, increased the number of bodies for most of the suites (it took a slight plunge in “John Wick: Chapter 2”). But it is not only that the eliminations have increased and have become increasingly elaborate-Wick itself has become essentially indestructible, to the point that it decreases the stakes enough, would I dare say, make films a little boring?

This does not mean that the films are not impressive in terms of action. The choreography has reached impressive levels in “John Wick: Chapter 4” of 2023, which presented one of the best action scenes ever filmed. However, Reeves overcoming the wave after the wave of enemies and walked ready to fight another day became a little tedious at that time. Then, John Wick died in one of the most shocking moments in the series which was almost given by the original title of the film.

The end of “John Wick: Chapter 4” sees the Hitman holder face Caine (Donnie Yen) in a duel in which John is touched by two shots. After having managed to go out at a last blow and kill the film’s antagonist, Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård), he apparently expires before a final scene represents his tombstone placed next to that of his wife. Winston of Ian McShane then made him goodbye before moving away, apparently confirming the death of the hero of actor in the past indestructible of Keanu Reeves.

It was hard to believe at the time that the character was actually deceased. After all, his invulnerability had become a central characteristic of the films at that time. In addition, the studio behind the films, Lionsgate, was certainly not going to let one of its greatest franchises end when it was apparently up to its powers. As it stands, however, John Wick is indeed in the ground, and it seems that a huge moment in the saga was almost spoiled in advance by the title of the film.

Director Chad Stahelski has already talked about how the end of “John Wick: Chapter 4” was originally much less subtle, revealing that he pulled an end where the public saw John at the end of the film, confirming that he was still alive. After the test, the public preferred the ambiguous end, however, the director opted for the version we have all seen in theaters, which has certainly aligned more on the director principle of Stahelski for “Chapter 4”. The former stuntman explained how Wick’s death was inspired by a Treaty on the Samurai label called “Hagakure”, which essentially refers to the art of the way of death. As he explained to the magazine Empire, the very first line that he and Reeves wrote on a towel in Japan was: “You can only have a good death if you had a good life.” The two wrote the film upside down from there. Initially, however, it seems that this idea of ​​”hagakure” has actually made its way in the original title for “Chapter 4”.

The films “John Wick” began to add Addendums to their titles with “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” of 2019, and it seems that the last chapter would have had its own addition if it had not been a massive fin. Chad Stahelski spoke with Cinemablend and revealed that the original working title for “Chapter 4” was indeed “Hagakure”. The director explained that the sentence referred to a 16th century book on “the code of ethics of the samurai and how to prepare for death; the way of dying”.

Given the age in which we live, where the detectives on the Internet jump on each treat before the release of a film, using such a sentence in the final title to “Chapter 4” would surely have given the disappearance of the Keanu Reeves action hero. However, Stahelski seemed to have a preference to maintain “hagakure” in the last title of the film, saying at the release: “We have removed the title and all that, but sometimes that … He can translate different ways … Even in Japanese terms, that means a bit as” hidden leaves “. There are mixed translations.” In the end, he said that there was a “group 4” Simpler and mentioned that “Hagakure” could have given the film “too much of a samurai atmosphere”, which is surprising given the risks of aforementioned spoiler. Was it surely the greatest consideration?

Anyway, although John Wick finally left for the afterlife, we talked a lot about what Stahelski and Reeves will do in “John Wick: Chapter 5”. But the opening of the box office for the spin-off “ballerina” could have been a real death sentence for the franchise as a whole. No one, it seems, is interested in the world of John Wick without the man himself, as evidenced by the life spin-off lifeless and joy “The Continental”. Perhaps the “Chapter 4” has really resulted in the death of John Wick-however, in Hollywood, one thing is as ambiguous as the translation of Hagakure itself.