John wick is nothing short of a force of nature. Once spurred into action, nothing will stop him from achieving his goal; not men, not money, not anything. His single-minded determination is one of the reasons why John is so feared in the criminal underworld. If you’re his target, you might as well just accept the inevitable.
None of this is to say that Wick is invincible, however. While he is incredibly tough, he is just a man, and he can be hurt. Throughout three movies, John Wick has survived things that would kill most men. Let’s take a look at some of them now.
Two To The Chest
Around the midpoint of the first movie, John storms The Red Circle club after learning that Iosef Tarasov is holed up there. This scene is where John scores most of his kills for the film. It’s also the first time we see someone able to match him in combat.
Iosef’s bodyguard Kiril ambushes John during the fight and manages to shoot the hitman in the chest twice, and slow him down a bit for the rest of the fight. The only thing that saves John is the bulletproof vest he was smart enough to don before the fight. Without it, he would have been dead for sure.
Stabbed And Thrown Of A Balcony
Not one to let something like a couple of bullets put him down for the count, John gets back up to confront Kiril in hand-to-hand combat. But just because the rounds weren’t lethal doesn’t mean they don’t hurt. The assassin is noticeably slower during the fight, and Kiril takes full advantage of this.
During the end of the fight, Kiril manages to break a bottle and stab John in the gut with it. He follows up by throwing him off the ledge of the second floor. John hits the hard floor below with nothing to cushion his fall. He still gets back up and fires a few more rounds before limping out.
Rammed With A Car
After taking some time to rest after the club assault, John learns that Viggo, Iosef’s crime lord father, has a stash of important materials hidden in a church. He goes to the church, kills the henchmen guarding it, and then torches the stash. Naturally, Viggo arrives to survey the damage, and John is waiting for him when he comes out.
It seems like John might have Viggo cornered, but then Kiril gets an idea. He gets in one of the gangs SUV’s and then rams the car that John is taking cover behind. The blow manages to knock him out, but he’s lucky it didn’t kill him.
Multiple Car Crashes
At the beginning of the second film, John has avenged himself upon Iosef Tarasov and even gotten a new dog. But there is still one loose end he needs to tie up; his car. Upon finding the warehouse where it’s being kept, he knocks out the guards and takes his car back.
Unfortunately, the goons are not content to let John just take the car back, and give chase. Just as it looks like Wick might get out without further incident, the henchmen crash a car into him. Not just once, but four times! Then he crashes the car into one of their cars. Five car crashes in the space of a couple of minutes.
Blown Up
Once he retrieves his car and makes peace with what’s left of the Tarasov family, it looks like John will be able to resume his peaceful life. Then one night a ghost from his past named Santino D’Antonio knocks on his door. Not there simply to visit an old friend, he informs Wick he’s calling in the assassin’s blood oath.
John naturally refuses, not wanting to get caught up in his old life once again. D’Antonio seems to respect his choice and leaves. Then he gets a grenade launcher out of his car and blows up John’s house with the hitman still inside. Wick is thrown outside, but the house he and his wife had shared is burned to the ground.
Hit With Yet Another Car
It soon becomes clear that John has no choice but to honor D’Antonio’s blood oath; as the rules of the underworld compel him to either do so or die. To this end, he journey’s to Rome, where he kills (sort of) Santino’s sister. A pitched battle ensues, but it seems like John has escaped until Cassian, the sisters’ bodyguard, rams him with a car.
Luckily, Wick goes up over the hood, otherwise, he would have been crushed between two cars. The bad news is that Cassian has caught up with him, and is spoiling for a fight. This leads to…
Falling Down A Ridiculous Amount Of Stairs
The two assassins engage each other; first in a running gun battle, and then in hand-to-hand combat. During the fight, they both end up tumbling down a flight of stone stairs. They reach a landing, hit each other a bit more, and then they fall yet another flight of stairs. Somehow both of them are relatively uninjured by this, and they continue to fight.
Compared to some of the other things on this list, falling down some stairs might not sound like much. But this kind of accident does kill people all the time, so being able to survive not just one, but two flights are pretty impressive.
Multiple Deadly Wounds
Having gotten what he wanted from John, Santino decides the assassin is a liability and puts out a seven million dollar bounty on his head. Upon returning to New York, Wick is immediately under siege by every assassin in the city. While trying to get to safety, he is roughed up by a sumo assassin and is shot twice in the abdomen by another assassin. This time he isn’t wearing a vest.
Eventually, he is re-engaged by Cassian, and the two have a knife fight aboard a train. John wins, but not before adding another stab wound to his list of injuries.
Motorcycle Crash
John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum picks up in the immediate aftermath of the second film. John is trying to escape New York before he becomes a target for every hitman in the underworld for killing Santino D’Antonio on Continental grounds. John suffers all kinds of punishment throughout the film, but two stand out among the rest.
After yet another return to New York, John is pursued by Zero and his ninjas on motorcycles. Within feet of the Continental, John is thrown from his bike. He isn’t wearing a helmet or any other type of protective equipment at the time.
Falling Off A Building
John is given a choice at the climax of the film; kill Winston for not yielding to the demands of the High Table, or join his old friend in fighting them off. Wick chooses his friend, and after a long, bloody fight, the Continental emerges victorious. At this point, The Adjudicator proposes a parlay, which Winston accepts.
A battered and bloody John emerges onto the roof to witness the negotiations. Winston convinces The Adjudicator to let him remain in his position and proves his loyalty by turning on John. The assassin is forced off the edge of the roof by gunfire and falls to the street below.
This is one of the few injuries John isn’t able to simply walk off. He is rescued by the Bowery King, and the two decide to team up for revenge. Roll credits.
Next: Best Action Movies Of The Decade
