Dark John Wick Fan Theory Shows the Movies In a Completely New Way
The John Wick franchise raised the bar for all action movies to come higher than it's ever been before, and for a good reason.
John Wick is full of amazing martial arts and action scenes executed on a whole new level, and those are very hard to top.
However, despite how action-packed these movies are and despite the fact that the main character is a ruthless professional assassin, all of this is not the main point of the films.
John Wick's worst enemy is not a person but a loss of a person. His most terrible battlefield is in his head as he struggles to overcome his beloved wife's death.
Based on this fairly obvious observation, an interesting fan theory emerged, granted it happened after the third movie.
According to the theory, not only is grief the central point of the franchise but it also defines its structure. Each film represents one of the stages of grief, and when this theory was published, it was incredibly accurate.
The first movie is a display of denial. It shows John trying to live as if nothing happened and refusing to accept the fact Helen is dead. It's clearly not true, and we see it in John's reaction to the death of the puppy.
The second movie is pure anger. We see John completely consumed by fury, going on a massive killing spree with unhinged bloodlust.
The third movie shows us bargaining. In it, John's mostly bartering for boons such as medicine, a ticket, help… Or even his very own life.
The fourth and the fifth movies were supposed to represent depression and acceptance respectively, according to the theory.
However, since the fifth chapter was scrapped, both stages were fit into one film, and John's death was the symbol of acceptance and the end of his grief.
Through this lens, the perfect action franchise that John Wick undeniably is appears to have a much deeper and darker meaning. Truly, even the greatest assassin has some enemies he can't handle, and they are the ones living in his head.
The theory seems so close to reality that it makes us ashamed that the initial five-movie plan was scrapped. It would've definitely been nice to see the last two stages of grief fully…
And maybe get a better ending for John. He deserved it after all he'd been through.