The John Wick movies may take place in a modern world that looks more or less like our own, but they're not exactly realistic. The stories exist in a world where it seems like half the population of New York City are actually secret professional assassins. As the sequels have just continued to up the ante of the action and the world building, even director Chad Stahelski admits the movies are nuts, and he loves it.
He loves it so much, that John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum actually includes a character who specifically draws attention to the fact that the franchise's premise is almost laughable. Asia Kate Dillon plays The Adjudicator, a representative of the High Table who must deal with the fact that John Wick has broken the rules, and she repeatedly draws attention to the insanity behind the films. Stahelski thinks its good that the newest entry in the series actually lets them admit that the inciting incident of the whole story is the death of a dog. According to the director...
I think we like addressing both our subtleties and our flaws all out in public, I guess when John Wick goes. Obviously, it's wacky, he kills hundreds of people over a puppy, we like to address that. We thought, wouldn't it be fun if we actually had a character that called out all our bullshit. Judged how wacky our world is.
In the first John Wick, a gangster attacks John Wick in his home, not knowing who the man is, steals his car, and kills his puppy. However, the puppy was a final gift given to John by his now deceased wife, which makes the dog a vital connection for him. It leads him to seek revenge, but that act of seeking revenge then leads him down a path that results in the two sequels. Hundreds of people dead in every imaginable way, all because of the dog.
It's hilarious when you say it out loud, and Chad Stahelski says in the special features of the new John Wick: Chapter 3 Blu-ray that he wanted somebody to actually say it out loud.
It seems that when you're willing to admit that your story is a bit wild, you get license to be wild. With that understood, it probably is a good move for the John Wick movies to remind the audience that they're a little fantastic. With the way the last three movies have continually expanded the world that John Wick lives in, it's anybody's guess what Chapter 4 will do. The filmmakers will likely need the audience to go with them on a pretty wild ride, so everybody needs to be ok with the fact that this series is nuts.
Based on the fact that the box office of each installment just keeps going up, it looks like fans are all on board.
