After how incredibly well the first three movies in the John Wick franchise did, fans had high expectations for the fourth installment. And I think it’s safe to say that John Wick: Chapter 4 did not disappoint.
Keanu Reeves’ performance proves once again why this franchise is so celebrated. But also worthy of our praise are the cinematography and action sequences.
JW 4’s ending could potentially mean the end of the series, but we haven’t received any proper confirmation of that yet.
John Wick: Chapter 4 ends with John Wick finally getting his freedom from the High Table. He wins his duel with Caine after he shoots the Marquis Vincent de Gramont in the head. However, moments later, he collapses due to his gunshot wounds and dies peacefully.
1. What happens at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4?
The movie’s final act is of the duel that John Wick challenged the Marquis Vincent de Gramont to. The Marquis nominates Caine to fight in his place and they agree to meet at the Sacré–Cœur at sunrise.
Despite the Marquis’ attempt to stop John from showing up to the duel, John is able to kill all the assassins who are after him, with help from Caine and the Tracker “Mr. Nobody”.
John and Caine arrive at the Sacré-Cœur together, and Mr. Nobody stays back to watch the fight. The Harbinger gives them their revolvers and announces the start of the duel. They get three shots each and obviously, the last one standing wins.
Both John and Caine’s first shots are at each other’s arms. Caine’s second shot hits John’s shoulder and John’s second shot hits Caine’s abdomen, but neither are fatally injured.
When the time comes for the third and final shot, Caine shoots his bullet first and hits John in the abdomen, which causes him to fall to the ground.
The Marquis then takes the gun from Caine’s hand, puts in another bullet and aims at John because he wants the satisfaction of killing John himself. But the Marquis fails to remember that John still has one shot left. Before he knows it, John shoots him right in the head and kills him.
2. Does John Wick get his freedom?
The Harbinger declares John the winner of the duel. As per the previously discussed deal, John is now free of his obligation to the High Table. His debt to them has been cleared.
The deal also gets Winston reinstated as the manager of the Continental. And since the Marquis is now dead, Caine gets his freedom too and his daughter’s life is no longer at stake.
3. Does John Wick die?
After the formalities of the duel are complete, John walks down the steps of the Sacré–Cœur and sits down as he is exhausted from all the fighting. He recounts a memory of himself with his wife after which he whispers her name, Helen.
John seemingly isn’t able to bear the pain of the gunshot wounds anymore. So he succumbs to them and dies peacefully on the steps of the church.
In the last scene of the movie, the Bowery King and Winston have a funeral for John. He is seen buried next to his late wife and his gravestone reads “A Loving Husband”.
The movie hinted at John’s death in multiple scenes. Each time, a different person would tell him that the only way he would truly get freedom was through death. The scene where he tells Winston what he wants engraved on his gravestone was a big enough clue for us to figure out that John’s life was soon coming to an end.
4. What happens in the Post-Credits Scene?
If you’ve watched enough Marvel movies, I’m sure you stayed back to watch the post-credits scene. But if you left early and missed it, here’s what happened.
The post-credits scene shows Caine on his way to reconcile with his daughter, who is playing a violin in front of a group of people on a busy street.
While Caine is walking towards his daughter, we see Akira coming from the opposite direction, carrying a blade in her hand. Before she can stab him, the screen goes dark and the movie comes to an end.
It seems like Akira intends to make good on her promise to kill Caine, since he was the one who killed her father, Shimazu Koji, earlier in the movie. At the same time, Caine is a highly-trained assassin, despite being blind, so this task isn’t going to be very easy for Akira.
5. What does this mean for the Future of the Franchise?
John Wick’s death most likely means that the series has come to an end. Both Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski, the director, have announced that they want to take a break from the John Wick movies and that they will decide on future installments later.
This open-ended answer creates the possibility of John coming back to life. After all, we didn’t actually see John’s body being buried. And it’s a little hard to believe that an assassin who has survived the harshest of conditions just died this way.
Who knows, maybe his death was faked in order to keep him safe from other assassins. But again these are just speculations.
What we can confirm though are the two spin-offs that will take place in the same universe. The first is a limited series called “The Continental”. It will be a prequel series set in the 1970s and it will narrate how Winston became the manager of the New York hotel.
The second spin-off is a moving called “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas, which is set sometime between JW 3 and 4. It will tell the story of a dancer/assassin named Rooney seeking revenge for her family’s death.
Besides these, we can probably expect a spin-off with Caine and Akira as well, after what we saw in the post-credits scene.
I think we can all agree that the only way to end the John Wick movies is to have John die at the end. So if Chapter 4 really was the last one, it definitely gave us a satisfying close to the beloved series.
6. About John Wick : Chapter 4
John Wick 4 is an American neo-noir action thriller film and the fourth installment in the John Wick franchise. The franchise is created by Derek Kolstad and stars Keanu Reeves in the role of a retired legendary hitman John Wick.
John Wick must avoid run-ins with The High Table and survive long enough to complete his mission, along with the help of The Bowery King, who was left for dead by The High Table and now is helping John Wick take them down.
John Wick 4 released on March 24, 2023.
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