By almost any metric, John Wick is standard Hollywood fare.
A devoted husband loses his wife. A reluctant assassin is drawn back into the killing business. Car chases. Explosions. Gun fu. Pitch that as a film premise to a Hollywood executive and you’ll be expected to pay for lunch.
But John Wick became America’s James Bond by breaking the industry’s only near-inviolable commandment: Never kill the dog.
This rule has been true for decades, and applies to animals in general. Name a movie where a cat was murdered. Or bird, for that matter (birds can die, but only in canary-in-coal mine settings, to warn of larger threats). Even livestock are typically off limits. Scads of cows and horses appeared to be murdered in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but the film made it clear they were knocked out with sleeping gas.
The rule is understandable, in part because Hollywood typically includes the caveat in final credit scrolls that “No animals were harmed in the filming of this production.” No need to inspire animal-rights groups to contact their attorneys. Plus, it’s harder to watch that compound leg breaks.
John Wick, however, broke this rule within the opening 10 minutes of the first film. And it’s been making money ever since.
More than $826 million, to be (somewhat) precise. And if John Wick 4 continues its steamroll — or if John Wick 5 hits screens — that figure will cruise past $1 billion.
All for killing a beagle puppy off-screen.
If not for that brutally effective scene, Wick could have been quickly and understandably dismissed. Lead Keanu Reeve has about as much dialogue as Clint Eastwood after a root canal. He’s shot, hit by busses, dropped off buildings and put through more pain than a garage sale Stretch Armstrong.
But it is all acceptable for that original sin. And credit Lionsgate Studios for keeping pups in mind. Wick rescues another dog (spoiler alert), lets it share his bed, even arranges for posh boarding at The Continental when he’s busy getting stabby with pencils and other pointy objects. Halle Berry kept German Shepherds that were shot in the third installment, but they, like the humans worth saving, wore bulletproof cardigans.
John Wick may have committed the unspeakable once, but the series has become as pooch positive as the ASPCA on meth.
So rage on and ring up, John Wick. Your story is as absurd as they come in Tinseltown. But you’ve got great taste in best friends.
