There are not many franchises that have maintained the same high level of pulse-pounding quality that the “John Wick” series has. Across its five film installments, the franchise has delivered one breathtaking action set piece after another. Even “Ballerina,” the franchise’s new, Ana de Armas-led spinoff, has a second half that is practically overflowing with some of the most astonishing fights and moments of pure action mayhem that you will likely ever see on the big screen.
“John Wick” set a high bar for itself early on, and yet it has continued to hit and surpass it. In honor of “Ballerina,” here are the franchise’s seven best action scenes, ranked.
7. Knives Out (“John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum”)
This standout scene from 2019’s “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” follows Keanu Reeves’ John as he ends up in a fight against multiple assassins in a room full of antique knives. Brutal violence ensues as John and his enemies begin to hurl everything from tiny daggers to full-sized axes at each other in a sequence that is full of the same macabre humor that chief “John Wick” architect, director Chad Stahelski, became increasingly comfortable experimenting with over time.
6. Dragon’s Breath (“John Wick: Chapter 4”)
The dragon’s breath scene in “John Wick: Chapter 4” is the action franchise at its most ridiculous, mercenary and playful. Over the course of several minutes, director Chad Stahelski follows Reeves’ John as he takes down an entire French compound’s worth of henchmen using a shotgun that fires explosive rounds. Shot almost entirely from an overhead angle, the sequence tracks John as he moves in and out of rooms, blasting around corners and through open doorways.
Its visual presentation makes the sequence feel like a contemporary, video game-inspired riff on a Buster Keaton set piece, and it is full of memorable, darkly comic jokes. (At one point, John shoots explosive rounds at a man who is already screaming and on fire — just for good measure.)
5. Nothing But Grenades (“Ballerina”)
Many of the greatest action sequences begin with a problem. Such is the case with the second-best set piece in “Ballerina,” an ambush that leaves de Armas’ Eve trapped in a secret weapons store with members of the very cult she has been hunting and nothing to defend herself with except, well, dozens of grenades. Eve handles the situation the only way she can — explosively.
We get to watch in fluid, unbroken takes as the grenades Eve tosses quickly detonate and send wood and debris flying everywhere. In case that wasn’t enough, she also uses a table and a metal door to impressively turn two unfortunate goons into nothing more than red mist.
4. The Nightclub Shootout (“John Wick”)
Kinetic, neon-soaked action filmmaking. There are a lot of memorable action sequences in 2014’s “John Wick,” but none pop as much as its protagonist’s desperate, bullet-riddled attempt to ambush and kill his dog’s killer, Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen). Visually, this sequence set the stage for many of the “John Wick” set pieces that would follow it. There were several in the franchise’s later installments that managed to ultimately top it, but not as many as you might think.
3. The Stairs (“John Wick: Chapter 4”)
A simple concept, brilliantly and painstakingly well-executed. With victory in reach, Reeves’ John discovers near the end of “John Wick: Chapter 4” that the only thing separating him from his fateful duel with the arrogant, cowardly Vincent (Bill Skarsgård) is a long, multi-leveled cobblestone staircase populated by paid assassins. He slowly makes his way up, killing everyone who stands in his way and throwing more than a few foes tumbling down the stairs behind him.
Along the way, John suffers a few painful setbacks of his own in a breathless, difficult set piece that lays the Sisyphean nature of his story completely bare and impresses with its numerous, seemingly ill-advised practical stunts.
2. The Flamethrower Duel (“Ballerina”)
Even those who were most excited for “Ballerina” likely did not think that it would have the “John Wick” franchise’s second-best action scene. It is hard to reach the end of the film’s climactic set piece and not feel that way, though. The film’s crowning achievement is a scorched-Earth brawl in which de Armas’ Eve uses a flamethrower to kill countless henchmen and duel another, flamethrower-wielding bad guy, whom she eventually defeats with a fearless use of a fire hose.
It is a visually astonishing, conceptually deranged sequence — one that forces you to ask how anyone involved in the film did any of that safely.
1. Arc de Triomphe (“John Wick: Chapter 4”)
No other “John Wick” set piece will make you gasp and guffaw as many times as the chase and showdown around the Arc de Triomphe in the third act of “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Pursued by multiple assassins, Reeves’ John uses his car to drive around the famous Parisian roundabout and evade, hit and kill his many pursuers. When he is eventually forced out of his car, he and his attackers end up trapped in a showdown in which many of them are sent bouncing off the cars that are still dangerously speeding around them.
This sequence, as ingenious and death-defying as any other that Stahelski and his crew have ever attempted, is a cacophony of violence and practical, well-staged action. It leaves no room for any questions in your — or anyone’s — mind why the “John Wick” franchise has garnered such a sterling reputation among cinephiles.
