‘John Wick’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Shea Serrano

Summary

The Rewatchables: ‘John Wick’ with Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Shea Serrano

Release Date: September 17, 2024

Introduction and Context

In this episode of The Rewatchables, host Bill Simmons along with guests Chris Ryan and Shea Serrano delve deep into the John Wick franchise. They explore why John Wick stands out as one of the most rewatchable action movies of the 21st century, analyzing its impact on the genre, Keanu Reeves' performance, and the intricate world-building that has captivated audiences worldwide.

Keanu Reeves’ Career and John Wick’s Impact

The discussion begins with a reflection on Keanu Reeves' career trajectory. Simmons recounts how, back in 2014 at Grantland, John Wick was initially overlooked despite high recommendations from colleagues like Mark Losanti.

Bill Simmons [03:20]: "Keanu was not a candidate. But then, John Wick came out and changed everything."

Chris Ryan praises Reeves for his ability to reinvent himself, noting that every time he seems to be in a lull, Reeves returns with a fresh and compelling role.

Chris Ryan [04:24]: "Keanu revolutionized action movies twice, at least in America, by interpreting a lot of Asian genre filmmaking styles and bringing them over to the States."

Shea Serrano highlights how the John Wick series solidifies Reeves as the paramount action star of the modern era, comparing his enduring presence to legends like Stallone and Schwarzenegger.

Shea Serrano [06:25]: "This movie cements him as the greatest modern action movie star that we've had."

Action Sequences Analysis

A significant portion of the podcast is dedicated to dissecting the film’s action sequences, particularly the innovative choreography and tactical combat that set it apart from traditional action flicks. The trio praises the nightclub scene in John Wick as a masterpiece of sustained action and storytelling.

Bill Simmons [44:45]: "The nightclub fight is one of the greatest action sequences ever. It's a seven-minute long song of violence and precision."

They discuss how the fight scenes adhere to the movie’s internal logic, making every move and kill feel both impactful and believable. The wide shots and minimal CGI maintain a raw and authentic feel, which Chris Ryan attributes to the filmmakers’ homage to Asian cinema.

Craig Horbick [11:30]: "Everything Wick does is governed by the laws of the movie. It feels so real."

Shea Serrano appreciates the practical combat styles, emphasizing Wick's use of body weight and martial arts, which contrasts with the more fantastical elements of previous Keanu Reeves films like The Matrix.

Shea Serrano [40:06]: "He's using so much of his own body weight and counterweight in the fights. It's such a smart decision."

Character and World Building

The podcast delves into the rich lore of the John Wick universe, focusing on elements like the Continental hotel and the use of gold coins as currency. The guests commend how the movie introduces these concepts subtly, providing just enough information to intrigue without overwhelming the audience.

Bill Simmons [26:24]: "The Continental is brought to life with these subtle rules that make you crave to learn more about this alternate underworld."

Shea Serrano points out the effective world-building that makes the audience invested in John Wick's journey, appreciating the balance between mystery and exposition.

Shea Serrano [28:10]: "They give you enough to understand but not enough that you know everything. Like the coins or the dinner reservation for 12."

Memorable Scenes and Quotes

The trio highlights several standout scenes and quotes that have become iconic within the franchise. The introduction of John Wick’s character, his most intense fight scenes, and pivotal moments like the loss of his dog are discussed in detail.

Chris Ryan [45:09]: "The nightclub scene is the best seven minutes of any action movie I've ever seen. It's non-stop, brilliantly executed violence."

They also revisit memorable quotes that encapsulate Wick's character and the film's themes of revenge and honor.

Bill Simmons [36:08]: "Viggo says, 'We're gonna have bounties. We're gonna have rewards for our misdeeds.' It's a great way to justify the universe's rules."

Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Insights into the making of John Wick reveal the dedication of the cast and crew, particularly Keanu Reeves' intensive training regimen and commitment to performing his own stunts. The hosts discuss the challenges faced during production, such as budget constraints and stunt coordination.

Bill Simmons [82:18]: "Keanu trained in judo, Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and arnis. His dedication is evident in every fight scene."

Shea Serrano shares anecdotes about the actors' experiences on set, including John Leguizamo’s impressive performance despite limited screen time.

Shea Serrano [74:00]: "John Leguizamo was perfect in this movie. He just drops in, does his thing, and leaves us wanting more."

Conclusion

Bill Simmons wraps up the episode by affirming John Wick as a revolutionary action series that has redefined the genre through its meticulous choreography, compelling storytelling, and Keanu Reeves’ stellar performance. The hosts express excitement for the franchise's future installments and its expanding universe, including prequels and spinoffs.

Bill Simmons [85:30]: "It's the most efficient world-building in an action movie I've ever seen. The writing and emotional stakes are just unparalleled."

Shea Serrano adds that John Wick remains highly rewatchable due to its engaging plot and memorable action sequences, making it a staple for action movie aficionados.

Shea Serrano [87:56]: "This universe is so rich and well-crafted, every time you watch it, you find something new to appreciate."

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Bill Simmons [03:20]: "Keanu was not a candidate. But then, John Wick came out and changed everything."
• Chris Ryan [04:24]: "Keanu revolutionized action movies twice, at least in America, by interpreting a lot of Asian genre filmmaking styles and bringing them over to the States."
• Shea Serrano [06:25]: "This movie cements him as the greatest modern action movie star that we've had."
• Bill Simmons [44:45]: "The nightclub fight is one of the greatest action sequences ever. It's a seven-minute long song of violence and precision."
• Craig Horbick [11:30]: "Everything Wick does is governed by the laws of the movie. It feels so real."
• Shea Serrano [40:06]: "He's using so much of his own body weight and counterweight in the fights. It's such a smart decision."
• Bill Simmons [26:24]: "The Continental is brought to life with these subtle rules that make you crave to learn more about this alternate underworld."
• Shea Serrano [28:10]: "They give you enough to understand but not enough that you know everything. Like the coins or the dinner reservation for 12."
• Chris Ryan [45:09]: "The nightclub scene is the best seven minutes of any action movie I've ever seen. It's non-stop, brilliantly executed violence."
• Bill Simmons [36:08]: "Viggo says, 'We're gonna have bounties. We're gonna have rewards for our misdeeds.' It's a great way to justify the universe's rules."
• Bill Simmons [82:18]: "Keanu trained in judo, Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and arnis. His dedication is evident in every fight scene."
• Shea Serrano [74:00]: "John Leguizamo was perfect in this movie. He just drops in, does his thing, and leaves us wanting more."
• Bill Simmons [85:30]: "It's the most efficient world-building in an action movie I've ever seen. The writing and emotional stakes are just unparalleled."
• Shea Serrano [87:56]: "This universe is so rich and well-crafted, every time you watch it, you find something new to appreciate."

Final Thoughts

The Rewatchables episode on John Wick offers an in-depth analysis of why the franchise has become a modern classic. From Keanu Reeves' transformative performance to the film’s innovative action choreography and rich world-building, Simmons, Ryan, and Serrano provide listeners with compelling reasons to revisit the John Wick series time and again. Whether you're a first-time viewer or a seasoned fan, this discussion enhances the appreciation of one of the most meticulously crafted action universes in contemporary cinema.

Transcript

[Bill Simmons]

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[Chris Ryan]

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[Bill Simmons]

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[Chris Ryan]

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[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

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[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

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[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

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[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

Huh?

[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

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[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

The Rewatchables is brought to you by the Ringer podcast network where you can find the watch with Chris Ryan. You used to be able to find Che Serrano, but he's back. Oh, my God. It's like John Wick. It's like how John Wick used to come back. Shay Serrano, who used to be on a bunch of the early years of the rewatchables, now do some plugs really quick before we get into the pod. What do you got?

[Shay Serrano]

All right. I have a new book that just came out. It's called Werewolf Lawyer, which. It's exactly what it sounds like, Bill. It's about a lawyer for werewolves. That's the guy they call when they get arrested and charged with a crime. That just came out.

[Bill Simmons]

Congrats.

[Shay Serrano]

You know, I'm doing a bunch of other things, but that's the main one. But I'm still so happy to be here and see you and Chris looking just so handsome. So handsome, both of y'all.

[Bill Simmons]

We couldn't bring you back unless we did a banger. And there's a banger coming. It's one of the great action movies of the 21st century.

[Craig Horbick]

It's the reshot Caller with J. Serano.

[Bill Simmons]

John Wick is next. I lost everything. It's not what you did, son. It's who you did it to dub nobody, but nobody. It's John Wick on October 24th.

[Craig Horbick]

Hey, John.

[Bill Simmons]

People keep asking if I'm back. Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. John Wick. How good's your laundry?

[Shay Serrano]

No one's that good?

[Bill Simmons]

It's October 24th. All right, guys. So we were all working together in 2014 at Grantland when this movie came out. It was football season, it was October. The NBA was starting as well. I was just coming off of a three week suspension. We were working on the Grantland Basketball Hour. I can't say Keanu Reeves was on the radar. He was in a little bit of a career slump. But this beautiful movie came out and somebody that we used to work with, who ran the culture for us, Mark Losanti, was like, this movie's amazing. You gotta see it in the theater. And I was like, all right, I'll get to it. And really just kind of pushed it aside. Didn't see it until it made whatever its cable run. And then 10 years later, it's just part of our lives. CR when did you see it? Did you see it in the theater?

[Craig Horbick]

I saw it in the theater and I saw it in the theater with like, no expectations. I was like, this. This seems like it's going to be a cool action movie to watch. Like, at that point, Keanu Reeves was like, kind of cranking them out, right? Like, he had had a couple of martial arts movies that year or like in the last couple of years around then. And I was like, this is the story with Keanu Reeves is that every time you think he's out, he pulls you back in. Is that like every time there's like a couple year lull and you're like, oh, I guess Keanu Reeves is just chilling. He's just coasting. What? And what a great life. There he is eating a sandwich on the sidewalk in la and then he just bangs one of these out. Whether it's Point Break, whether it's Matrix, whether it's this, it's like he's just like, got this sixth sense where he can come back after like 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 years with a new character and a new way of making movies. That's just so incredible.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay, did you see it in the theater?

[Shay Serrano]

I didn't see it in the theater. I saw it at home. I saw it because Chris Ryan told me to see it. Matter of fact, he messaged me. I tried to find it in Google, like when Google had Google Chat.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, G Chat.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, yeah, G Chat. He was like, just out of nowhere. Bingo. Hey, have you seen John Wick? You got to check this shit out. It's incredible. And so I put it on my list. I was teaching at the time still. I was working part time at Grantland, and so still Teaching and, you know, I got to it when I got to it at the house when it was available for rent, and it just fucking. It was incredible. It was so good. I'm so excited to talk about it.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's weird when you have the sleeper cult movies that are also, like, amazing when you're watching them. And even in the moment, the first time you're watching and you're going, I don't understand. Why isn't this movie a bigger deal? Why aren't more people talking about this? You turn it. It's almost like you're drinking the Kool Aid. The movie's not even over yet. My. The first time I saw this, and I think my dad was on it. My dad might have even seen the theater because, you know, he's a Keanu guy. He's a five o'clocker guy.

[Craig Horbick]

Your dad's on the forums, man.

[Bill Simmons]

I think he was the one that told me about it, him and La Santi. But it just. It kept going. It kept going. It was everything I wanted. And it hits at a really weird time for action movies. I had done for Grayland that year, I had done the action movie championship belt, and I think the last couple years had gone to Liam Neeson. But we were moving into this nostalgia action thing with, like, the Expendables. And it was almost like we were kind of repeating movies we made with stars we made. And it just felt like we were in between eras. And part of that piece was like, I don't know where this is going. Here are some possible candidates. Keanu Reeves was not a candidate. But then you think about from 1990, point breaks 1991. This movie comes out in 2014. Then he starts making Wick for the next 10 years. This is Shay. This is like a Kareem Abdul Jabbar type action movie career. This is three full decades of the same person making different kind of action movies, Right?

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah. This series, when he shows up with John Wick, this cements him as the greatest modern action movie star that we've had. You know, there's the Stallone Schwarzenegger era. That's a whole different thing. But from then to now, from the 90s to now, it's a whole new batch of guys. And this movie here makes him untouchable because he has, as you mentioned, Point break. He has the Matrix, he has speed, he has the John Wick series. He's the guy. He's the king of the mountain right now. It's unbelievable.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, Schwarzenegger. Chris, would you have Schwarzenegger's peak is probably higher, but the Keanu career, it almost turns into a LeBron vs. MJ argument where LeBron had a better career, but MJ's peak was higher. And I think with Keanu, it's the same thing. Like, it just. When you talk about three straight decades, that's nuts.

[Craig Horbick]

I think that you can make the argument that, like, as commercial appeal goes and box office, like, Schwarzenegger's hold on, like, American movies was bigger. But I think Keanu revolutionized action movies twice, at least in America, and partially by like, interpreting a lot of Asian genre, like, filmmaking styles and bringing them over to the states and popularizing them. But, like, to do Matrix, it would be enough. Like, that would be the crowning achievement of any action star. And then to do it again with Wick, and both times, I feel like he brought those movies out. Those movies came at a point where action movie fans were really craving something new. And that's the thing is you're talking about Taken. It felt like action movies might have been getting kind of relegated to dump you ary where they're all vigilante movies, which is totally cool. I watch those movies all the time. But I have this memory of when Wick came out and Wicked itself is a vigilante movie of wanting something new, of wanting the action movies to take a step. And he kind of seems to intuit when that time is and how to do it.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, there were pieces of this and cult movies and overseas movies that, you know, like the raid 2 and. But we hadn't seen it really in a mainstream way. I wrote the. So when I wrote the action movie belt piece, which was in the spring of 2014, and I had the four rules of what makes an action star. Rule number one was over everything else. I need to believe our hero can kick everyone's ass in any conceivable situation at any given time. And he needs to believe this too. And then the analogy I used was, imagine the scariest dude in the planet beating up an entire bar, and then he eventually comes after our beloved hero. If I am not 100% convinced that my dude is winning that fight, then he can't capture the belt. But this is the key piece. This rule disqualifies a listers like Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, Keanu Reeves. I put him in the paragraph. Yes. And then I listed a whole bunch of other people. And I think that's what was missing from the Keanu action thing. Even though it was. He was always like, kind of the everyman in these action things, right? Or Matrix is like we're in an alternate universe. But this movie, he becomes. It becomes believable. He can go into a nightclub and kill 25 people in seven minutes. Shay, did you feel like he. Before this movie, did you feel like he had that in him?

[Shay Serrano]

I felt like he had a good amount of fight confidence in him. Right. He's a believable fighter, but prior to this, he had not done this version of fighting. He has like A Fist Fighter 2 in point break or whatever. Speed. He's throwing himself around. It's a different form of physicality of action in those movies. In the Matrix, he's fighting, but he's also like Kung Fu Jesus or whatever. Like, there's a mysticism to it. But in this one, this is like very real world. There's no tricks, there's no anything. He's just doing all the stuff. And yeah, when you see him do it the first time, when you see him in the. In the. That first big 12 on one inside his house, where he's just pissed off, killing everybody, your hands are on your head and you're like, how is Keanu Reeves doing this? What is going. Like, you didn't. You weren't certain it was in there. And then he does it and you're like, oh, my God, this is. Why did you not do this for the last 25 years?

[Craig Horbick]

Well, the cool thing about the. Shay, you mentioned that first fight scene in Keanu's house, in Wick's house, the introduction to John Wick is he gets his ass kicked. So there is, like this really cool grounding of the character where it's like, yo, he's. He can get jumped and, like, he's out of. He's out of shape. And maybe he wasn't expecting this and all this stuff and like, that completely. It changes, like, a calibration of the character. Because in the Matrix, it's like he basically taps into something, and then for the rest of the movie, he's on wires. He's got unlimited bullets. He can take. You know, he can duck bullets. It's like. It's a superhero, for lack of a better term. But Wick is like, everything Wick does is governed by the laws of the movie. You know, it's like he only has so many bullets. They're shooting these. These master shots rather than all these close ups. So you're actually seeing Keanu punch and get punched, and it's. It just makes it all feel so real.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, I thought I had John Wick two ahead of John Wick one.

[Craig Horbick]

I don't.

[Bill Simmons]

But I actually think this is the rare case where I go, 1, 2, 3, 4. For the wick franchise. Like for movies I like, which usually like Rocky, I'm like, three, four, one, two, like seven in this one. The more you watch one, you're just like, this is the best one. It's a. It's 101 minutes. So it passes the Craig Korlbach test of. Can you just tell me this movie in less than 100 minutes? Around then the piece that I forgot because this movie's the 10 year anniversary is in October, so it's coming up. I forgot how dead Keanu's career was. Like, it's dead. And when you do the research of it, he's like, yeah, I was in a slump. And other people are like, yeah, Keanu is in a slump. So it was easier to get him. This was beyond a slump. The movies he made before this movie, the Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Easy to Assemble, Henry's Chime Generation, man of Tai Chi and 47 Ronin, which bombed. And then Extreme Pursuit, which I don't even remember what that was. And then it leads to John Wick. So this is beyond a slump. His career's over. And it felt like even if his career was over, it's like, I'm good with that. Keanu had a great run. What a great 20 plus years. Like, congrats to him. And then he comes back with another unbelievable run that I think cements it.

[Craig Horbick]

The thing is, is that like he. Yeah, you're right. He's like a hair's breath away from probably Travolta land.

[Bill Simmons]

He's about to be like, in Gotti, directed by Kevin Connelly, or he's about.

[Craig Horbick]

To just be cranking out three action movies a year where he shows up for four days on the set and he gets paid and then he goes home. But it's like, I think Keanu was always going to have the part of his career that where he is like this iconic burnout kind of hipster surfer guy. And he could have always maybe gone back to that and done comedies or done Bill and Ted type movies or whatever. But like, yeah, as far as an action star, it seemed like he might have been cooked.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, Shay, once upon a time you wrote a lot about action people and I'm. And John Wick and Keanu Reeves were involved in that book. What's your big picture? Keanu, as you put him against all of the other people from the last 50 years. What's different about him?

[Shay Serrano]

What's different about him is he feels. He feels a little bit real, a little bit more real than when you're watching Schwarzenegger in Commando jump out of an airplane from 200ft and land on the ground and then run away. Right. I thought Chris brought up a great point of. In this series in particular, he's governed by the rules of the movie. There's a part in this one when he's in the nightclub and he's going crazy and he's like, da, da, da, killing everybody. And then he runs out of bullets and he just is like, shit. And now he's. Now it's a fist fight. Like that sort of stuff that he's doing here. We saw it for the very first time when Bruce Willis did it in Die Hard. The iconic scene in that is when he has to run across the glass covered floor with no shoes on. And then we see him pulling the glass out of his feet and he's in pain. In all of the movies before then, if Stallone does that, if Schwarzenegger does that, they're pulling the glass out with no reaction at all. This doesn't bother me one single bit. Bruce Willis does it and he's like, oh, my God, this hurts so bad. And you're feeling the same sort of way. That's what Keanu has here. He's just a newer version of that. It just feels like a real thing. And it becomes so much fun to watch.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, I was thinking about it watching the movie last night and thinking about some of the other roles he's had. And it's almost like there's like three different versions of Keanu. Right. There's like Point Break, Keanu I really enjoy. There's some unintentional comedy mixed into it, which I think is a quality that Arnold and Stallone and Van Damme and Seagal where you're like, I really like this guy. But also it's kind of funny when he does this and you're kind of just peanut gallery as it going. So he has that. He also had that Matrix side where it's like there's something mystical and different about him that you can't really put your eye on. So it would make otherworldly.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, it wouldn't make sense for Sly Stallone to be the lead in the Matrix. Right. There's only certain characters who could have been that. So he could do that. But then he also had this. That McQueen side that I think he really taps into. And a lot of the research about John Wick was like, it was way more overwritten than it ended up being. Where you would take like these scenes with dialogue and they would just strip them back and do the Steve McQueen. Let's just have Keanu do nothing or say one word. And a lot of the stuff he's doing just with his face and physically is just really hard to do. We talked about it in an earlier podcast with Tarantino, was writing about McQueen and how sometimes less is more. And I don't know if Keanu fully tapped into that in a movie until John Wick with that kind of less is more. Let me just carry this by. I'm a handsome guy who's been famous for a long time. I'm physically, I'm not imposing, but you believe in me and I'm just gonna. I'm gonna carry something here. It's a really hard thing to pull off. And I don't know, are there any under 40 actors that we have now that can do it? Like, even with Rebel Ridge, I felt like Aaron Pierre kind of had that quality a little bit, right where he. There was something he didn't have to say a lot, but you were really interested in what he was doing. And for whatever reason, Keanu figured it out for John Wick.

[Craig Horbick]

It's the perfect story for that kind of performance too, though, because you just need to know that this is a guy who's had everything taken away from him and he's going to take everything away from the people who did that. I mean, to share his point about John McClane pulling the glass out of his feet and limping for the rest of the movie. Keanu Reeves. John Wick doesn't talk because his dog got killed. He's done talking. Like, it wouldn't make sense if he was a Chatty Cathy the entire movie. About, like, oh, hey, have you guys seen vgo? You guys have done some great work in the bath house. Blah, blah, blah. Like, you don't want to. He shouldn't have one liners. He should be stoic. He should be the samurai. And it works perfectly.

[Shay Serrano]

A little. A little bit of the secret sauce on here too is that he's funny in it and he knows he's being funny when he just will. Like, we're going to have this incredible action sequence and then I'm going to have a normal conversation with somebody. Like, nothing. And then back to like, that's. They do that throughout the series. I think the funniest one, they pay. They pay off the dead dog. In Part three, when Halle Berry's dog gets shot and she goes crazy and kills everybody, and she's like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And he just goes, I get it. And that's watching that in the theater. Everybody erupts. Oh, my God, this is incredible. Like, he's a funny guy, but he's not doing the funny thing.

[Craig Horbick]

So, Bill, you like the Wick movies in order they were released? Like, that's your point ranking?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I liked when they were. I liked one. You started pushing it. I thought three was a little over the top. And I get it. You're making sequels. We watched it with Shay and I, our beloved Fast and Furious franchise. You just keep upping the stakes, and then eventually there's nowhere to go and you just. You become insane. I like this. For this version of John Wick is my favorite. And I think when you. When. When you read about how they made it, how they were so strapped with the budget, how they were basically scrapping left and right just to get shots, they're reusing stunt people. You know, they use the people in the beginning and it's hard for them to see. And they're just reusing them for fight scenes.

[Craig Horbick]

One guy gets killed four times in the night.

[Bill Simmons]

They just say, 10 stunt guys they just used over and over again. But what it led to, inadvertently, was I think one of the biggest reasons this movie works so well is the wide shots. Yeah, they didn't have, like, enough cameras to shoot stuff with.

[Craig Horbick]

Like, they had no covers.

[Bill Simmons]

I think as the WIX series went along, I felt like they lost that in and it just became more and more almost Matrixy. What I love about this is you really CR Always talks about, like, the best action movies, you know, where you are at all times. Like when he's in a nightclub and it's wide and he's doing all these different things.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay, has there been another scene like that? Can you think of another action movie scene that's as well executed and as complicated as that?

[Shay Serrano]

I mean, you could pick anything from the Raid. They do the same trick. There you have. You can grab a Tony Jaa movie, the stairwell scene, that sort of thing. Yeah, but this is all, as Chris pointed out, them paying homage to Asian cinema, them trying to do their version of it here, which we then see them, like, literally, they bring in the guys from the Raid and they let those guys beat up John Wick. Like, they just kicked the shit out of him. And that's them saying, you guys did it first and you guys did it best. We want to honor that. You know what I mean? I think with regard to the order that they are. For me, I have number three as my favorite one.

[Bill Simmons]

Interesting. How come?

[Shay Serrano]

It was just so much fun to watch him by part three. It just starts with him on the run, immediately straight into this gigantic knife fight scene where they're just grabbing knives off the wall and throwing them at each other. And you have a horse fight that's in there. You have all of this crazy stuff happening. You have the introduction of the new coins and the adjudicator, and they're just building the world bigger and bigger. But what did happen for me is when I rewatched this one recently. Originally I had it 3, 2, 1, 4. And then now, I guess, because enough time has passed when I rewatch this one, I'm like, man, this is definitely better than two. I'm starting to feel, as you mentioned, with the Fast and the Furious thing, the bigger the movies get, the more I kind of want to go back to the original version where it's smaller and more. A little more intimate. And they do such a great job of, like, parceling out so little information in the first one. Just enough to get you to follow them down the alley or whatever. But, yeah, I started to feel that too.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, that's one of the great things that we take the Continental for granted. It's become this whole universe that they built out over the four years.

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, man.

[Bill Simmons]

There's some stuff they do in this movie that's just so smart. It's just hard for me to believe it was a script written by somebody who had never really had a break writing scripts, right? It's the directors, and it's two directors and only one got credit are basically the Matrix stunt coordinators. But there's all this smart stuff, how they execute it, where, you know, we know from everybody's reaction, it's like, oh, shit, you're working again. It happens like, five, six times during the movie. Like, the policeman comes over and he just sees the bodies. Like, got a problem here, John? No, I don't. No, we're good. And it's just. You're just like, oh, like, this guy really must be a badass. Even when the son calls the dad and he's like, yeah, I killed. It was John Wick's car. And the guy's like, oh. And you just. They set up the sense of, what is this? Who is this guy? And then they execute It Sierra, I think this, this is probably the best original action movie of this century would be my take. I can't think of another one. And you got to separate the sequels. You're just talking about a movie that stands alone for me, most satisfying are this Fast and Furious one Taken.

[Shay Serrano]

The Equalizer.

[Bill Simmons]

Man on Fire, if you're talking Equalizer is probably up there too. Just like just this small group of just wow. This is everything I want when I want an action movie.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah. What, Shay, what year is the Raid?

[Shay Serrano]

Shoot, I don't even know it offhand.

[Craig Horbick]

Is it like 10 was in the 2000s.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, wasn't it?

[Craig Horbick]

I mean the Raid in this are the two. Are the two action movies that I probably go back to the most. And I think both, both have that same quality that you're talking about. Raid 2 becomes basically this Godfather esque Epic as well as an action movie is just like the John Wick movies just kind of get increasingly inflated to the point where I actually. So it's interesting to hear you guys rank them because I go 1, 4, 2, 3 in my ranking. I think at this point because I think four is like, what if John Wick was an opera, you know, like, what if John Wick was almost like this incredible fantasy, you know? But yeah, both Raid and Wick kind of feel like they're coming out of nowhere and they are being beamed from like an alternate world where you're just like, I didn't know people could do that. I didn't know dudes could fight that way. I didn't know you could do gun fu that way. I didn't know that Keanu Reeves could take punches like that. Like, or fall off of a balcony and you can hear his hip crack when he lands. Like, I didn't know you could do that in action movies. So I agree. I'd probably put Wick up there. If it's not. If it's not one, it's two, it's.

[Shay Serrano]

It's between this. It's between Wick and the Raid. That's the argument.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. If you're going to ding Fast and Furious, it's basically Point Break with cars, right? It's. I wouldn't say it's like the single most original movie ever made. If you're going to ding. Taken and Taken is amazing. Shay and I did that. I think that was in the first year we did Taken. Loved it. That that movie has some dopey parts. Right. And it just all of a sudden. Right. You know, it's not perfect, but I Love it. And I love the how simple it is. And I think that's what action movies when they're really at their best. And this movie is a good example. Right. John Wick lost his wife, loves his car, loves this new puppy that he got. It's really all he's got. He just wants to retire and have a car and a dog. And this is a little like same thing with Rebel Ridge where it's like a why didn't they leave him alone movie. Yeah, just leave him alone. He just wants to get gas. He just wants to house train this puppy. Maybe teach him how to catch a tennis ball. And then they had to fuck with him. And now all bets are off. And that's always the best possible premise for an action movie. We're going to take a break and then I want to talk about a couple other things. Want to shop Walmart Black Friday deals first. Walmart plus members get early access to our hottest deals. Join now and get 50% off a one year annual membership. Shop Black Friday deals first with Walmart Plus. See [e-mail] this episode is brought to.

[Craig Horbick]

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[Bill Simmons]

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[Craig Horbick]

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[Shay Serrano]

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[Bill Simmons]

All right, so other reasons John Wick jumped out. We mentioned the Continental. I think what's so cool about John Wick one is there's just these little subtle things that just feel like you want the backstory and everything. You're like, what the fuck are these gold coins?

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, what is.

[Bill Simmons]

What is. I need to make a dinner reservation for 12. What's going on with the dude from the wire behind the counter? Is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? Is he. Why do they have this? Why can't I kill anybody in the hotel? And they're just. All these rules come out and you're like, how the fuck did they think of all this? And I think they realized that because Wick 2, they blow it out. But Shay, when you saw this movie, had you ever seen anything like that before where there's just like these hints of this alternate universe basically?

[Shay Serrano]

No, not done this well. I think the most impressive part of it is they give you enough that you understand. They don't over explain anything. They give you enough that you understand but not Enough that you know everything. Like, the coins are a perfect example. Or the dinner reservation for 12. As soon as he says, I need a dinner reservation for 12, you know, he's telling that guy, I just killed 12 people, and I need you to come clean them up. And then they come, and he gives them just one coin per person, and that's it. And you automatically know, okay, whatever he's involved in, this is the currency that they use, and this is how they talk to each other. And then he goes to the hotel and he asks Lance Reddick, the concierge, is it the same owners? And, you know, right there, he's asking them, the rules are still in place, right? Like, I'm still good to kids. Like, I'm safe here. Like, you're watching the movie and you don't know anything, but they say one or two lines, and you. You know enough to follow along and. Yeah, watch.

[Bill Simmons]

What about the bouncer when he's like, hey, did you lose some weight?

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, Kevin Nash.

[Bill Simmons]

And the guy's like, yeah, I lost about 20. And it's like he's clearly telling him there's 20 bad guys, or 60. Whatever. He says. There's. There's all these bad. Like, they're talk. Talking in some code that I don't even really understand. How do you even learn this code? That's one of the. I guess, the great action movie.

[Craig Horbick]

I have a lot of questions about how we're communicating the rules and regulations and just, like, what. What people need to know. But, yeah, like, I was trying to think of other movies that do this. There's a little bit of it in Bourne, whereas Matt Damon's character keeps, like, learning a little bit more about himself. You then learn more about, like, the programs that he's with. And it's got kind of the similar sort of, like, people can get activated by their cel, where they're like, oh, now I have to leave my. My class that I'm teaching to go assassinate Jason Bourne. There's some other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting some, like. But that. That, like, that whole. It's like, basically, if you made a movie with, like, Christopher Walken's character, and man on Fire had, like, a huge role where it's like the guy who is the. Like, the handler, the facilitator, the guy who can get him weapons, it used to work with him. I love that part about Wick with the Continental.

[Shay Serrano]

I think the difference in this and those ones, Part of the reason this one is so appealing is because Those ones are always like relegated or regulated by the government.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, it's like an off book CIA program.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, yeah, some dark agency or whatever. And this one is all. It's the underworld. So everything is in play. It's the underworld. We could do whatever we want. And they just build it up so.

[Bill Simmons]

Nice around them you get bounties. I love a good bounty. So Wick Wick spawns three sequels. It spawns a prequel TV series, It spawns a spinoff film, ballerina, video games, comic books. It also dives into this universe of people I liked from this specific time. Like, we have people from the Wire, we have people from Oz. We have the lead from Deadwood. We have Tyra from. Tyra from Friday Night Lights. They're just like. They're just like, hey, what shows did you like? Here's another person. Kevin Nash. They're just kind of smartly building it out. The cast is really good. Leguizamo.

[Craig Horbick]

Alfie was on Game of Thrones around this time.

[Bill Simmons]

Supposedly he did a one day. He did a one day, 15 hour shoot and just filmed all of his. His car scenes. Willem Dafoe out of nowhere, just with like a. Like a huge part. And Bridget Moynihan and our guy, Dean Winters as. As Viggo's attorney. So anyway, so the screenwriter was Derek Kolstad, and he had an idea basically inspired by a couple terrible revenge movies he watched. But originally the character was supposed to be old, and he was thinking it was like a Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman type of role. And then once Keanu became involved, that changed. But he, you know, he's. He took stuff he liked from a whole bunch of stuff, including the Killer by John Woo and spaghetti westerns and all kinds of things.

[Craig Horbick]

But the only. The only time that ever seems to pop up is when Viggo's kids and that generation of guys don't seem to know who John Wick is, because I think in the original screenplay, it was going to be like people had kind of forgotten about him and not. And maybe thought it was like a fairy tale or something. And that's because he was going to be 75 when he, like, shows up or whatever. But, like, that's the only one. And it almost like strains credulity where you're like, how do you guys not know about John Wick?

[Bill Simmons]

I had that in nitpicks. Yeah, I think he was conceived as like the old man with Jeff Bridges. It was that kind of thing. So, yeah, so they barely had enough money. They finished the movie Cutting costs left and right. And in August 2014, which is three months before the movie came out, still had no distributor. Then Lionsgate got involved, offered him, you know, all right, well, no upfront payment, not that many release. And then all of a sudden they were at Austin film festival and fanatics fest, Fantastic fest, and buzz built and they got to like 42 screens and it kept going and ended up making money. $25 million budget made $85 million. Sadly, no Roger Ebert review because he had passed away at this point. What do you cr. What do you think? What do you think Roger Eber would have thought I was afraid to put AI in on this one.

[Craig Horbick]

I think he would have liked it, but found it mind numbing and a little thin. You know, I think Roger. Roger's a character guy. He loved to love to maybe know a little bit more about Helen, you know, what was she?

[Bill Simmons]

Should I have done chatgpt for this? Yeah. I'm going to stay away from it. Okay. All right. Today's most rewatchable scene is brought to you by Paramount. A mountain of movies awaits on Paramount. Shay, I don't know if you've heard of Top gun, Maverick, Mission Impossible, Fallout or Gladiator. Have you heard of those three?

[Shay Serrano]

I think so.

[Bill Simmons]

They're on Paramount. Plus, yeah, some good ones including Scream 6. Smile, A Quiet Place, Day One. They have movies for the kiddos like Paw Patrol, the movie and Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Discover something new every week on Paramount. Plus, most rewatchable scene this was. I had too many. I think we know who's gonna win. But I wanted to shout out a few. The gas station interaction with Theon Lovejoy, Viggo's son.

[Shay Serrano]

Love it. Love it.

[Bill Simmons]

How much? Excuse me? How much for the car?

[Shay Serrano]

She's not for sale.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, I love dogs.

[Shay Serrano]

You have good day, sir.

[Bill Simmons]

It goes from there and we're like, oh, no, this isn't good. He just wants to get some gas. Come on, guys. Stop buying his car. Then he does this crazy driving thing. I don't know if the puppy's still in the car or not at that point, but he's doing like just these awesome driving tricks.

[Craig Horbick]

And then John Wick, a premium guy, like high grade techron. Like, you think he's got to put good juice in that thing or what?

[Bill Simmons]

It would be funny if he just got like the middle gas. Yeah, it's like, I want a little better than the worst one, but not.

[Craig Horbick]

You guys know premium is just a myth, right? It's all middle.

[Bill Simmons]

And Then we get the break in. But I think just the important thing I wanted to point out is 16 minutes, the entire movie's been set up, and we know everything, which I think is really hard to do. They're just like, boom, we got credits. We know who all of our bad people are, and now John Wick has a purpose, and we're ready to go. Also, this isn't for most rewatchable, but I heard you struck my son. Yes, sir, I did. May I ask why? Yeah, he. He stole John Wick's car and killed his dog. Oh.

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, that's all you need. That's all you need.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, first, real rewatchable. Viggo yelling at his son and explaining John Wick. We called him Baba Yaga, the Boogeyman. Well, John wasn't exactly the Boogeyman. He was the one you sent to kill the Boogeyman. Oh, John is a man of focus, commitment, sheer will.

[Shay Serrano]

Wonderful.

[Bill Simmons]

The Baba Yaga call him Baba Yaga. He wasn't the Boogeyman. He was the one you sent to kill the Boogeyman. As he's telling this, John Wick is like, I'm gonna get a giant jackhammer and I'm just gonna wail away at my basement floor. I was like, what's he doing? Shay, your thoughts on this scene?

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, it's incredible. It might be the best character introduction in an action movie that we've gotten, because you have this one guy who's very clearly an intimidating Russian gangster who's terrified. He knows his son is dead. He's talking to a dead man. While this dad is telling the son, you're gonna die. We're cutting away, as you mentioned, to John Wick in his basement with a sledgehammer just crashing into the ground over and over and over, clearing out the rubble, opening the box just full of guns and gold coins. And you're like, oh, fuck. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's not going to be good for Theon Lovejoy. That's what I know.

[Craig Horbick]

Also, just the idea of the guy you send to kill the Boogeyman is one of the most. Oh, shit moments in action movie history.

[Shay Serrano]

It's a little tiny example of how they. In this series, they always go one step past where you think they're gonna go, because so many other movies would have been like, yeah, he's the. He's the real life version of the Boogeyman. And they were like, no, he's not that. He's the. He's who kills the real life version of the boogeyman one level past. What do you think?

[Bill Simmons]

Well, he also saw him kill three men in a bar with a pencil. He gave him an impossible task if he wanted to get away from his life, which John Wick then apparently pulled off. We don't even really know what the task was, but he must have just killed 100 people.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

And then he calls John, and John hangs up. But not before he tells his son, John will come for you. You will do nothing because you can do nothing. Cr do you have in. In your basement, do you have like, under the cement? Just guns and Grant Land quarterlies for cell.

[Craig Horbick]

If we're doing this, I was going to ask you if in your basement, do you have a Dell laptop buried under concrete for when you start writing columns?

[Bill Simmons]

They've enraged me. It's time to write a basketball card.

[Craig Horbick]

He said his fingers don't work anymore.

[Bill Simmons]

They called him Baba Yaga. All right, next one. Attack at Wick's house. I think John kills 14 guys. I might have the wrong count. It was around 14.

[Craig Horbick]

No, it's a dozen. It's 12. Because he says the reservation for 12.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, reservation for 12.

[Craig Horbick]

Just a quick shout out to when he hammers the knife into the guy. That's really. That's really like we are in for something new, fresh and exciting in the world of killing guys.

[Shay Serrano]

Because all of the kills prior to that moment are fast. Boom, boom, boom. It shoots you in the leg, shoot you in the chest, shoot you in the head, shoot you in the head, whatever. And then that last one, it takes 45 seconds for him to kill him. Yeah. That's great. It's so good.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay, do you feel like John Wick innovated some new killing techniques? Because a couple things I noticed, really good at the eye contact with the person as he's finishing them off. We always watch these movies and we go, why didn't they just shoot him one more time in the head to make sure he's dead? John Wick's like, don't worry, I've got this. He always has the extra. The extra headshot. And then the other thing is he's good at the tactical where like that later in the nightclub, and he shoots the guy in the foot to get the guy to fall over. So then he can shoot him in the head. Like he's. He's thinking a step ahead. It's a little, you know, like Tom Brady, like being like, I'm going to pull this corner down because I want to send the tight end into that spot. John Wick is. I don't think. I can't think of another action hero who is like two steps ahead of the villains.

[Shay Serrano]

He sees. He sees more of the field than everybody else, that's for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Shay Serrano]

And then, and then the fact that he is using so much of his own, like body weight and counterweight in the fights is such a smart decision because as you mentioned before, he's not a big dude. We even see him with his shirt off and he's not covered in muscles or whatever, he's just a normal looking dude. But he starts whipping these guys around or putting them in these rear naked chokes or arm bars and doing all this jiu jitsu and it's like, man, this is just so many good decisions in a row.

[Bill Simmons]

Cr. As a black belt and judo, did you feel like the judo is realistic?

[Craig Horbick]

I just appreciated that he never fought dirty. There's not a lot of nutshots. He never goes to tear someone's eye out. He only bites one thumb. You know, it's. This is a guy. He played the game the right way.

[Bill Simmons]

He did. It is true. He is above the board. Was there a nutshot? I don't think there was.

[Craig Horbick]

There might be one on Victor by the sink, but I couldn't tell if it was a nutshot or an ACL tear. Like he goes right for the kneecap. But yeah, it was like, I was really impressed rewatching this where I'm like, man, there's a couple of chances here. You know, John Wick has the pull the eyeball out move in his back pocket, right? He did, and he never does it. He's just like, you know what, we're going to, we're going to keep this one a hundred and. And we're going to all feel good about how we fought at the end of the day.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay, where do you stand on the broken appendage going sideways? Like, are you an arm guy or a leg guy when you see that?

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, man, I think I prefer to see an arm, but the leg is just.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. And it's like flapping.

[Shay Serrano]

The leg is just a little too violent for me. Like, I remember watching Harley Quinn when she broke that guy's leg and I was like, oh, my God. Oh God, that had hurt so bad. Like, I like a leg. I mean, I like an arm.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay. Waste disposal. Dinner for 12 Sierra. I don't know if you know this, but this was Winston Wolf's startup company that he started in the late 90s.

[Craig Horbick]

It was his Franchise?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it was a franchise. He wanted to branch out. He had made some money. He wanted to invest in something, get something for himself. Next scene, Wick's Revenge. The nightclub fight, starting with the aforementioned bathroom. And he breaks the guy's leg, Kills it. But just so many murders. I. I don't even know where to start with this.

[Craig Horbick]

So from the second he puts the gun to Francis's head outside of the nightclub. Yeah, seven minutes until he gets thrown off the balcony. Seven minutes. And it might be the seven best sustained minutes in action movie. It is unbelievable.

[Bill Simmons]

I agree. And. And even the end where he, the stuntman just gets thrown. It's clearly not Keanu. He turns his head, the guy just drops 20ft. It's like a classic. I don't know how the fuck they just did that. That's not cgi. That guy just dropped onto a concrete floor.

[Craig Horbick]

And Keanu wanted to do it and they wouldn't insure him for it.

[Bill Simmons]

Right. Guys, like just let me do it. Supposedly in the nightclub thing, Keanu had 104 degree fever. And they were like going to delay today, so he felt better. He's like, no, I just. I just want to do it.

[Craig Horbick]

Flu game.

[Shay Serrano]

Flu game.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it was his flu game.

[Craig Horbick]

So we have in that, in that sequence, Bill, I just give you the sort of breakdown. There's Francis the doorman. There's killing Victor at the sink. There's the shootout in the baths where he shoots the half naked guy in the chest and head.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, I love that part.

[Craig Horbick]

Then there's like the dining area that kind of like. Well, like the one with the overhead fluorescent lights kind of. And everybody's running around with the red shirts and the black jackets. Dance floor. And then there's the balcony that. And it culminates with him getting thrown off the balcony.

[Bill Simmons]

Dance floor is when it goes to another level. Unbelievable because you're already like, this is awesome. And then it's like, oh my God, there's a 2000, 2000 person nightclub with pounding music. And he's just going to fucking kill this guy who can go through with a gun. And then the balcony. It's really one of the greats. You agree with that, Shay, that this is up there, the best seven minutes ever.

[Shay Serrano]

It's absolutely in the conversation watching him go into the Viper pit and it's just him surrounded. How are you gonna get out of this alive? And he just mows through him. It very much reminds me of in the Kingsman, the church killing scene there. Except. But this is. You're killing other guys who are killers. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's so good.

[Bill Simmons]

I really like the end of Fast Five with the car chase when they're dragging the safe behind them. I think is really great. It's a different kind of action scene, but I thought, I think that's a really good. I think that's the best seven minutes of the Fast series. I still don't understand how they did.

[Craig Horbick]

There's probably some. There's probably a seven minute stretch of Fury Road that could match up to this. So I guess I can distinguish this by saying best seven minutes in an action movie that I've ever seen. Non car Division.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah. Oh, what about, what about the hospital scene in Hard Boiled when they go to the hospital?

[Craig Horbick]

How long is that though?

[Shay Serrano]

That's like 30 minutes. Like 30 minutes straight. John Woo, the master.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, we should pay tribute to him because a lot of this movie is pulled from Better tomorrow.

[Shay Serrano]

So much, so much.

[Bill Simmons]

I would put the three of us probably in the highest end of people who just absolutely love action movies. And to me, the whole reason to watch these is when you have something like the nightclub scene and it's going. You're like, oh my God, oh my God. And you're just like, I can't imagine having seen this in the theater. I honestly think I would have passed out.

[Craig Horbick]

We should have done the seven minute nightclub scene, but do it as Manning cast. And like they're in quarters.

[Shay Serrano]

They're in quarters.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, so the nightclub scene ends and we're like, whoo, let's take a breath. And two more people are trying to kill him. There's William Dafoe across the thing trying to shoot him through the window. And then Ms. Perkins comes in like just a crazy maniac trying to. Trying to take him down. That scene I have as a rewatchable, the church robbery fire, the Wick gets captured. I'm thinking I'm back. In that moment, I received some semblance foe an opportunity to grieve an alone. And your son took that from me. Haka stole that from me, killed that from me. People keep asking if I'm back and I haven't really had an answer. But now, yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. So you can either hand over your son or you can die screaming alongside him. And then the final scene where Wick kills everybody and then Wick finds a dog at the end I think would be all the rewatchables. Unless you guys have anything else to add, we can pick our most rewatchable scene, which I think is the nightclub. Right.

[Shay Serrano]

I think it's important to point out when Willem Dafoe shoots at him in the hotel, he's helping him there.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Shay Serrano]

He's giving him, warning him, hey, Perkins is in the room. Good luck. You know what I mean? Like, he's always watching out for him. What a great friend. He was just always there. If we're.

[Bill Simmons]

You don't think. You don't think there was 1% where he was like, you know, 4 million's a lot. I don't know.

[Shay Serrano]

No, I don't think so. Because we see him make a similar shot later on through a closed window. Hit a guy directly in the head to save John Wick. And it's like he. He wouldn't miss through a clear window. You know what I mean?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. No, it's fair. I just wonder if he struggled with the decision at all. But then you see his house, and it was like, pretty nice house. I don't know. Felt like maybe he was all set. He's gonna help out his guy.

[Chris Ryan]

Jonathan, what are the rules? Are you allowed to shoot from outside of the Continental to inside of the Continental?

[Craig Horbick]

No business. I don't think any business can be done on the grounds of the Continental.

[Chris Ryan]

But Defoe is not in the Continental.

[Craig Horbick]

No, true.

[Shay Serrano]

You're killing someone.

[Bill Simmons]

Still in the network, though.

[Chris Ryan]

All right.

[Shay Serrano]

Hey.

[Bill Simmons]

Still in the network. So we all have the nightclub fight.

[Craig Horbick]

Yes.

[Shay Serrano]

Okay, I'm gonna make an argument for a different scene here, and I'm gonna.

[Bill Simmons]

Okay, let's hear.

[Shay Serrano]

I think the first time, the second time, the third time you watch this movie, it's absolutely the nightclub scene. Absolutely. It's unbelievable. But four, five, six times you've seen it and you watch it. I think it's not even the whole house fight. I think it's the last moments of the house fight when he kills the last guy. And then there's a knock on the door. Knock, knock, knock. And you see the police lights through the frosted glass. And you're watching this. As you just mentioned, between the three of us, we've probably seen 65,000 action movies. We've all seen a version of this scene. Knock, knock, knock. The cops are there. The guy opens the door. Oh, is everything cool? Yeah, it's fine. And then the cop catches a glimpse of, like, a foot on the ground, pushes the door open, sees a dead body. And now.

[Bill Simmons]

Now he's gotta kill the cops.

[Shay Serrano]

Now he's gotta kill the cop. And then now he's not only being chased by these killers. But also he's being chased by the cops. And like we've seen this a ton of times, but when he, when he opens the door and there's a dead guy there and the guy. And the cop is Jimmy, is just like. Are you working, John? You working again?

[Bill Simmons]

No, just sorting some stuff out.

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, well.

[Bill Simmons]

I'll leave you be then.

[Shay Serrano]

Good night, John.

[Bill Simmons]

Good night, Jimmy.

[Shay Serrano]

Like that's the moment when the world opens up and you realize this is something special I'm watching. This is a, this is a brand new thing I'm about to get into because it should have gone left and it. And it went right. I think it's the most important part of the movie because it sets the hook for everything that comes after just that one interaction. Oh, shit. Okay, this is not, this is not going to go where I want it to go or where I think it's going to go. You have to give yourself up to the movie and watch it. Now.

[Bill Simmons]

That's a good case. I'm still going with him killing 130 people in the nightclub. But I thought you made a great case. Today's the most rewatchable scene brought to you by Paramount. Plus, from action blockbusters to thrillers to favorites for the whole family, find something new to watch every week. A mountain of movies awaits on Paramount plus plans start at $7.99 a month. Start streaming now. We're going to take one more break and do the rest of the categories. This is the sound of your ride home with dad after he caught you vaping. Awkward, isn't it? Most vapes contain C seriously addictive levels of nicotine and disappointment. Know the real cost of vapes brought to you by the FDA? Blinds.com is kicking off the savings early with Black Friday megadeals.

[Shay Serrano]

All month long.

[Bill Simmons]

A blinds.com design expert can help you make the perfect selection on your schedule. We can even handle everything from measure to your whole home install for just one low cost. With over 25 million windows covered, Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. Get up to 45% off site wide and a free professional measure right [e-mail] rules and restrictions may apply. So Shay, we have a new category called what's the most blank thing about this movie from whatever year it came out. What's the most 2014 thing about this movie? So my initial answer was that we were all working together and Shay was teaching when this came out. That's a pretty good answer. But I think it's. I Think for me it's Tyra's Ms. Perkins.

[Shay Serrano]

That's exactly what I have on my list too. Adrian Palicki showing up.

[Craig Horbick]

I think you're right, man.

[Bill Simmons]

I think it's, it feels so early 2010s of like, oh, I really like her. Oh, I hope. And, and it, it never really went the way I thought it was going to go with her. I thought she was going to be a bigger star.

[Craig Horbick]

But she, lance Reddick, Ian McShane and Adrian Palicki being like the three below the line stars is like, oh, and Clark Peters.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. The cast of this movie feels perfectly 2014. So I think that's the answer. What stage? The best.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, can I just throw another one out for that category? Bill? I think that the digital technology is exactly right for the era. Like there's not a ton of security camera footage. There's not a ton of like dudes texting each other. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's kind of like. Yeah, yeah, it's right around like got mobile phones. It's a little bit more elevated than like the Bourne movies where they're just using Nokia's. But like this isn't quite like everybody pulls out their camera phone when John Wick starts shooting up a dance floor.

[Bill Simmons]

The other most 2014 thing about this movie is the same week it came out, Timmy Duncan and the spurs were raising their 2014 title band.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah baby. Yeah Baby was a good year in the Serrano House.

[Bill Simmons]

Now 10 years later, you have the alien Victor Wimpanyama.

[Shay Serrano]

We're back.

[Bill Simmons]

Dreams of more titles. You're back baby. What's age the best? The nickname Baba Yaga. Baba. I said that wrong. Baba Yaga as the Russian boogeyman name never really caught on. Felt like we could have had an NBA star where it's like John Marin is Bobby Yaga and.

[Craig Horbick]

But do you think if, if, if, if we had an NBA star named Baba Ya, would you nail the pronunciation of his name or would you just kind of.

[Bill Simmons]

I'd probably say Yaga half the time and some ja.

[Craig Horbick]

Be like, it's Jager, it's Jager.

[Bill Simmons]

Bill, could we have. If there was a Russian star? I don't know. I'm just, just back pocketed. If we ever get like the Russian version of Wembanyama, the continental. We talked about how great that that is from a what's age the best standpoint. I have some more. But Shay, do you have any what's age the best that jumped out to you?

[Shay Serrano]

I think this is this is in addition to the. To the Palicki thing. We were just talking about seeing Tyra show up. The moment that she has. She's such a snake in this movie. It's a great decision. Again, another great decision. They introduce this character and she's just the one person willing to break every rule. Doesn't care. You can't predict what she's gonna do when she goes into John Wick's room to kill him. She's face to face with him. She's a foot and a half away. She's got a grip on him, ready to kill him. And she tells him, you were always a pussy. She says that to the most feared hitman in the history of the world. No fear in her at all. No trepidation, no hesitation. You were always a pussy. And I'm gonna kill you right now on this hallowed ground. I think watching this, she's like, there's a spotlight on her. She's great.

[Craig Horbick]

You know, speaking of 2014, Ms. Perkins really started the era of assassin empowerment. You know, it was really about betting on yourself. She was like, fuck, yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, yeah. I think she's one of the great irrational confidence characters ever. It was almost like, you know, like when Jason Terry just knocked out the 2011 heat. Just like, I'm just gonna take this 30 footer to win game five.

[Craig Horbick]

CR.

[Bill Simmons]

What do you have? For what stage the best.

[Craig Horbick]

I love that there's no cops in this movie except for Don from the newsroom. Like if there had been a whole other plotline about like the detective who's trying to solve this case.

[Shay Serrano]

Yes.

[Craig Horbick]

It would have slowed the movie down. You would have gotten involved with John Wick trying to help the detective get the Russian mob or something like. No, I don't care. I don't care about this guy clearing his cases. I just want to see John Wick get his revenge. The reason this movie is perfect is it's so lean. That's what's aged the best, is it's like kind of stripped down nature. So I'm so glad they didn't also add like a law enforcement like grizzled detective trying to figure this all out.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, as you were saying that, I was going to make believe there was two deleted scenes of Benjamin Brat as the detective chasing them, just to see what Shay's reaction was. Shay's like, I completely agree that. I was like, yeah, but Benjamin Brat was the detective.

[Shay Serrano]

Hold on a second.

[Bill Simmons]

Some more.

[Shay Serrano]

What?

[Bill Simmons]

Sage the best. I like movies that show a much later scene first and Then we have to circle back with. So that scene's planted. And now we're kind of going backwards, even though we're not saying we're going backwards. And then we end up where we kind of started. Hard thing to pull off. I also like getting punched in the stomach and immediately puking.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Which happened to Theon Lovejoy. Well, you know, that's a good body blower. You just. You're spitting up bile and mucus. Winston. Calling him Jonathan. Great play. I might start doing that with ucr. Just start calling you Christopher every once in a while. Just as that gives you a little weightiness. Some history in our relationship.

[Shay Serrano]

For years, I have called Sean Finesse Shonathan in the Ian McShane.

[Craig Horbick]

Because of Wick.

[Shay Serrano]

Because of this thing. Yes. I just say that, Jonathan. Every time.

[Bill Simmons]

That's good. I like that. The trope, which is just so funny when this happens and it's in so many action movies of the hot bartender with the history of the lead character, Jonathan. How long's it been? And just like with the fuck me eyes going, it's like, oh, like, it's like the Top Gun Maverick. He just waltzes into that thing. It's like, oh, of course Jennifer Conley and him have a history, but they. That is a trope that is in a lot of these action movies.

[Craig Horbick]

That's such a good call. That scene kind of like sticks out like a sore thumb where she's just.

[Bill Simmons]

No reason for it.

[Craig Horbick]

Hey, John.

[Shay Serrano]

And it's just everybody else is like, I'm sorry about your wife. And she's like, hey, your wife's dead, right?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Craig Horbick]

You see, you're single now, right?

[Bill Simmons]

You had the memorial, right? How about Dean Winters from Oz?

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

As perfect. Eventually conciliary. But then now does all these. What is it? Geico. He does all the Geico commercials.

[Craig Horbick]

I think it's all State.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, all state where he's just getting the shit kicked out of him. And it's basically like he trained for that with this John Wick thing. So Wick has a lot of tricks in this for Wood stage the best. Wanted to mention how he turns his watch.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

When he has a fight. It's just subtle shit. But that's the one, I think my favorite one. It's like, I don't want to hurt the head of my watch, so I'm going to turn it inside on my wrist. So when I punch, nothing happens to the watch. Apparently soldiers do that to avoid reflections when they're. When they have a rifle. Theon Lovejoy as VGo's loser son. What a run for him.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, he's really good. He's so unlikable, I don't even know.

[Bill Simmons]

What his name is in real life. I just say, yeah, he's Alfie Allen. It's almost. You can't. Like, I wouldn't be able to see him in a rom com or anything at this point because you just can't unsee Theo Lovejoy. Theon Lovejoy in this character. Would you.

[Craig Horbick]

Lovejoy played at NC State.

[Bill Simmons]

With the Sacramento Kings.

[Craig Horbick]

What do I have for that? I love Viggo's speech to John. I think it's kind of awesome. It's a little over the top, but when he's like, we have to pay for, like, we get rewards for our misdeeds. And that's what's brought you to me. And about how, like, John is like, this infection and, like, they're never gonna get out of this cycle.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Shay Serrano]

I laughed so much on this last one. When he gives that speech and he somehow turns John's wife dying into a thing about him. Like, this is. It was like. It was like in Breaking Bad when Walter White was talking with Jesse and he's like, it's all about me. This is all about, like, he was doing that. But, like, what.

[Bill Simmons]

What do we know about that? Michael Nyquist, CR who plays Vigo, just. He's just one of those guys, right? Yeah.

[Craig Horbick]

And he's, like, a really good character actor. I mean, like, he's like McShane and Reddick. And I think he's done a bunch of stuff in Europe. I can't remember seeing him in other action movies.

[Bill Simmons]

I feel like I've seen him, but I only really know him from this. All right, new category. The Fortune 3 Clap Award for most gifable moment. Would you go, John Wick. That shot of him just holding the dead dog. What's the best gift from this movie?

[Shay Serrano]

I think it's. I'm thinking I'm back. I see that one a lot.

[Bill Simmons]

And then.

[Shay Serrano]

And then the other one is when he's getting his gun ready to go out to kill everybody. It's like another one you. You see a lot of.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. That jokes about. With that.

[Craig Horbick]

Or hammering the concrete.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, the jackhammering. The concrete's good, too. Great shot. Go Order Award. Most cinematic shot. Would you have CR Love the red.

[Craig Horbick]

Lights flashing when the cops pull up to his house and, like, the red is pulsing into the house after he's just killed everybody? It's just awesome. I mean, you could pick any frame from the. From the Red Circle Club fight, and especially on the dance floor. But I always like that.

[Bill Simmons]

I like the slow mo of when he's about to kill Theon Lovejoy, when it's like a shot from the ground up and he's just slow mo. Like, he's like. Like an assassin, which he is. Would you.

[Shay Serrano]

Actually, I'm so happy that we have just taken to calling him Lovejoy instead of Greyjoy. Greyjoy's in the Game of Thrones, but Lovejoy is just funnier.

[Bill Simmons]

I thought it was Lovejoy.

[Craig Horbick]

I tried to tell you it was Greyjoy.

[Bill Simmons]

Did you text him?

[Shay Serrano]

No.

[Bill Simmons]

Did we change it to Lovejoy?

[Chris Ryan]

No, we're keeping it. Yeah, we're keeping Lovejoy.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I want to keep Lovejoy.

[Shay Serrano]

My favorite shot in this is when they put the bag over John Wick's head and then they do a wide shot from the back of the. Whatever the empty facility is that they're in the empty warehouse and John Wick is an inch tall on the screen and they're just around him and it's all this empty space, and you're like, how is he ever going to get out of here? It's such good filmmaking.

[Craig Horbick]

I'm fucking. I'm dying at Lovejoy, man. I might.

[Bill Simmons]

Why didn't you guys tell me? I shouldn't have done.

[Craig Horbick]

Because now I just keep thinking of, like, thinking it sounds like somebody who would be hanging out with Reggie Hammond. It's just so awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

I really like the cemetery shot of Wick and Dafoe in the beginning. The black and white with the weather clothes. It just looks cool. Okay, Dennis Benihana Award scene ceiling locations. Gotta be the nightclub.

[Craig Horbick]

It's Continental. Isn't the Continental?

[Bill Simmons]

The nightclub's pretty amazing. I don't know. It's got. It's got all the. It's got, like, a Russian bathhouse in the back. It's got, like, cool balconies.

[Shay Serrano]

I think you go continental.

[Craig Horbick]

I think I would go Continental. Yeah. I mean, that's things. The idea of that location spawned a whole show and everything, and it's become, like, a major part of.

[Bill Simmons]

But that's most impactful location. I'm talking about scene stealing.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, you've never had a distinction before. Okay, we can have both.

[Bill Simmons]

Big Kahuna, Burger World. Best use of food and drink. The cereal for Wick and the dog.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

A tough beat for people who love dogs. Like, oh, my God, don't give a puppy cereal. That's going to be diarrhea. Central. But. But a key thing. The Vincent Chase Award for. Aren't we sure this character was actually good at his job? Can we talk about Viggo's conciliary Dean Winters?

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah. Who doesn't speak Russian. Yeah. English. Vigor.

[Bill Simmons]

First of all, English. Why isn't he. Why isn't he Russian? Second, he's given two jobs. Go. Can you send some guys to kill John Wick at his house? And failure. Hey. The nightclub. Can you protect my son? Yeah, I'll put my best guys in that. All of them die, and then eventually just everybody dies. And I feel like in the press, he didn't get enough press about this.

[Shay Serrano]

At the end of the movie, he doesn't even have a gun. You're still being hunted by John Wick. You just killed his best friend. You don't have a gun. Where's your gun? Why do you want to.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. It's like he was coming back from a fantasy draft and didn't realize, like, that there was, like, violence and murder in the air.

[Craig Horbick]

I can't believe I took Marvin Harrison in the first round.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, shit. Four yards on one catch. The Brandy Booth Award. Best performance by a pet. The Beagle. Yeah, they just really had something special there.

[Craig Horbick]

It's a beagle in the first scene. And then what's he get? A pit bull at the end.

[Bill Simmons]

Pit bull at the end. I like the Beagle a little more. Okay. The Butch's Girlfriend Award for the weak link of the film. So they captured John Wick and they just don't kill him immediately. This is Bobby. Bobby Yaga. Like, they have. First of all, they have guns drawn on him after he's killed. I don't know, 50, 60 of their people just. They could take him down. Then with a headshot, they don't. They decide to bring him to a remote location. It's literally like the Austin Powers sketch of. Why don't you just kill, like, Dr. Evil, son. Why don't you just kill him? He's right there. Just kill him, Scott. Shut up. I don't understand it. I. Every time I watch this movie, it's the flaw that jumps out at me. So that'd be my pick. What do you have?

[Craig Horbick]

Let me throw an idea out there. Do you think vgo in the back of his mind, maybe. Maybe even towards the middle of his mind was like, maybe I can get him back on my team. And if I can.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, like a Pat Riley, LeBron thing. Yeah.

[Craig Horbick]

Wouldn't it be great to have a pissed off Baba Jaeger working for Me, you know, like, if I could just, like, smooth this over with him and Yosef, like, we can really make some interesting things.

[Bill Simmons]

What do you think of that theory, Shay?

[Shay Serrano]

I do like that theory because he specifically says that impossible task that John Wick did built the foundation for what we are today. And John Wick just basically destroyed everything they were today. So we need him again.

[Craig Horbick]

He has to build it up to.

[Shay Serrano]

Build it back up. Let me try to. Yeah, maybe it's that. I like it, Chris. I like it, Chris.

[Bill Simmons]

What's your weak link, Shay? Do you have one week?

[Shay Serrano]

No, Because I was considering the same thing of Viggo just not killing him. When you have the chance, just kill him. Just kill him. He's knocked out. He's knocked unconscious twice in the movie. Neither time do they kill him, right? But then this goes back to him somehow making John Wick's wife's death about him. He needs to give that speech and he needs to turn his back on him and he needs to walk away. It's all ego for him. There's no way. He wasn't going to do that. He couldn't just walk up and shoot him. He needed to say some stuff to John. And because as soon as John starts talking and explaining why he's doing everything he's doing, Viggo just fucking rolls his eyes. He's like, oh, God, you're a dog.

[Craig Horbick]

You're a dog.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, it's. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Cr. What's John Wick's CTE situation at this point? After the four movies? Not to mention whatever else happened to him?

[Craig Horbick]

I don't think he's going to be.

[Bill Simmons]

Playing knocked out concussions like Antonio Brown versus the Raven style. Knocked out twice just in this movie. And then I think we have another one in Wick 2. Probably like one per movie.

[Craig Horbick]

Also, a lot of car accidents. A lot of like, just like, like.

[Shay Serrano]

Seven cars that falling down 45 flights of stairs in part four, it's like, it's pretty bad.

[Craig Horbick]

He's gonna have Will Smith being like, tell the truth.

[Bill Simmons]

Tell the truth. What stage the worst mentioned feeding cereal to the dog. So this is a tidbit that was in multiple things I read, so I feel like it's true. Bridget Moynihan, when they talked her into playing John Wick's wife, she only wanted to read her scenes in the script. So she didn't form any other opinions on John Wick's character. It's like, settle down, Meryl Streep. You're in this for 40 seconds. You don't read the script. I don't know if these flashbacks, I want to make sure I play them correctly. I just said that was so weird. John Wick, like never gets blood on him. With all the murders he commits, you just feel like there's got to be blood splattering.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know.

[Craig Horbick]

He's got the place blood all over his shirt.

[Bill Simmons]

Like when he goes covered in blood after the nightclub.

[Craig Horbick]

Yes. That's why he's wearing a black suit. Right. Like, I mean, I understand what you're saying. He would definitely.

[Bill Simmons]

So you think a black suit.

[Craig Horbick]

So drenched in arterial spray.

[Bill Simmons]

But so wardrobe tip from CR Black suit covers up gallons of blood. Like he's stabbing people in the neck. Like you stab somebody in the neck, like they're gonna spout blood back at you. I feel like every part of his body would be covered in blood. I don't know. I had that one and then I'm not positive. I like the We're Killing Strangers song just as a song.

[Craig Horbick]

So this is my. What's aged the worst, Bill, is the multiple uses of Marilyn Manson throughout this movie. And I would like to propose a new rule. You know, We've talked about AI on this pod already. People go back with their 4K remasters taking out grain and shadows from their movie. I'm see. I look at looking at you, James Cameron. Why do we never talk about going back and redoing music in movies?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, because they do it when like sometimes streamers for TV shows when they lose their music.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, but like John Wick is now billion dollar franchise. Can they not go back and put like a sick Chemical Brothers song or something over this? Like what can't we could. We could come up with something better than Killing Strangers, which is so on the nose. And they do twice with the run it back too.

[Bill Simmons]

And I don't even over the will of Defoe killing.

[Craig Horbick]

And it's just like, dude, just. Just have like let's go. Let's go get these guys like a little bit of a budget and have like Jeff Barrow or somebody go do cool music for this.

[Bill Simmons]

As opposed to the best movie of the 21st century, Miami Vice.

[Craig Horbick]

There's no musical choices in that movie.

[Bill Simmons]

I would not fucking touch. I literally would not touch. But yeah, I would have grabbed Lincoln. Oh my God.

[Craig Horbick]

Amazing as it aged a day.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay, any other. What's aged the worst for you?

[Shay Serrano]

No, I don't know if this. Maybe I should have mentioned this at what's age the best because as I was about to Say it as what age is the worst. I realize I really love it when they do it in a movie. I love when a bad guy grabs a person to be their human shield when they're trying to get away. Theon Lovejoy does it in the. When he's trying to get out of the pool. He just grabs this woman as John Wick is pointing his gun at him. I like when a bad guy grabs somebody for a human shield.

[Craig Horbick]

That's just such a classic Lovejoy move to do that.

[Bill Simmons]

Fucking Lovejoy. What's the best human shield moment of all time? Size Martin. No, it's gotta be Sizemore, right?

[Shay Serrano]

Wesley Snipes picking up the little girl in New Jack City.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, yeah, that's pretty. I was thinking size more just because it has the slow mo of him turning around, thinking he got away, and Pacino just has him lined up.

[Craig Horbick]

I really love.

[Bill Simmons]

That was the day the action wasn't the juice anymore.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah. I love when the guy. The guy, the hero nails the dude using the human shield at, like, an impossible. Like, that's like in the Untouchables with Andy Garcia, like, tosses him the gun and he's, like, lying on the ground.

[Shay Serrano]

Robocop when he shoots through the dress and hits the guy in the dick, like, because he's holding the woman in front of him.

[Bill Simmons]

But he's just crazy. 48 hours has a two. That's the ending.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

With Jack Cates. You're done. History. They always use little kids for the shields because they're easier to pick up.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, he does that in Lethal Weapon too. That's the reverse of it. When. When Riggs is like, somebody shoot this.

[Shay Serrano]

Somebody shoot this.

[Craig Horbick]

Who's gotten the guy who has him hostage.

[Bill Simmons]

Right. The Ruffalo. Hannah Rubeneck Partridge overacting a word.

[Chris Ryan]

They knew and they let it happen.

[Bill Simmons]

Don't you call me lady.

[Craig Horbick]

I come in here, I give these things to you.

[Bill Simmons]

Give me all I got.

[Craig Horbick]

Listen.

[Bill Simmons]

Give me all you got.

[Craig Horbick]

I treated you like a son.

[Bill Simmons]

You fucking stabbed me in the heart. Fuck you. Fuck you. You could put. I'm thinking I'm back here. And Kiana. But I really like him in that scene, and I don't want to put him in this category, so I'm going to go with.

[Craig Horbick]

People misunderstand Ruben Ek. Just because you're the Rubinek doesn't mean you're also. The action is the juice.

[Bill Simmons]

This isn't bad acting. It's about. It's dialing it up.

[Craig Horbick]

He dials it up. So I think I'M thinking I'm back. Can both be the rubidec, but it can also be what's aged the best. It could also be the best quote of the movie. It's sick.

[Bill Simmons]

I would rather go with Viggo going, priceless. Priceless. Like, he just. That's the one time he kind of loses it and starts yelling. Was there a better title for this movie? So, interestingly enough, this movie was called Scorn for basically the entire run of the filming. And then they decided to audible and change and thank God John Wick's better. Scorn's not a bad title for a movie, though. I just think Scorn two, Scorn three, would not have worked as well. And the John Wick.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, that's where it falls apart.

[Bill Simmons]

Also, if your name's John Wick, that could probably be the title.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, it's not like your name is, like, Bob Johnson. Like, John Wick. Pretty cool name. Can you dig it? A word for most memorable quote. So you would do. I'm thinking. I'm thinking. I'm back.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

You wouldn't go. There's no rhyme or reason to this life. It's days like today scattered among the rest. John, Wickets.

[Shay Serrano]

That's really good. That's really good. That's really good.

[Bill Simmons]

Fucking touches your soul. Shay, did you prepare a cr. Thanks. Luke Wilson. Could have been Harrison Ford Hottest Take award. Or do you want us to carry it?

[Shay Serrano]

I don't know that this is exactly that, but I do feel like I wish that John Leguizamo was in this movie for 90 minutes more because he is so good. He's just perfect. He drops in, does his John Leguizamo thing. The part where the guy's telling him that he killed his dog and John Wick, or excuse me, and John Leguizamo kind of laughs about it.

[Bill Simmons]

The owner of the car, did you kill him or what?

[Craig Horbick]

No.

[Shay Serrano]

Sure.

[Bill Simmons]

So fucked up his dog.

[Chris Ryan]

You fucked up his dog. That's what you did.

[Craig Horbick]

You fucked up his dog.

[Shay Serrano]

It's crazy shit, man.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, look at you. He's great.

[Shay Serrano]

Brilliant acting by John Leguizamo, one of my favorite actors of all time. I think every movie he should be in there for at least 90 minutes. Every movie you can think of. Put him in it. It's better.

[Craig Horbick]

Does an awesome job.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't want to go on too big of a tangent, but he's one of those guys, like, we think about this some athletes, too, where you're just like, was that guy used correctly? Was that guy on the right team. Did that guy's career play out the way it should have played out? I feel like with him, I don't know why he wasn't used like he was in this movie in more impactful ways.

[Shay Serrano]

You think about the times he was used correctly, like in Baz Luhrmann, Romeo and Juliet. And you're like, holy, he's good in that movie. Magic, Magic. He pops up again in the rest of the movies. Or John Wick 2. He has like one little part where he shows up to pick up John Wick's car to fix it. Totally destroyed car. And he's like, oh, you got a crack on your windshield. Just a little joke. And you're like, I love this guy so much.

[Craig Horbick]

It would have been cool if you. If he had a little bit more of a, like, Al from Die Hard role where, like, they could talk on the phone a couple of times throughout the movie, you know?

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, I like that. I like that. That. I like that. That.

[Bill Simmons]

Good role for you too. Cr.

[Craig Horbick]

Thanks.

[Bill Simmons]

From Die Hard World. People just call cr. My hottest take is VGO says a lot of us are rewarded for our misdeeds, which is why God took your wife and unleashed you and me. This life follows you. We are cursed, you and I. It sounds like bullshit, but if you actually think about it, like, Viggo, he's 100% right.

[Craig Horbick]

He's dialed in like, hey, John Wick.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe don't kill a thousand five hundred people, and maybe your wife would. Maybe the karma of that wouldn't have ended up with your wife, you know, dying. I. I don't know, Vigo. Viggo brought me to some places as I was thinking about it. I was like, you know what? I know he's full of, but it's a pretty solid point, man. Car. God's always watching. And karma exists. Maybe that's what happened to your wife and puppy. John Wick, my hot.

[Craig Horbick]

My hottest take is similar to yours. It's about John Wick's massive overreaction to a dog dying, frankly, considering the amount for two days. And I would also go as far to say is that I think it's a massive deflection from his own boredom at his suburban life. And I think that when we see him and he's doing donuts on a private Runway somewhere, and it's like, yeah, you know what, man? You didn't really have a lot going on.

[Bill Simmons]

Maybe coach a fourth grade basketball team.

[Chris Ryan]

His wife died.

[Craig Horbick]

Well, I mean, like, what's going. What's Going on. What was John Wick doing with Helen?

[Bill Simmons]

What do we like?

[Craig Horbick]

What do we like? What's like. What is he doing? Is he hanging out at. What does she do? I don't even know what she does. Is she a doctor or something?

[Bill Simmons]

I have a lot of questions about this later. Okay.

[Craig Horbick]

I'm just saying, like, John Wick may have had a big void in his soul that I think he was trying to fill. And it just conveniently came along with a massive overreaction to a pet diet.

[Chris Ryan]

Wonderful take. Great take.

[Bill Simmons]

That was a long way of CR saying I'm not a dog guy. Yeah. For real casting.

[Craig Horbick]

What ifs you wouldn't have seen him do if he had a cat. That's all I'm saying.

[Bill Simmons]

Ian McShane replaced Jason Isaacs as Winston. That's the only casting. What if I could find Best that Guy award. We have a lot of. A lot of people who are kind of became the. Like Lance Reddick became Lance Reddick. He used to be that guy, but then Clark Peters, same thing. Tyra from Friday Lights. I know her name's Adrian Palicki. Dean Winters. I know his name's Dean Winters. It really comes down to Theon Lovejoy against Luther from 48 Hours. That's also the bad guy in Warriors. Is he David Patrick Kelly or is he Luther for 48 hours?

[Craig Horbick]

No, I think he's that guy. The cleaner is that guy.

[Shay Serrano]

I was so happy to see him.

[Bill Simmons]

I think that's the winner.

[Craig Horbick]

The only other thing I was going to say is that the actor who plays Victor, who's Joseph's boy, is also.

[Bill Simmons]

He's one of those guys.

[Craig Horbick]

He's in billions. Yeah, he's one of the DA's.

[Shay Serrano]

He's Connor.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Oh, wow. That's a good one. Toby Leonard, the winner. Actually, if you want to go with.

[Craig Horbick]

Something a little bit more recent, we're.

[Bill Simmons]

Going to take one more break and then come back with the Dion Waiters Award. Dion Waiters. I don't think Tyra from Friday Night Lights is eligible for this. I think she's in the movie. Just a whiff too much for me. It's Leguizamo. You could talk me in Jimmy the Cop, but Leguizamo just coming in hot, filming all scenes in one day, leaving us wanting more. I don't know how he's not the winner.

[Craig Horbick]

Close the polls.

[Shay Serrano]

Can I tell you a very quick little story? John Leguizamo came to San Antonio as part of, like, his. Whatever. His most recent comedy tour was Latin history for Morons. And I'd never seen him in person. I told Laramie that's what I want for, like, my birthday Christmas present. So we got front row seats to see John Leguizamo in person. And we're sitting there and he's up there performing. And he does a thing where he, like, you know, a comedian will pick somebody in a crowd and then, like, start making jokes or whatever. And he picked me, like, out of there's 800 people in there or whatever. And he just so happened to zero in on me. And like, three different times he made a joke about. He. He, like, asked me to solve some math question really quick. And I was so flustered. I was like, I have no idea. I'm sorry. I can't even speak English right now. And he just kept making jokes about it. And I don't know. I just want to mention that I.

[Bill Simmons]

Don'T think that was your brush with John Leguizamo.

[Shay Serrano]

Grace.

[Bill Simmons]

That's unbelievable.

[Shay Serrano]

I was so happy. I was so happy that it happened.

[Bill Simmons]

Oh, that's awesome. Recasting couch director or city? I wouldn't touch anything in this movie.

[Craig Horbick]

No.

[Shay Serrano]

Nope.

[Bill Simmons]

Who do you want for the director's commentary? Would it be Tony Romo, Chris Collinsworth, or another sports announcer? What do you have? Cr.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, Mike. He's got something buried down there, but he's gonna take a sledgehammer and get it out. Because the past isn't just the past.

[Bill Simmons]

I have a.

[Craig Horbick]

We should introduce Belichick on Manning cast.

[Bill Simmons]

I have that right now. I have Belichick doing the nightclub scene on the man in Cast. John's. Yeah, he's just killing a lot of people right now.

[Craig Horbick]

It's good technique.

[Bill Simmons]

This is. You know, I think people know John Wick's really good at this. This.

[Craig Horbick]

I mean, I'm not a surprise.

[Bill Simmons]

Really good. He's. He's just doing head shots. And the head shots are just so important.

[Craig Horbick]

Head thoughts, Headshots. Generally speaking. Lethal. Those are lethal.

[Bill Simmons]

A lot of people don't realize head shots, the guy dies right away.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, that's great.

[Craig Horbick]

Let's give you eight pods.

[Bill Simmons]

The head shot's so important. Half ass Internet research, Keanu. Four months of training. Several hours per day in a gym. Strict diet stretches, choreography. Trained in judo, Japanese Jiu jitsu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and arnes. Arnis. I don't even know what that is. Tactical gun training with the LA SWAT and Navy seals. Learn stunt driving skills. Learned how to drift a car while aiming a gun.

[Craig Horbick]

That's sick. That Last one is awesome.

[Bill Simmons]

Adrian Palicki trained in judo and jiu jitsu for a few months. Spent two weeks learning our fight scene. So there you go.

[Craig Horbick]

I had a couple of pieces of research for you, Bill.

[Bill Simmons]

What do you got?

[Craig Horbick]

One is Alfie Allen went to Russian bathhouses to research Yosef. And I really would love to have seen that conversation between Alfie and the director and the producer as they're like, God, we're trying to organize the shoot for this nightclub scene. And he's like, guys, just wanted to run this by. I think I'm going to spend a lot of time in some bath houses to kind of getting characters like, whatever you need, love, joy.

[Bill Simmons]

Go for it.

[Craig Horbick]

Also, the. The Red Circle, the nightclub is named after one of my favorite movies, which is Le Circle of Rouge, which is this Jean Pierre Melville crime film from France.

[Bill Simmons]

No, I love when you get RCCR. John's car was a 1969 Boss 429 Mustang, only 1359 made. And they didn't have enough money to buy five of the cars and destroy them, so they had little fake substitute cars, which is a recurring theme of things that are on their way up when you're cutting corners. And then they make the sequel and they're like, we're getting five of those fucking cars and we're destroying all of them. They filmed the fight scene with John and Viggo over five nights at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. And it was so cold that at one time they had to stop using artificial rain because they didn't want somebody to get hypothermia because fucking Keanu wouldn't wear a wetsuit. And they're like, just wear a wetsuit, Keanu. It's like, I can't. I can't wear the wetsuit. And. And they were worried he was going to, like, catch Mononucos or something. Stahowski and Leech, the Matrix stunt coordinators, they directed this together. And the DGA wouldn't co credit them. So one became the director, the other became the producer, apparently. Michael Nyquist.

[Craig Horbick]

NYK Fist Night Fist.

[Bill Simmons]

Nike Fist.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

He cut his head so badly that he needed 80 stitches in one of the fight scenes and almost lost an ear. That sounded exciting. And then, what do you think total number of John Wick kills is Shay?

[Shay Serrano]

60, 67.

[Craig Horbick]

I'm gonna go 112.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay wins. 84.

[Shay Serrano]

Boom.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay's closer to the pin Apex mountain. What's Keanu? Matrix.

[Craig Horbick]

Yes.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, it's gotta be Matrix has to be, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Craig Horbick]

Think about how many things have come out of the Matrix.

[Bill Simmons]

Imagine doing John Wick and having that not be your Apex Mountain. But apparently we're here revenge movies.

[Craig Horbick]

No, I don't think so.

[Bill Simmons]

I don't think so either. Fake hotel universe is 100%. Yes.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, 100%. What do you think the awards point system is for the Continental?

[Bill Simmons]

You think they have an app?

[Craig Horbick]

Do you think you can get like sapphire tier there and just be like, oh, wow.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, you've.

[Craig Horbick]

You've crossed 10,000 coins, Mr. Wick.

[Bill Simmons]

Forth night for free.

[Craig Horbick]

Here's a one cookie.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, I didn't kill anyone in my last 50 stays. They gave me a fourth night. Adrian Palicki, I think Tyra. I feel like season one, season two, Friday Night Lights has to be.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Even being in the crazy Landry murder plot probably was more apexy.

[Craig Horbick]

She caught a body.

[Bill Simmons]

The one extra headshot shot. This is Apex Mountain for me. I really feel like Wicked took. It's been in pieces of different movies. And Wick's like, we're taking this and making this our thing. Russian boogeyman. 100% Russian bad guy mafia characters.

[Craig Horbick]

I. This is tough because Eastern promises is getting in. In the way here.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah, I'm going to go Eastern Promises. I like. I like Viggo Mortensen getting a little loose.

[Bill Simmons]

How about criminal Nepo babies? Love Joy.

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, I like that. I like that.

[Bill Simmons]

Defoe. No robbery fires where you rob something and then just set it on fire overtaking it. I feel like I've seen that in movies before, but yeah, Joker did that.

[Craig Horbick]

Right in Dark Knight.

[Bill Simmons]

Few people have done that one. How about vgo? Just the name. VGO was the same.

[Craig Horbick]

I think VGO Mortenson gets that. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Just fun talk it out.

[Craig Horbick]

How about burying and then digging up your former career underneath concrete?

[Bill Simmons]

No question. Yes. John Wick movies.

[Craig Horbick]

Yes.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm going to say your favorite John Wick movie. I'm. I still.

[Shay Serrano]

I like three.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, like three 21st century action movies.

[Craig Horbick]

I'm going to say it revive. I feel like it revitalized the genre in some ways in America. I don't know if I'm accurate on that.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm going to say no only because it didn't do well in the movies.

[Craig Horbick]

But it. It like it. It was actually one of those last movies. Not last movies, but it was one of those movies that you knew they were going to make a sequel because like everybody was still talking about it. Like it felt like they were just scratching the surface of the world rather than like, oh, you can't top that right?

[Bill Simmons]

I'm not saying this just because Shay's here, but I think if you're comparing fast four to Wick one, fast forward left. I left the theater, and I'm like, there's gonna be six more of those.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

It was just so clear they had stumbled on the right recipe, and it was still going Wick, you know, whether they were knew they're gonna make a sequel or not, who knows? It seems like they were barely trying to get the movie done. But fast forward, I was like, we're off. Now the family is together. What's next? When's the next one coming out? We now. We now understand the motivations. Oh, new category for you, Shay. Since the last time you hear Cruise or Hanks.

[Shay Serrano]

I like it.

[Bill Simmons]

You had to cast John Wick.

[Shay Serrano]

It's got to be Cruz. We saw it in Collateral. He did it already.

[Bill Simmons]

It's 100% Cruz. I wish we could see Cruz win.

[Craig Horbick]

Wick and Vincent together fighting in la. Awesome. Yeah, I wish we could have done that.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, John Wick's like, a whiff on Vincent's corner.

[Craig Horbick]

I think they noticed they borrowed from a lot of watch.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, they. This would have been a great cruise part. I don't know if he ever would have done it. Racehorse. Rock band wrestler. Fantasy team. Name something with the Continental, right?

[Craig Horbick]

No, dude. Baba Yaga.

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, shit.

[Craig Horbick]

Down the stretch comes Baba Yaga. It's the horse you send to kill the boogeyman.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, that's a good call. All right. Picking nets. I have a bunch. Shady, you could start.

[Shay Serrano]

All right, can we point out the lore of John Wick killing a guy with three guys with a pencil? A pencil is. It's pretty much a knife.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Shay Serrano]

You're, like, jamming it. You know what I mean? It's like you can kill him with a pillow. You kill him with a pencil. You just. We see him do it in two. He just jams it into their heads. All right, I get it. That one sticks out to me. I think the main one, though, is it costs the same amount of Hitman money to get a body cleaned up as it does to enter the Hitman nightclub. It's one coin. Everything's one coin. Stay at the hotel, one coin. Clean up a body. One coin. I know they do it for simplicity, but that I'm not gonna pay the same price to get a body cleaned out of my house as I am to come into the club.

[Chris Ryan]

I think Shay, he even pays the valet at the end of the movie, a gorgeous.

[Craig Horbick]

With a coin. But Maybe it's different denominations, same size. Like, maybe it's like, British money, you know?

[Bill Simmons]

Like, so you would have gone smaller, bigger. This is. I've always made this case for Olympic gold medals that I think, like, the basketball team should have, like, a bigger one. Or, like, you win the a hundred yard dash versus, like, you're in, like, the fucking swimming relay in the backstroke should be like, we know they have.

[Shay Serrano]

Different coins because they introduced him.

[Craig Horbick]

Why should Tyrese Halliburton get a bigger medal than the guy who does backstroke?

[Bill Simmons]

Listen, he had to win six. Six games. You know, it's. It's an important sport. I don't know. So, like, the valet would get a smaller gold coin.

[Shay Serrano]

Well, here's what I'm saying. They. They. They introduce bigger coins later on in the movie. The adjudicator has a totally different coin. Much bigger. It's black when she slides it across the table or when they slide it across the table. Excuse me. I. I think it's the same denomination for each one is what it looks like.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, you know, we've done a lot of these movies, and my guess is they were like, hey, we should have them give gold coins to each other. And somebody was like, cool. And that was like, all the thought they put into it, not knowing that we'd be analyzing this movie for the next 10 years. Like, the fuck's up with these gold coins? Cr. What do you have?

[Craig Horbick]

I. As a nitpick, I find that the VGO fight at the end of the movie does not reach the heights of the church escape or the nightclub.

[Bill Simmons]

This is a common problem with action movies where the villain's older.

[Craig Horbick]

And it's also like, John Wick kind of. Kind of like, throws that fight. I'm like, you're telling me John Wick couldn't fuck Viggo up, like, instantaneously?

[Bill Simmons]

Or I guess maybe, number one, nitpick.

[Craig Horbick]

You can make five seconds. It's the accumulation of his injuries maybe over the course of the movie. But I just feel like there's no way Vigo is, like, putting him down more once.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's a little like the end of Gladiator where that fight's closer because he's been stabbed in the chest and drugged.

[Shay Serrano]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

In this case, maybe you have to think of it that way with John Wick. He's been knocked out twice. He fell 20ft. He's been stabbed and shot and punched. So maybe his body is just four car crashes. Yeah, I thought on that note, I thought Wick would be way more Banged up after the Theon Lovejoy home invasion. When they knock him out, he gets.

[Shay Serrano]

Punched in the face five times.

[Bill Simmons]

He's got. Yeah, it's just no swelling at all, and he's just fine.

[Craig Horbick]

Along those same lines, I always get annoyed when in the first time he has a shot at Theon, he's in the bath and he's got, like, a clear shot and he doesn't take it. And you're like, oh, that's because he's saving a special death for this guy. And then at the end of the movie, he just, like, ices him. And I'm like, aren't you going to crucify this guy? Like, aren't you going to, like, scale skin him alive? Like, what are we doing here, man?

[Bill Simmons]

It's the only time he doesn't take the shot, right when he has it. It's weird. Yeah, I agree with you, though. It feels like he's like, now I gotta save a better death for this guy.

[Shay Serrano]

This could go back to your theory, Chris, of. He was just born at home. Yeah. He's like, I don't. I don't want to do this yet, but I'm gonna wait.

[Craig Horbick]

But John Creasy would have put an explosive up his rectum. You know what I mean? Like, we need somebody who's an artist.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, fair point. I feel like during the nightclub after maybe somewhere between the 8th and 25th, John Wick murder, maybe more people leaving the nightclub running as fast as they can. I don't know. I don't know how loud it is, but maybe after the 12th person falls over the balcony, they'll be like, you know what? Let's. I think there's another club down the street.

[Craig Horbick]

Have you noticed the guy next to me is bleeding out? This is a great song.

[Bill Simmons]

Look, we mentioned this earlier, but Lovejoy not knowing who Wick is when Wick is that old, I hate it. Just a flaw like that. Nobody is that stupid.

[Craig Horbick]

And it seemed like Victor does kind of know and knows he shouldn't be fucking with him at the gas station. But then when Wick confronts Victor at the sink in the bath house, Victor's like, fuck you, motherfucker. It's like, why don't you beg for your life? You're going to give up your boy anyway.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, right? So in real life, Baba Yaga is an old witch that lives in a hut on chicken feet and flies around in mortar with a giant pestle, apparently, according to Russian lore.

[Craig Horbick]

In real life. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Or the real life. The real life myth of that is that. It's just an old Russian witch. Female witch. So kind of a strange nickname.

[Craig Horbick]

Do you think that's the witch that's been haunting the top floor of your house for a while?

[Bill Simmons]

It's a good question. Being out now you're in my head. Cr.

[Chris Ryan]

Could I add a picking net?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I thought you guys were going to mention this. John Wick's house. Lot of windows in the house of an assassin. It's a damn greenhouse. You'd think maybe a guy who kills people all the time would have maybe not windows surrounding his entire place.

[Craig Horbick]

Well, furthermore, like, what? To what extent is he out? Like, like how long has he been out for? Right.

[Bill Simmons]

I assume they were bulletproof windows. When I. When I watch John Wick, I'm really trying to figure out where he lives because at one point when he has no car, he takes the bus to go see Leguizamo his bedroom.

[Chris Ryan]

Every morning when he wakes up, there's just like floor to ceiling windows staring at his bed. And he's an assassin who's retired. I don't know. Maybe I would sleep in a room with a few less windows.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, it's in. You don't think it was just bull bulletproof glass, though?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know.

[Bill Simmons]

I guess not.

[Chris Ryan]

If everybody throwing people through glass in.

[Bill Simmons]

His house also, wouldn't he have better security? Like two guys just waltz in, they get in there. My last one is just. He never gets his car back. It always bothered me. I felt like that would have been a better ending. He goes for the Leguizamo chop shop.

[Craig Horbick]

Doesn't that happen in the second movie, though?

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, but I just. In the first movie.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, okay. Yeah, but he like. That's like the first scene of the second movie, right? He goes to get his car back. Yeah, right.

[Bill Simmons]

But I didn't know there was going to be a second movie when I saw John.

[Craig Horbick]

Oh, so you're like. You're method potting like as if you don't. Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Sequel, prequel, prestige tv, all black cast are untouchable. Can I talk you guys into a Ms. Perkins prequel?

[Shay Serrano]

Sure.

[Craig Horbick]

I mean, that's essentially what the ballerina is going to be. The new. The new one. It's like an extension of it.

[Bill Simmons]

I've been. I'm saying in 2015, I think we could have gotten that one going concurrently with. With as we're making John Wick too. We're also doing that on HBO or something.

[Craig Horbick]

But I also would have really enjoyed.

[Bill Simmons]

More backstory on Ms. Perkins.

[Craig Horbick]

A Noah Baumbach Directed prequel of Helen and John's married life of just like. So, like, what were you doing in the late 90s? Not much.

[Bill Simmons]

Let's not talk about it. How come you could talk so many languages? Yeah, you know, big student in college.

[Craig Horbick]

You really like Tchaikovsky?

[Bill Simmons]

Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trejo, Sam Jackson, J.T. walsh, Byron Mayo, Harling Mays, Evil laughing Ramon Raymond or Philip Baker hall cr.

[Craig Horbick]

God damn, John. How you know I was dealing with Super Baba Yaga? You got me crying over a dog. Like that Sarah McLaughlin song in the Pete ad. You better revenge that little guy before you die, because you're going the hell a long time, big boy.

[Shay Serrano]

Thank you. I was gonna be that one.

[Bill Simmons]

I had to do Wayne's back. We. We haven't had Shay on since we added evil laughing Ramon Raymond to the. To the pod for Andy Garcia's character.

[Craig Horbick]

No one selected Ramon Raymond ever.

[Bill Simmons]

What do you think, Chad Wick? You gotta kill some people. Just want to ask her who gets it. It's gotta be the stunts, right?

[Shay Serrano]

The stunts for sure.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Okay. All right. Probably unanswerable questions. Why is John Wick a 6am Guy? You're a retired hitman. What are you waking up at 6am and making coffee for? Anyway, he's like, I gotta watch get up with Greeny. I think Marcus Spears is gonna be on.

[Shay Serrano]

My dad has been retired for like three years now. And he gets up at 4:30 in the morning still. Like he's driving the bus. He just gets up.

[Bill Simmons]

He's like, I guess my dad does. My dad gets Wick being like, I.

[Craig Horbick]

Think Orlovsky is breaking down Anthony Richardson today.

[Bill Simmons]

Heard Nina Kimes is coming on later. Could a boogie hitman, boogeyman, hitman really find true love? Because that's probably the biggest leap of faith of this movie, right? This guy is the boogeyman sent to kill the other boogeyman. He's the most feared person in the Russian mafia. And he's just like, hey, you want to pick apples this weekend?

[Shay Serrano]

I do want to know.

[Bill Simmons]

Want to go see my aunt in upstate New York?

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

Like, what kind of domesticated John Wick life was happening here?

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah.

[Bill Simmons]

All right, Shay, this is for you.

[Shay Serrano]

Mm.

[Bill Simmons]

Evil foreign mobster rankings. And I'll give you Checknian, Bulgarian, Russian, Italian or other who's number one?

[Shay Serrano]

Oh, geez. It feels like Italian is the. The one we've seen the most. But I think the I'm gonna introduce one. I'm the one I was always the most afraid of. We talked about it earlier here, the Albanians and taken Albanians. Like, I don't want to mess with the Albanians. I'm out. I'm out on the Albanians.

[Bill Simmons]

Who's in the Equalizer? Which. Which country is in that one? Is that Bulgarian or Russian?

[Chris Ryan]

I think they're.

[Craig Horbick]

I think it's Russian in the first one.

[Bill Simmons]

I think Albanian, so I thought Bulgarians was taken. But Shay's right. It's Albanians. I think Albanians number one. For some reason, I know the least about that country.

[Shay Serrano]

It's Russian. And the equalizer, by the way.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, Russians.

[Shay Serrano]

Albanian. Scary.

[Craig Horbick]

The equalizer does such a good job spreading the wealth, man, because it's like the Russians, then it's the X CIA guys, and then it's the Italian Mafia.

[Bill Simmons]

If Jokic's brothers were in one of these movies, like Wick 5, I still feel like we need those guys somewhere in there. There. I'm the most afraid of the check, the ends. Because in. In ufc, those guys, anytime they're in a fight, you're like, oh, this guy's gonna be badass.

[Craig Horbick]

I. This is a. An unanswerable question, a little bit of a nitpick, but you mentioned Jokic's brother, so it came to mind. If we were doing A Ringer Top 100 of all of VGO's henchmen, would you be a little disappointed by the lack of separation between, like, you know, it's basically Kirill, and then it's everybody else? And it would be really hard to.

[Bill Simmons]

Be, like, the one guy that puts up the big fight with Wick.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah. So I think in the future movies, they do a much better job distinguishing his. His. Who he's fighting against, his combatants.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah, well, we went over it earlier. He. They were. They had 10 stunt people that they had to just keep reusing over and over again. Best double feature choice. John Wick, too.

[Craig Horbick]

I have a better story.

[Bill Simmons]

Andy and Red Zawatna award for what happened Next day it was John Wick, too. What piece of memorability would you want from this movie, Shay?

[Shay Serrano]

I want a gold coin. I want to hold one in my hand.

[Bill Simmons]

I'm sure they put those in movie action houses.

[Craig Horbick]

I'm sure they're out. I'm sure, like, you could buy that.

[Shay Serrano]

I want a real one.

[Craig Horbick]

I don't want a prop.

[Shay Serrano]

I want a real one.

[Bill Simmons]

I want the sledgehammer.

[Craig Horbick]

I would like.

[Bill Simmons]

What's that in your office? That's the fucking sledgehammer John Wick used to reclaim his Bobby Yeager life.

[Craig Horbick]

I would like to have the video he Keeps watching of Helen. And then I would like to watch it. I would like to just, like, randomly watch it at, like, work meetings. Have to start playing during the watch. Oh, sorry. I was just watching a very meaningful video.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, now when you watch it, you could think about how Bridget Moynihan, she's so good in that. Because she didn't know.

[Craig Horbick]

Yeah, she had no idea.

[Bill Simmons]

Incredible method acting from her. The Coach Finstock award. Best life lesson. Don't fuck with another man's dog, car, or both.

[Craig Horbick]

That's come up before. I would say if you're a Russian mob boss, just let your kids know about the Baba Yaga. Just be like, you might. You might run into a guy one day and, you know, just make sure it's not.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. At dinner one night, maybe. Second course. That's story.

[Craig Horbick]

Just send it on the group chat. Just be like, here's John Wick. Just make sure you never with this guy.

[Bill Simmons]

And who won the movie was obviously Keanu Reeves. All right, producer Craig is here. He's had been a little bit of a rough stretch with the movies lately with for producer Craig, but let's see what he thought of John.

[Shay Serrano]

Come on, Craig. Come on, Craig.

[Chris Ryan]

I liked Night Shift.

[Shay Serrano]

Purple.

[Bill Simmons]

The purple rain was not kind.

[Chris Ryan]

That was the only. Yeah, that was the only.

[Bill Simmons]

This for me, that was tough.

[Craig Horbick]

We've.

[Bill Simmons]

We've recovered. What'd you think of John Wick?

[Chris Ryan]

Don't worry, John Wick. I think it's my favorite action movie franchise of all time.

[Bill Simmons]

Hell yeah.

[Shay Serrano]

Hell yeah, Craig.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know. For me, it's like it's the only action franchise that came out during my formative movie years. I was in college when the first one came out, and it's so original. And 10 years later, it's so rare that we get that. The originality. I'm still shocked this movie isn't based on some comic. I can't believe this is original. And you can just feel it. It's so earnest. It's trying very hard. It's small. It doesn't know what's a hit yet. And you can feel that it doesn't feel like Fast and Furious, like, which the Fast and Furious stuff, which also was going on as I was growing up. I don't know. That feels like it comes from that old True Lives model.

[Bill Simmons]

Careful, Craig.

[Chris Ryan]

I like it. It just feels. This is art house action.

[Bill Simmons]

You know what? I want to trigger Baba Shaya up there.

[Craig Horbick]

Baba Shaya.

[Bill Simmons]

Baba Shaga. Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't know. I think this is like the Most efficient world building in 100 minutes I've ever seen for an action movie. Like the writing, you actually have emotional buy in. The first 15 minutes of this movie are like as sad as up. To me, I'm like, this is fucking devastating. This man's wife dies, they kill his dog, he gets the shit kicked out of him. Like this is the lowest of the low. And you just feel the stakes, which is something I don't know. You don't usually feel that emotional weight for action movies.

[Bill Simmons]

You know, it does give me faith that somebody's going to be able to pull this off again. Right. Fast and Furious. That universe gets created in 2000. This is 2014. Matrix starts 1999. It's doable. I'm just wondering who the next one is. We've seen some people take runs at it and it just. Some of them didn't take.

[Chris Ryan]

Also, like there's the visual style of this movie is so like the way they just inject like. Like neon lights, house music, rave vibe. I think that's the most 2014 part of it is the music.

[Craig Horbick]

Is the music.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, it's like the rave nightclub stuff. And they basically just run it back every movie. I think 2 and 4 also have just like super sick neon nightclub shootouts. And it's the coolest action scenes ever, in my opinion. They're amazing.

[Bill Simmons]

Shay, Maybe this could be the next thing you write where somebody kidnaps Victor Wembanyama and you as yourself have to get him back. Yeah, you go to the basement, you just start hitting the sledgehammer to get your stuff.

[Shay Serrano]

I got some bad news for Coach Pop. We're not going to get Wimpy back. If I'm in charge of getting them back, I'm not going to make it. When they send those 12 guys to my house in the beginning, I'm immediately dead. Like immediately.

[Bill Simmons]

John, that John wick is like 7 minutes long song.

[Chris Ryan]

Also, my dad loves these movies as well. And my dad was a cop and it was on the SWAT team. And he says that this is the most accurate gun handling he's seen in an action movie.

[Craig Horbick]

Jesus.

[Chris Ryan]

Like the way operates his handgun, he's like. It's the most authentic I've seen the.

[Craig Horbick]

Mr. We should have mentioned that earlier.

[Bill Simmons]

Yeah. Because it does jump out. He's Especially how he reloads.

[Chris Ryan]

Reloads? Yeah, he's like the way he handles it. He says it's perfect or close to perfect.

[Craig Horbick]

The one in the nightclub where he has to reload. He reloads and then hits the guy and it taps the guy is like, whoa.

[Bill Simmons]

Well, that's it for John Wick. And by the way, we already did John Wick too. I don't know why we did John Wick 2 before John Wick won, but it was a thing that happened. I think we just got John Wick 2 had come out and I just think we had all been watching it for, I don't know, 18 months. And we just said it and just did John Wick too. So now if you want to HEAR John Wick 2, that is in the Rewatchables archives as well. Shay Serrano, a true pleasure to do a podcast with you.

[Shay Serrano]

So happy, buddy.

[Bill Simmons]

I had a great time. CR thanks as always. Produced by Craig Horbeck. Thank you as well. And you can watch us on The Ringer Movies YouTube channel as well. See you next week on the Rewatch.