John Wick: Chapter 4 just had a killer weekend at the box office, grossing $US73.5 million, the biggest opening weekend yet for the franchise and the second biggest opening of Keanu Reeves’ career, behind The Matrix Reloaded.
That means a whole bunch of you saw the action movie this weekend but we’re guessing not all of you saw the surprise that was saved for the very end of the credits. That’s because, yes, for the first time in John Wick history, there was an end credits scene. And it’s a doozy. Spoilers follow, obviously.
After an ending that sees John Wick and his friends achieve their goals in more ways than one (more on that in a second), the credits pick up with Caine (Donnie Yen) carrying a bouquet of flowers and going to see his daughter, who he has spent the entire movie attempting to save. It should be a happy moment for the now re-retired assassin but the film did leave one dangling thread. It’s Akira (Rina Sawayama), whose father Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada) was killed by Caine earlier in the film. “I’ll be waiting for you,” Caine says to her at the time. So in the end credits, as Caine begins to approach his daughter, a hooded Akira emerges and pulls a knife as she strides towards him. This is the moment Akira has chosen to exact her revenge on Caine for killing her father only, the scene ends there.
By ending the scene there, John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski does two things. He both strongly implies that Akira gets her revenge and kills Caine but also, without showing it, leaves his options open for it not to happen too, in case we get to see these characters again. Which, after that near $US75 ($104) million opening, seems very possible (despite what he’d been saying in the press). About that potential return though…let’s talk about the actual ending of the film for a second.
(I’m gonna drop a rare second spoiler warning here in case you read this just to find out the end credit scene was but haven’t seen the movie because the movie ends with an even bigger spoiler. Beware.)
Last chance. Ready? OK.
John Wick: Chapter 4 ends with John Wick dying. Probably. Maybe. He takes a bullet to the stomach, keels over, and later both Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Lawrence Fishburne) commiserate at his gravesite. But here’s the question, is Wick really dead? Or is the merely the idea of “John Wick,” an unstoppable assassin, dead, and the grave is put there just so the man can live a life of peace?
Here, we have to imagine, you can believe whatever you want to. Stahelski again leaves this open to interpretation so, if there’s never another John Wick movie, we can all agree he’s dead. Or, if Lionsgate dumps a truck of money at their door and Chapter 5 happens, they can just say it was a ruse. Personally, even if never a Chapter 5, I want to believe it’s a lie anyway. Wick just wanted to live a peaceful, quiet life and by faking his death, he’ll be able to do that much easier. To me, that’s the happiest ending, and just oh so Wick.