It’s been a long journey for everyone’s favorite puppy-avenging assassin. From defending his home from Russian gangsters in the first John Wick to engaging in a knife fight at an antique store in John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, Keanu Reeves’ now-iconic assassin has seen it all and lived to tell the tale … so far.
But in John Wick: Chapter 4, Wick seems to have met his match in Bill Skarsgård’s psychotic Marquis Vincent de Garmont, who uses all of the High Table’s resources to kill John. After a long and bloody fight between Wick and the High Table’s assassins at the Osaka Continental, which results in the death of his longtime friend, Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada), John arranges to duel Caine (Donnie Yen), a blind assassin blackmailed by the Marquis to do his bidding so his daughter will not be killed, at the Sacré-Cœur in Paris at sunrise. But first, Wick must deal with a bevy of bounty hunters, a mysterious friend/foe, a killer dog who likes to bite on a man’s private parts, and a race against time.
Note: This article contains major spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4.
John Wick: Chapter 4’s battle in Paris
The final act of John: Wick Chapter 4 is one long battle in different parts of Paris as John has to go through bounty hunters hired by the Marquis to kill John before he can reach Sacré-Cœur when the sun comes up. This results in a three-part fight that takes place in different parts of Paris: on the streets and in the buildings of Montmartre, in nighttime traffic in front of the Arc de Triomphe, and up the 222 steps on the famous Montmartre stairs.
The calls goes out to the bounty hunters via a secret radio station on top of the Eiffel Tower, and the fighting begins. Wick is ambushed on the streets of Montmartre, with various assassins shooting at him from cafes, cars, and other surrounding buildings. Wick tries to get away in a car, but crashes it while fighting various gunmen.
The fight spills into an abandoned apartment building, with Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson), a mysterious new character who is both friend and foe to Wick depending on the right amount of money, observing from the sidelines with his lethal dog, the aforementioned crotch grabber. Several protracted fights ensue, with John taking out a bunch of henchman. One of the henchman, Chidi (Mark Zaror), is about to kill Mr. Nobody’s dog when John shoots Chidi, saving the dog and preventing Mr. Nobody, who had just accepted a contract from the Marquis to kill Wick, from shooting John.
The fight continues
John escapes from the building, only to engage in more fighting at the Arc de Triumph, where his car is shot at and crashes with other cars being driven by even more bounty hunters. Even though it’s rush hour traffic, John fights numerous would-be assassins, including a revived Chidi, in the middle of the circular street. John is hit by several cars, but survives; the same cannot be said for many of the bounty hunters, who are killed by guns, knives, Mr. Nobody’s dog, and several speeding cars.
Once John gets away, he still has to ascend the 222 Montmartre steps (a famous Parisian landmark) to get to his destination, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris. Of course, there are more bounty hunters in the way. After nearly reaching the top, John is pushed down the stairs by a still-living Chidi. At the bottom of the steps, John is aided by Caine, who wants a fair fight and is eager to duel John by himself. The two assassins take out the remaining bounty hunters. John is nearly killed by Chidi, but is saved by Mr. Nobody, who releases his dog on Chidi. At last, Chidi is killed by getting shot in the head.
How does John Wick: Chapter 4 end?
Both Caine and John arrive at the Basilica as the sun begins to rise. The Marquis is there with the Harbinger (Clancy Brown), as the duel ritual begins. Both men are given antique guns and three bullets. They are instructed to walk 20 paces apart from each other, aim their guns, and then fire. After this is done, it’s revealed no one has been shot. They then walk five paces toward each other, reload their guns, and fire. Again, no one is killed. They then walk five more paces toward each other, now standing very close to each other and reload their guns.
This time, only Caine fires his gun. John doesn’t, and is hit in the chest. Caine walks over to the Marquis and asks if his obligation to him and the High Table is finished. The Marquis says yes, walks away, and grabs a gun. He aims it at John, thinking it’s safe to finish off the dangerous assassin because it appears he suffered a mortal injury. The Marquis, however, forgot that John never fired that final bullet, and only realizes it too late as John points the gun at him and shoot him in the head.
John stumbles away, sits on the steps of the Basilica, and watches the sun rise as he bleeds out. The film then flashes forward to a future date, when the Bowery King and Winston King visit a graveyard. The camera pans to two graves: one for Helen Wick, and the other for John Wick, who apparently died from his injuries as a result of dueling with Caine.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.
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