Retired hitman John Wick has always looked like a video game protagonist. His movies are packed with multi-stage levels, boss fights and more reloading than Call of Duty. But in John Wick: Chapter 4, series star Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski lean on video games even harder, producing action scenes I reckon will be talked about for years to come.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 SPOILERS FOLLOW.
The John Wick movies are often compared to Dennaton Games’ top-down shooter Hotline Miami, and with good reason. The super stylish, ultra-violent blast ’em-up sees silent protagonist Jacket blow a hole in countless Russian gang members. Hotline Miami is a fusion of minimalist plot, thumping music and increasingly cool death. It was no surprise, then, to see John Wick mods pop up for the Hotline Miami games when fans realised the similarities and got to work.
Hotline Miami 2: John Wick Mod [DOWNLOAD] Watch on YouTube
My favourite scene in John Wick: Chapter 4, though, doesn’t just look inspired by Hotline Miami, it looks Hotline Miami. It’s a quite stupendous setpiece in which the camera shifts perspective to top-down as Wick goes on his most impressive rampage yet, a single-cut action scene that fixes the camera in place, giving us a bird’s-eye view of the carnage within a building as if the ceilings are invisible (that old video game trick).