John Wick: Every Kind Of Weapon Keanu Reeves’ Assassin Uses In The Movies

Keanu Reeves’ assassin John Wick wields a very diverse assortment of weaponry in the John Wick franchise. Growing to the point of outdoing The Expendables, the John Wick series centers on Keanu Reeves as the formerly retired assassin of the title. After the killing of his dog, John’s return to action to seek vengeance sets in motion a chain of events that make up the story of the John Wick movies, which are set to continue with 2023’s John Wick: Chapter 4.

For the role of John Wick, Keanu Reeves underwent some of the most extensive and grueling training of his career, and by any objective measure, his efforts greatly paid off with the success of the John Wick series. Much of Reeves’ training focused on him learning various disciplines of martial arts for the franchise’s abundant and spell-binding fight scenes. With John Wick improving martial arts films, Reeves also underwent weapons training for the series to fully round out John’s expansive assassin skill set.

The advantage this has given the John Wick franchise is the great versatility of its action sequences, from martial arts to gun-fu to chases giving audiences great variety, with the John Wick franchise also bringing on an ever-increasing number of action heroes alongside Reeves and John Wick 4 greatly expanding its ensemble. Additionally, the John Wick movies have also really emphasized that despite his desperation to leave his old life of killing behind him as a possible allegory for grief, John Wick is skilled with a wide collection of different kinds of weaponry. Here are all of the different kinds of weapons John Wick utilizes throughout the John Wick movie series.

Firearms

As an assassin, it comes as no surprise that John Wick is a highly adept marksman. Through the John Wick franchise, John uses practically every kind of firearm there is, from handguns to machine guns. John was even shown as keeping an arsenal of different kinds of guns hidden under his basement in the original John Wick, despite his being a retired assassin at the time. With his skills with every kind of firearm, they’re also John’s usual first choice on missions as tools to get the job done quickly. As a parallel to his skills as a martial artist, John Wick is also one of the most skilled exponents of gun-fu ever shown in a Hollywood movie. John frequently uses his skills with gun-fu and martial arts in tandem, while his marksmanship alone strengthens his reputation as the Baba Yaga through the assassin underworld.

Knives

John’s skill with bladed weaponry is just as precise and formidable as his other skills. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in particular really showcases John’s knife-fighting skills during his battle with a gang of Chinese assassins. John’s skills in knife-fighting also extend to knife-throwing, with John able to toss multiple knives in succession at his oncoming enemies. As an all-around knife-fighter, John is able to strike his opponents down at both close ranges and from a distance.

Swords

John Wick 3 also showed him to be talented in sword combat in John’s conflict with other assassins and the overseers of the High Table. This was notably seen in the movie’s motorcycle chase, with John holding off his pursuers with a Japanese short sword known as a wakizashi while on a speeding motorcycle. John’s understanding of sword combat also goes further than that, with John able to deftly apply his skills in Judo and other martial arts to disarm or redirect his opponent’s sword-based attacks while he himself is unarmed. Additionally, as an attribute of both his knife and sword skills, John is highly knowledgeable of the areas of human anatomy that are especially vulnerable to a potentially fatal stab or slash. With John putting this knowledge to use in his final showdown with Zero (Mark Dacascos) in John Wick 3, swords are another weapon of combat that the legendary Baba Yaga can easily hold his own with or turn against their wielder.

Nunchaku

The nunchaku are some of the most famous weapons in martial arts, and were popularized by Bruce Lee with his on-screen use of them in movies like Enter the Dragon, Fist of Fury, and Way of the Dragon. John hasn’t technically been shown using nunchaku yet, but his skill with them is already assured for when John Wick 4 finally arrives in theaters. The trailer for the film shown at 2022’s Cinema Con reportedly includes a scene of John wielding a pair of nunchaku, it is the latest attribute showing the John Wick franchise’s innovation with its action. It also is further evidence of just how uncharted the full scope of John Wick’s weaponry skills are, especially with what else he’s put to use in the series.

Improvised Weapons

Despite his potentially dark ending, John Wick’s ability to impressively survive seemingly inescapable situations is a staple of the John Wick franchise, and the films have consistently showcased John’s ability to turn practically anything into a killing weapon. Part of John’s legend as the Baba Yaga, for example, is the story of him once killing three opponents with a simple pencil. John Wick: Chapter 2 continued to emphasize this legend, and showed its veracity when John used a pencil to slay two assassins after the bounty on his head.

Additionally, John has used other kinds of seemingly harmless objects in fight scenes to defeat his enemies, putting a bed sheet to use against Ms. Perkins (Adrianne Palicki) in their hotel fight and literally breaking another opponent’s neck against a book in the New York library fight in John Wick 3. These moments highlight his ingenuity in combat and ability to turn evan the most mundane item into a potentially deadly instrument. However, even with all of these skills in his arsenal, John most definitely faces quite the incoming challenge with the martial arts masters of John Wick 4 that he’s going to be up against as he and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) prepare to battle the High Table. Still, in their entirety, John’s training in armed and unarmed combat makes him a deadly force to be reckoned with, whether it involves guns, blades, traditional martial arts weaponry, or even writing utensils. As a result, it’s no wonder he’s regarded as one of the most lethal fighters to ever grace the big screen.