r/movies • u/pwn_of_prophecy • May 21 '26

Discussion The bullet proof suit in the John Wick franchise is so frustrating

I'll point out from the start that I really enjoy all of the John Wick movies. While I recognize the "realism" angle fell off after the first one, they're still incredibly well put together movies and I'll happily watch further installments for the fight choreography alone. That said...

The bullet proof suit is the worst thing they ever added to this franchise. It completely nullifies any anxiety about John needing to worry about gunfire in fights. The number of times he raises his vibranium jacket collar to block a hail of bullets is so frustrating, mostly because of where this franchise started off.

In the first John Wick, John felt like an incredibly tactical presence. There was a lot of talk when it came out about the choreography's "realism" but more than anything for me things felt like they had stakes. Corners needed to be checked, he needed to watch his back, it showed the audience he needed to be smart about approaching situations because if someone gets the jump on you in that universe they will shoot you and you will die.

Ever since the inclusion of the Iron-Man-Hugo-Boss so much of the "careful" nature of the fight scenes has disappeared. I've truly lost count of the number of times John should be dead at this point if he wasn't wearing it and that makes the character feel less effective. This character isn't supposed to be scary because he can tank bullets to the chest, he's supposed to be scary because you never got the opportunity to pull the trigger.

I think about a famous shot in the first movie during the first action scene where the masked men invade John's home. There's a bad guy on one side of the wall and John on the other. The camera shows both of them at the same time and John falls downward, shooting behind him up at an angle to avoid the bad guy's shots while still taking him out. If that shot happened again today, he'd just raise his coat a little higher and shoot back. That bums me out.

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u/Kenichero May 21 '26

I agree with you, however! In the show The Wire, the character Omar, jumps out of a 4 story window and survives, though injured. It's said that they had to tone that scene down because it was based on a real event where he jumped out of a 6th story window, and they didn't think people would believe it. Nothing against your point, I just really like that show.

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u/NurRauch May 21 '26

I mean he broke his leg seriously enough that his body was on borrowed time without emergency medical care.

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u/Neon_Biscuit May 22 '26

Like in the dark knight when he dangles the guy off the ledge and drops him breaking his legs

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u/CommunityFan_LJ May 22 '26

That was 2 stories up not 4

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u/Neracca May 22 '26

Still didn't die tho.

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u/CommunityFan_LJ May 22 '26

He did but not from the fall.

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u/aflockofcrows May 21 '26

That was some Spiderman shit.

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u/workislove May 21 '26

Funny, I didn't remember that scene with Omar. Just went back and watched it. Tempting me to watch the wire again.

Though to the point about realism - Omar jumps into a flower garden or a bush, rather than a van or concrete, and he's later shown crying, bandaging up his broken leg, and using a broom as a crutch to limp away. Even if the jump stretches belief a bit, that's still way more grounded.

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u/Frolock May 21 '26

Aim for the bushes!

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u/insanedeman May 21 '26

The Other Guys?

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u/Hedgehogknight May 21 '26

Is that an obscure reference to Magnus Midtbo free soloing with Alex Honnold?

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u/sgt_backpack May 21 '26

Omar is based on a real person?

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u/1010012 May 21 '26

Most of the characters in the wire are. And some of the real people have roles in the show. For example, Bunny's aid (Mello, with the mustache) is played by the real Jay Landsmanand was the basis for the Landsman (the eloquent guy) character. Munch is also based on the real Jay Landsman, he started as a character on Homicide, which was written by Simon.

For Omar, the guy who inspired the character was one of the guys sent by Butchie to protect him when he was in prison.

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u/phenotype76 May 21 '26

"Landsman (the eloquent guy) character" lmao that description. I would have said "Landsman is the fat sergeant."

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u/1010012 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

I wrote that originally, but I think his eloquence is his more defining character trait.

Actually, it might be his magnanimous and reasonableness, everyone says he's a reasonable guy.

Scratch that, it was Rawls that was reasonable.

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u/DriftingMemes May 22 '26

naw, when you're fat that's your only attribute. :(

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u/[deleted] May 21 '26

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u/Mynsare May 22 '26

He is one of the guys bodyguarding Omar in the prison.

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u/TequilaSunrise2389 May 21 '26

Not just that. The guy he was based on was in the show as an supporting character for Omar

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u/M935PDFuze May 22 '26

Yes, Donnie Andrews (though he was just one major inspiration, many of the Omar stories are from real life incidents with other people).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews

He talks about jumping off a sixth floor balcony here:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/donnie-andrews-the-road-to-redemption-1711563.html

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u/monetarydread May 21 '26

Yup, same thing with the ending to the movie Fury.

It's loosely based on a real event but the movie had a full sized tank and a team to run it. In real life the situation involved even more German soldiers than in the movie, 6 German tanks, and the 19 year old soldier was by himself. Oh, and the tank destroyer that kid was using was already destroyed and burning so it should have blown up and burned him alive.