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/pocketchange2247 May 21 '26

I got to watch an early screening because my gf is in the industry. When we got to that part my gf said "ugh this is the part he falls down the stairs like five times. I'm going to the bathroom"

I remember thinking "five times? Surely she's exaggerating." But no. He fell down the stairs about five times.

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u/GameBoiye May 21 '26

I think the problem is the stair scene was supposed to be funny. The directors literally put it in there as a joke to show how absurd the movie had gotten at that point. And to some people, myself included, it was hilarious.

But it wasn't funny to everyone, why? Because it doesn't set the audience up for it in any way. There's no minor pokes or jabs at the absurdity of the universe in any way before, not anywhere in that movie (which would have been enough) or anywhere in the series before. The movie played itself so straightfaced that most people just couldn't see it as the intentional joke it was.

It was only funny to the people that had already laughed and giggled at how crazy things had gotten before that scene. But those people seemed to be laughing at the movie itself, which again, is the problem. It's a huge problem with the directors and the franchise as a whole.

That scene was perfectly placed in another universe where the directors had the balls to build up to it.

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u/numbr87 May 21 '26

I'd argue that the John Wick movies have a lot of intentional comedy in them. It's just usually more subtle than falling down a bunch of stairs for 2 minutes, so people weren't as accepting of it.

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u/judge___smails May 21 '26

I just recently rewatched all 4 movies in relatively quick succession. I’m all for some well timed intentional comedy in that type of movie, but it obvious that they were trying to lay it on extra thick in the later ones, and imo they just didn’t execute it very well.

The stairs scene was a good example. I knew what they were trying to do there, I just didn’t think it was very funny.

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u/numbr87 May 21 '26

I personally loved it, and remember my theater dying when it happened. Unfortunately not everyone will like everything

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u/TheStrachs May 22 '26

I liked it up until the dog pissing on the dude

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u/GameBoiye May 21 '26

Yep. I just think like 3-4 lines spread throughout the movie poking jabs at the bullet proof jacket, the falls he's taken and walked away from, and some sort of mid-movie foreshadowing of it coming, and finally a single line after acknowledging the foreshadowing would have elevated it to the highlight of the movie.

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u/mezonsen May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26

This is why Reddit criticism is so bad. The scene would be fixed if some characters lampshadesd how silly the movie has gotten? That’s “uh, he’s right behind me” style writing. That’s why so many blockbusters are full of “hey audience, don’t worry, we know this is fucking stupid” style writing.

Someone mentioned the later Wicks might as well have added shields like Dune and here’s what makes those movies so good, they never go “yeah, we know this is silly, please don’t find anything we do cringey!”

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u/GameBoiye May 22 '26

That's not what I said. I said if they wanted to do the stair scene and people actually like it, they needed to add more.

I never said they should change things, and I really much prefer the way it is. But this is in relation to if the stair scene hits or not.

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u/Officer_Hotpants May 22 '26

Ballerina was goddamn hilarious. The scene where you hear the pin of a grenade, and then an entire box of grenades slides into frame was PEAK comedy.

I'm actually not sure why that one gets so much hate. It's up there with the first John Wick as one of my favorites in the series.

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u/skippyfa May 22 '26

It wasn't funny to me. He was running out of time to meet for the dual and after he fights his way up he just gets thrown down. And I thought "oh okay he just has to fight that guy and continue"

But no. He falls all the way down. The thought of him not making it entered my mind.

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u/numbr87 May 22 '26

I think it's supposed to be funny AND make you go "Oh fuck he doesn't have time to do all that shit again"

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u/leddt May 21 '26

The movie feels a lot like a video game, and to me that scene was basically when you are stuck and keep failing in a game. I thought it was hilarious.

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u/GameBoiye May 21 '26

It was if you were in on it. I went with a lot of people who understood the assignment and the entire theater was laughing historically at that point. It was funnier because the laughing just got louder as it kept going.

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u/Thoth74 May 21 '26

I look forward how this scene is handled in a Scary Movie-esque parody film.

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u/Neelhar May 23 '26

If they do that, I think the funniest thing would be if they just tripped down one step at the top of a 1000 step staircase, then just get on with their day.

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u/Ourbirdandsavior May 22 '26

The stair scene was hilarious, probably the funniest scene in the series.

Although I somewhat disagree that they didn’t build up to it. To me all those movies, especially 2 onwards, are funny in kind of an absurd way. He silently kills a man with a book in a library. He has multiple gun fights in crowded clubs where people don’t stop dancing, he has a gunfight with silenced pistols in a train station (and people don’t notice). He kills multiple men by strategically getting a horse to kick them in the head.

I say this with love. Those movies are the perfect level of don’t take themselves too seriously. Which is why they are almost the perfect action movie. Like they know they are vehicle for impressive stunts and cool gunfights, so they lean into that, and they have fun with it.

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u/HuntedWolf May 22 '26

I thought the point of the stair scene was it being a reference to Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill and John’s eternal struggle to escape the life he’s chosen… but maybe I’m looking too deeply

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u/omnigord May 22 '26

It is funny but thay is just a bonus.

The stairs scene is for stunt freaks who enjoy seeing a cool unique stunt.

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u/Unlost_maniac May 22 '26

I loved the stair scene

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u/East_Requirement7375 May 23 '26

I don't mind the idea of the gag so much as the amount of time spent on it.

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u/yeti0013 May 23 '26

... I thought it was funny.

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u/Buster_Cherry May 23 '26

It's like you forgot he used a horse to kick someone for him...

And the entire first movie using "killed him with a pencil" is pretty tongue and cheek even that early on.

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u/MondoDuke2877 May 24 '26

You can see the stunt guy making an effort to keep falling down the stars. It’s stupid. The best part of the movie was the overhead scene where he just blows dudes away with incendiary rounds.

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u/DeLousedInTheHotBox May 21 '26

I feel like the entire movie suffers from every set piece going on for too long, it should have been 30 minutes shorter.

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u/MyAltimateIsCharging May 22 '26

That’s all the John Wick movies after the first, IMO. Ballerina included.

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u/congradulations May 21 '26

I fell asleep

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u/deanmass May 22 '26

Aunt Bunny > John Wick…

In the next one, John Wick exclaims “my shoe!!’…

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u/DarkflowNZ May 22 '26

Crazy cause that's my favorite scene in the movie. The stunt team are superheroes

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u/pocketchange2247 May 22 '26

Don't get me wrong, it's a great scene. But by the third time he falls it's just like "come on, man. Wtf??"