 Stereotypical villains have been around for as long as stories have been told, from dastardly to Disney, but with so many different takes on the same archetypes, it can be tough to make them memorable. So how do you take those stereotypes and turn them into something unforgettable? I'm Matt Rogers and join me today as we take a look at John Wick 4 and how to create truly great villains. Now I'm bringing you weekly videos covering the best and worst of movies and television and delivering it straight to your subscription feed, so to stay up to date and support the channel be sure to hit that like button, subscribe and ring that bell to not miss a single thing. A spoiler warning now for all 4 John Wick movies is in effect. The John Wick movies have always used a simple framework when it comes to its antagonists that has really worked since the first movie, which is introduce a recognisable villain trope whether it be a mob boss, mysterious henchmen, or entitled victims of nepotism and give us a reason to truly hate them. For example, killing John's dog or killing a beloved character with no other motive than proving a point. Now by doing this, in a very short amount of time the writers have given us a reason to root against the villain, given us their motive and shown what they're truly capable of, often proving that they're dangerous and will stop at nothing. Which makes it all the more satisfying when they cower at the thought of John Wick coming after them. This method of character development has worked in John Wick's chapters 1-3, but they really perfected it in chapter 4. The characters of John Wick 4 were truly special. Although not technically a villain, let's start with Cain, obviously having a character with almost zero vision be an action sequences really creates intrigue and gives us new and creative ways to kill enemies, which resulted in the incredible motion sense at doorbell scene. And his lack of vision gives him a necessary disadvantage in the movie's final duel, making him a worthy opponent that doesn't undermine John's skills from all the fights that came before it. Now in these movies we are also treated to, I guess you could call them supporting villains. In some of the movies these were a minion of the head villain, but my favourite example of this has to be Killer. The German crime lord who resides in his empty warehouse of an office with stage show lights and gothic candles as a backdrop, sat at his poker table desk like a giant excess-fuelled casino croupier, an extremely theatrical setting but feels right on brand with a John Wick hotspot, with his nightclub complete with dancers entirely indifferent to the death and destruction taking place amongst them. As Megamind says, the difference between a villain and a supervillain is presentation and the makers of John Wick know how theatrical and over the top this setting is, but with a relatively thin story to frame this thread of adrenaline filled action sequences, we need these larger than life set pieces to house these larger than life characters. Scott Adkins, who played Killer, did a great job and so did the makeup and costume department. Adkins is actually a really toned and fit actor but here they had him don prosthetics and a fat suit to give him his intimidating size. His look actually reminded me a lot of the bank manager from Despicable Me. And with his impressive moves to spite his size, it gave his kill scene some real weight. But let's go up a rung on this ladder leading to what we know is the higher table and Bill Skarsgaard's Vincent de Gromond. Sure, at first we see him in his exquisite surroundings in his custom suits in countless colours, we know he's not to be trifled with but we don't really know why until we see him kill our beloved continental receptionist in cold blood. Going back to what I was saying before, it really gives us a reason to hate him and builds anticipation for his confrontation with Mr Wick. Later we are shown again that despite his perfect appearance, he doesn't just sit at the high table and have his subordinates do his bidding. He's willing to get his hands dirty and cut the trackers hand in half. But as the tracker gains an advantage by putting himself at a vantage point to potentially kill John Wick, we see his true colours as he slowly unravels, resulting in him becoming reckless and missing the detail that John didn't fire his weapon in the final shot of the duel, resulting in his literal downfall. It's refreshing to see the best action sequences not riddled with CGI like the comic book franchises are almost entirely full of now, and it goes to show that great choreography between great characters created by passionate filmmakers can go a long way and really create a deep legacy for the franchise. John Wick Chapter 4 was an appropriate send off for the series and set up an interesting cinematic universe for the spin-off Ballerina coming in 2024. But who was your favourite villain in the entire John Wick franchise? I'd love to hear what you think, so let me know, I'll be down there in the comments. 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