John Wick: Chapter 4 Ending Explained: Is John Wick Dead? Ending Mean and The Future of The Saga?
How does John Wick: Chapter 4 end? Surely the closure chooses to do something impactful to leave its audience speechless, even if then there is a bit of disappointment, as explained in the review of John Wick: Chapter 4. Certainly, the release of the fourth film of the franchise with Keanu Reeves in the role of the mercenary directed as always by Chad Stahelski leaves many points to think about. The scene that closes the film is certainly one of these, but also the short post-credit sequence at the end of the film seems to indicate a very specific future for the saga. Let’s find out together how John Wick: Chapter 4 ends and what happens in the post-credit scene.
Seeking his freedom and with more shots than ever, John Wick returned to theaters with the fourth installment of a saga that increasingly features deaths and elaborate stunts. Keanu Reeves resumes his role, this time escaping from the organization that dominates the criminal world and has it in his sights to end his life, but in this film, he has new allies, but also enemies. One of them is Caine (Donnie Yen), who is forced to be Wick’s rival for an old debt to the High Table; even though they were friends in the past. Precisely this character and John are protagonists at the end of the film.
John Wick: Chapter 4: Plot Summary
The story of John Wick: Chapter 4 opens shortly after the ending of the previous film, with John himself ready to respond to the moves of the Grand Table in his way. The problem is that the methods adopted in the previous stories have now become useless, given that death, in this case, remains a choice for its own sake that only leads to a vicious and useless circle. Everything evolves when a certain Marquis de Gramont enters the scene (Bill Skarsgård), a powerful new character sent by the Table to eliminate John at all costs. His methods are different from all those we have encountered so far, also because instead of fearing the legendary assassin, he exploits all the information and power he possesses to bring him out, in the open, punishing even those he knows.
In the beginning, therefore, John Wick: Chapter 4 presents itself as a real manhunt with no holds barred and studded with deaths. In escaping from one ambush, however, new characters from Wick’s past are also introduced, assassins like him who have chosen different paths while maintaining a certain type of bond based on honor and respect. This dynamic allows us to get to know characters like Caine (Donnie Yen) or Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), while always maintaining a certain mysterious aura that further fuels curiosity about the world of assassins. Freedom, death, and identity remain firmly linked to everything that happens on the screen, proposing an experience that exploits a large amount of action and violence to weave a path consistent with what we know so far, pushing John Wick: Chapter 4 even further forward in terms of details and rules to reckon with above all else.
After miraculously escaping death following the events of Parabellum’s stormy finale, Jonathan sets out on his path of revenge against the organization he has decided to turn his back on. But other forces, far more menacing, are preparing to persecute Wick as never happened before: the leaders of the Table have unleashed one of their most tenacious and fearsome heralds, the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard), determined more than ever to forever erasing the idea and memory of John Wick from the face of the Earth. The journey that awaits Keanu Reeves’ anti-hero leads him once again into the center of a vicious manhunt, with an entire army of assassins ready to claim his death. From Japan to France, the protagonist also must deal with figures well above mere mercenaries up to a painful final confrontation in which he will inevitably have to deal with the demons of his past and with the specter of death which – as evident from the latest trailers of John Wick: Chapter 4– now seems close to claiming his life.
A plot that does not differ too much from what was seen in the previous episodes of the film franchise, in which the basic warp is nothing more than a pretext for a parade of blood, death, bullets, and martial art fights, in a long catwalk almost three hours in which the action becomes an intoxicating and enthralling catharsis. In the wake of its predecessors, however, Stahelski’s new film does not miss the opportunity to expand its narrative universe more and more, introducing new characters and also pulling the strings of various storylines concerning some historical supporting actors of the saga. A story in which the secondary figures find greater depth, leaving room for the character of Reeves for an almost exclusively physical, debilitating, and destructive test.
A role that the iconic Matrix star (who shone in a sequel that however does not fully do justice to the brand, as we tell in the Matrix 4 Resurrections review) fully embraces without sparing himself, in a role in which he acts by emotional subtraction despite this Chapter 4 fulfills its entire story arc. A swing that doesn’t always shine for the quality of the script. However, we are not talking about narrative coherence, but about rhythm: John Wick Chapter 4 lasts about 2 hours and 50 minutes, a playing time that becomes too staid during the central act, getting lost in too many chatters between one action sequence and another. Duration which fortunately does not affect the fun that much, but which perhaps could have been dried in the middle segment to be more fluid, while juggling characters and acting performances of the highest level.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Ending Explained: Is John Wick Dead?
After the death in fiction and in the reality of the late Lance Reddick and after the trail of corpses that John Wick leaves behind, finally comes the showdown with the Marquis Vincent de Gramont. John Wick arrives at the rendezvous at dawn, on the expiry of the time available to reach the place of the duel. He’s already bruised and fatigued, from the many mercenaries he had to kill to be there. He has to face his friend Caine, forced by the Marquis to take his place to have a better chance of winning. The duel is to the death: no mercy and one of the two contenders must die to end the game.
The duel involves the use of pistols as a weapon. The two contenders first position themselves 30 feet apart, then 20, and finally 10. John and Caine shoot each other, each hitting non-vital spots. Cornered, John devises a strategy to be able to beat the Marquis without killing his friend Caine. On the third attempt, at close range, he lets himself be hit by Caine and falls to the ground. John’s guess turns out to be correct. Vincent de Gramont cannot resist the temptation to deliver the coup de grace to the wounded enemy. Impatient, he takes the gun that just hit the enemy from Caine’s hand, tries to reload it, and approaches John.
However, the mercenary never fired. He let himself be hit by pretending to shoot and hoping that the Marquis would approach. Fallen into the protagonist’s trap, Vincent de Gramont is shot dead by John Wick, who wins the duel. John Wick won the duel without killing Caine. The men at the Table quickly take away the evidence of what happened. The Delegate of the Table assures John, Caine, and Winston that the pacts will be respected, and everyone will get what he requested. John Wick collapses on the stairs of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart: he has finally managed to obtain his freedom, also saving his friend Caine. John sees her wife again in a moment of happiness, spent right in Paris with her when she was still alive.
In the next scene, we see Winston and the Bowery King reunite in New York. The two find themselves contemplating an event they never thought they would see: the meeting place is the tomb of John Wick. Winston fulfilled the wish that John had expressed on the subway in Paris, before the final battle: to be buried in case of death in his beloved New York. So, is John Wick dead? It would seem so. The mercenary rests at the side of his beloved wife. The tombs of the two, side by side, are identical. John’s grave, as asked of Winston, reads John Wick, the loving husband.
What Adversaries Does John Wick Have to Face?
The death sentence issued by the Grand Table is still pending on John Wick. After escaping the deadly outcome during the events of the third film, which closed with the killer’s tumble off New York’s Continental Hotel, the hitman returns to Morocco to kill the Regent. But the High Table continues to unleash its men to eliminate once and for all the threat posed by John Wick: Marquis Vincent du Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) enters the scene, who has the power to desecrate and demolishes the Continental Hotels in which the killer is rendered aid. This outcome first touches the Hotel in New York, with Winston (Ian McShane) left vacant and linked to the fate of John Wick; then comes the turn of the Continental in Osaka, where the wanted man seeks refuge from his friend and director Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada).
The Hotel is attacked by the Marquis’ men and Koji is killed by the arrival of Caine (Donnie Yen); another assassin forced to serve by the Marquis himself. After briefly confronting Caine and being interrupted by yet another killer, Mr. Nobody (Shamier Anderson), John flees back to New York. Here he meets with Winston, also eager for revenge against the High Table. It will be the latter who suggests that he challenge the Marquis to a duel according to the old customs: if he wins, he will be free forever. To do so, however, he must first regain possession of the coat of arms and the approval of his family of origin, Ruska Roma.
How Does John Wick Get Revenge?
John Wick flies to Berlin. Here he finds members of his clan of origin. The welcome is certainly not the best, but he manages to persuade his adoptive sister Katia (Natalia Tena), now head of the group, to obtain the possibility of redeeming her name and the right to bear the family crest. To do this, he must go to a club in the German capital and kill Killa (Scott Adkins), guilty of murdering Katia’s father. After an intense and adrenaline-pumping action sequence in which Caine and Mr. Nobody is also involved in the fight, John succeeds. He comes back from Ruska Roma and gets the coat of arms, burned into his skin. At this point, the protagonist travels to Paris, where he can officially challenge a reluctant Marquis.
The two decide the parameters according to which the duel will have to take place, to be held at dawn in front of the Sacré-Cœur church. However, it will not be the Marquis who directly challenges John, as he elects Caine as his champion. But the road to see this dawn is long and perilous. In fact, the Marquis orders the increase of the bounty on John’s head, attracting the attention of a multitude of assassins ready to collect the rich reward. During the frantic night crossing, John Wick also ends up colliding with Mr. Nobody, whom the hitman decides to spare and who finds himself as an ally in the events that follow.
John Wick: Chapter 4 Post-Credits Scene Explained
At least in this film’s end, John remains dead and buried, it must be said. There is an extra scene, but John does not appear. The protagonist is Rina Sawayama in the role of Akira, the former concierge of the Hotel Continental in Osaka. We know that during the film Akira lost his beloved father Shimazu Koji, a friend of John Wick and director of the Japanese Continental. It was the blind assassin Caine who killed him, on the Marquis’s orders, but reluctantly. Koji refused to abandon John and disobeyed the orders of the Table. Caine, determined to save his daughter, complied with the orders received from the organization.
Akira is also present during the duel between Koji and Caine in the film. The girl is on the ground, wounded at her side after helping John fight the Table mercenaries to gain an exit. Akira can’t help but witness the death of her father, pierced by Caine’s sword. The blind mercenary also tried to spare him, but Koji prefers to die with honor and keep his friendship with John.
Akira is devastated, screaming and crying. Caine leaves without killing her: he decides to spare the life of his ex-friend’s daughter, even though he knows it’s only a matter of time before she comes back to look for him. Caine is aware of this and reassures Akira, who despite her wounds tries to stand up to face him. Her father’s killer tells her that he will wait for her, hinting that she will try to kill him in the future to avenge her father’s death. In the final scene, we see exactly that happening. Caine managed to return to her musician daughter after the duel with John, listening to her play from afar. We don’t know how much time has passed since the final events of the film and the duel.
The blind mercenary appears to be unaware that Akira is following him at a distance. She is tailing him, determined to kill him and avenge her father. The girl already holds in her hands a short blade, perhaps a dagger, with which she intends to kill Caine. The two are outdoors, in the crowd: perhaps Akira wants to take advantage of the noise of the crowd to catch Caine by surprise. When she sees a crack among the passers-by, the young woman quickly approaches the blind mercenary, unsheathing her blade and raising her arm to strike him… will she be able to kill him?
The clip stops before giving us an answer. The end of this aggression will come in a future fifth chapter or who knows, maybe in a spin-off. Certainly not in Ballerina, the John Wick spin-off already announced starring Chloë Grace Moretz. The cast has already confirmed the presence of Keanu Reeves, so it probably takes place before the events of the fourth John Wick.
What Does the John Wick: Chapter 4 Ending Mean and The Future of The Saga?
First, we go to the end of the tape, where we see how John Wick after managing to defeat The Marquis (Bill Skarsgård), frees Caine and also the future of Winston (Ian McShane) and returns the Continental to him; he dies on the stairs after receiving three lethal shots. Although in this type of film one hopes that the hero will be saved; after this scene we see Winston and The King (Laurence Fishburne) visiting Wick’s grave, who fulfills his wish to put “Beloved Husband” next to his wife in the cemetery.
The film ends without a nod to John’s survival, so the future of the character, at least in a linear way, has already ended with this tape, unless they want to revive it in some extravagant way. But it’s not the end of the universe of these movies; This is because a spin-off called Ballerina, a character played by Ana de Armas and set in the world of John Wick was confirmed. For what has transpired, the tape will be located between the third and fourth parts. As for John Wick 5; Some time ago it was said that it was confirmed, but this depended on how the fourth part went; although it would be necessary to discover how they manage to bring back the character of Keanu Reeves.
