When John Wick Fires A Gun In A John Wick: Chapter 4, It Sounds Different Than Anyone Else [Exclusive]
There are numerous reasons why "John Wick" has become one of the most surprisingly successful action franchises of the last 20 years. From the very start, a high premium was placed on world-building, which lends depth and purpose to the hyperkinetic action. Casting was also key. Keanu Reeves had already proved himself in the fields of kung and gun-fu, but surrounding him with top-notch character actors like Ian McShane, Willem Dafoe, John Leguizamo, and the late, great Lance Reddick gave the first film a knowing, dignified air. When actors of this caliber are game for an independently produced action flick, you figure it's got a bit more on the ball than a dashed-off, DTV affair.
The films have grown more ambitious with each chapter, culminating in the nearly three-hour-long "John Wick: Chapter 4." This installment is almost certainly Reeves' final go-round as Wick, so it goes hard. How hard? It's the only American-produced action movie that I'd mention in the same breath as Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master II." The set pieces are elaborately staged chaos that establishes a precise sense of geography. You always know where you are at every moment of the sequence. Even better, no matter how many assailants are coming for Wick, director Chad Stahelski centers your attention on the protagonist via clever sound design. Whenever Wick fires a gun, it has a unique report.
John Wick and guns are sonically simpatico
In an interview with /Film's Ryan Scott, the "John Wick: Chapter 4" sound team of Casey Genton and Mark Stoeckinger revealed that Wick's guns fire differently. Part of this is due to the size of the gun. According to Genton, "[E]ven in that scene when people are shooting shotguns and he's got this sort of a variation of a shotgun, his shotgun's always got to be bigger."
But it goes deeper than that. As Stoeckinger explained to Scott:
"We say that Wick's always picking up somebody else's gun and there's a bunch of different elements to make the gun. So it might sound one way when somebody else has it, but when Wick has it, it might get a little bit more low frequency or it might get a little bit bigger just to accentuate a little bit more. Even though it still pretty much sounds like the bad guy when he had it, but it's just a little bit more, something's a little bit more in this movie."
These are the kinds of things you'd never single out during your initial viewing of a movie, but they make a huge difference. It's variance. Your ears pick it up, and it adds texture to the film's soundscape that you sense without being able to put your finger on it. This is nothing new. The best sound designers and editors understand the importance of particularization. This is why X-Wings and Tie-Fighters have distinctively different sounds (in space, where there is no sound, but only a killjoy like Neil deGrasse Tyson cares about that nonsense).
So when you go see "John Wick: Chapter 4" during its theatrical release (and you must), allow yourself to appreciate the sonic spice skilled technicians like Genton and Stoeckinger sprinkle over the gun-toting gumbo.