John Wick Vs. Tyler Rake: Who Would Really Win In A Fight?
John Wick and Tyler Rake are two death-defying, grief-stricken, black-market baddies with hearts of gold. Played by Keanu Reeves and Chris Hemsworth, respectively, these characters anchor two powerful action franchises made famous in part by stuntmen-turned-directors. But which one would win in a fight? Wick and Rake share a bunch of character traits and some serious stunt DNA. Chad Stahelski heads up the "John Wick" franchise, while Sam Hargrave leads the charge with the "Extraction" films.
When Collider asked Hargrave which character would be the last man standing, Hargrave laughingly admitted his own bias, saying, "A long, hard-fought battle, to be sure, but I think you gotta go with Tyler Rake." Perhaps you (and Stahelski) snicker at that response. Perhaps you favor Rake in this extraordinary hypothetical beatdown. Perhaps you already know the link between Rake and Wick.
Hargrave has worked with Stahelski and director David Leitch's action design company, 87Eleven Action Design, and was Chris Evans' Captain America stunt double. Stahelski served as Keanu Reeves' stunt double in "The Matrix" films before partnering with him for the "Wick" movies. Hargrave was part of the fight choreography/stunt coordination team for the Leitch-directed "Atomic Blonde." All to say — this theoretical fight can't help but be personal. Read on to practice some mental martial arts as we employ a 13-point rubric to determine — John Wick vs. Tyler Rake: who would really win in a fight?
Cars and other vehicles
Tyler Rake and John Wick use cars differently in their respective races to the finish line. Rake is straightforward in his approach. He'll steal any car with the keys in the ignition and use it to give chase, escape potential captors — or crash into them to create a smoky distraction that the Joker from the 1960s Adam West "Batman" would applaud.
Rake tends to stick to typical vehicles rather than branch out to do battle on different sets of wheels, though he's fairly adept at dodging carts and other cars in Dhaka's busy streets — even if he's not so hot and dodging "The Goonies from hell" that hide amongst them. While Rake is muscular and efficient with his foot on the gas and his car pointed at his enemies, one wonders how much power he could accrue if he took a page out of Mr. Wick's book — or a ride in one of his muscle cars.
While Rake takes the road more traveled by, Mr. Wick off-roads into that yellow wood. Wick uses every piece of the car, even when his enemies have already torn many pieces off of it. Wick is well-versed in "car fu," and can out-drive anyone, anywhere. While Rake uses his car as a blunt-force object, Wick uses his as a weapon, a distraction, a paintbrush of pain, and a getaway car. Plus, he can do the same thing on horseback or motorcycle. Points: Wick.
One-on-one combat
Look, no one wants to mix it up with Tyler Rake or John Wick in a bar fight. Or a car fight. Or a street fight. Both men are clearly capable of crushing their enemies with their fists or any other weapon of choice — but there can be only one clear winner between the two when it comes to one-on-one combat.
Rake uses raw power and automatic weapons to overcome his enemies, be they up close and personal, or scrapping on the streets. While "Extraction 2" may feature more diverse fighting styles and environments for Rake, "Extraction" shows us how the man literally blows his enemies away — or tosses them off of balconies. While this does get the job done, it also calls attention to himself — and his supposedly "stealth" missions.
Wick, meanwhile, is a master of disaster and soft music. He's able to employ a cat-like stealth Rake lacks to get the jump on enemies, be they partying in nightclubs or a variety of reflective rooms. While Wick has power and precision like Rake, he also has the ability to focus his ferocity. Take, for example, his extended battle with Cassian in "John Wick: Chapter 2." Wick is able to battle Cassian without too many stray bullets in Roman catacombs and a very public subway. Wick's containment abilities — and an assortment of silencers — make him the clear winner of this round.
One against many
John Wick and Tyler Rake both have superhuman levels of endurance. Apparently, grief is reluctant mercenary super fuel. This shared, seemingly limitless ability to take damage is a major success factor for both men when they're fighting against the odds, but how else do they stack up when it comes to fighting outnumbered?
Rake is relentlessly offensive — very little recovery time is shown in "Extraction." Rake's nonstop propulsion keeps him swinging, and (mostly) on his feet, whether he is fighting endless enemies in close quarters or spread across Dhaka's streets and bridges. But while Rake is on one seemingly endless charge through Dhaka until he literally falls down dead (?), Wick is on a far more varied charge through New York City, Morocco, Japan, and a whole mess of Europe until he literally falls down dead (?).
Variety is the spice of life and the critical ingredient for defeating groups of enemies. Wick fights jet-set crowds by pairing his endurance with strategy and agility. Wick taps into an array of fighting techniques to keep his group opponents guessing. While this could easily be a tie, we're giving it to Wick. Plus, Rake leaves more physical destruction than Wick in his wake, if you can believe it. He also brings a machine gun to a melee fight, and one of his biggest group fights is legitimately against a group of kids. Wick wins.
Precision and improvisation
If these assassins were music, Tyler Rake would be nu-metal and John Wick would be jazz. Rake fights with the driving power of a bass line with the volume cranked to speaker-splitting 11, and Wick splits his melodies into surprising solos that bring the house down — just ask Winston Scott. We're not trying to be reductive about fighting styles here, but if the suit (or tank top) fits, wear it.
Rake is a cut-and-dry fighter, and he isn't afraid to get down and dirty. Even if his success means Dhaka's answer to Pablo Escobar shuts down the entire city to smoke him out, Rake is going to fight to the finish. While Rake is straightforward in approach and deadly precise (he is the king of double-taps and headshots), improvisation is not his strong suit. He is known to holler at abandoned keyless vehicles, gun-toting small children, and other bumps on the road of life.
Even though the precise Rake does do some light improvising with an enemy and an actual (and implausibly placed) rake, there is a clear fighter here who can do both precise and improvisational fighting. Wick's aim is true when it comes to his targets, but he's even better when those targets surprise him into taking a new tactic. T-shirts, pencils, nunchucks, cars, motorcycles, water, Paris traffic, the cover of cherry blossoms, stairs — the world is John Wick's battle oyster. Rake is a driving force, but Wick's improvisation is music to our ears. Wick wins this one.
Folklore and tattoos
"They call him the Baba Yaga," Viggo Tarsov intones in "John Wick." Wick is whispered about with fear and reverence by those under and over The High Table. He is known by his (questionably accurate) folkloric nicknames of "Baba Yaga" and "Bogeyman." Wick's prowess with a pencil and is the stuff of assassin storytime. Tyler Rake also has a legend that precedes him — but he doesn't have a nickname. Yet.
Rake is sought after for a tricky job right at the top of "Extraction" because of his mysterious killer skillset. What Rake lacks in foreboding assassin water cooler talk, he makes up for in sheer volume of tattoos. Rake's neck, arms, chest, and back are covered with symbols that just might carry deep meaning. "He was a father who lost his son when he was six years old, so there's a tattoo on his chest to remind him," "makeup artist Matteo Silvi tells The Credits. Rake's back tattoo appears to be a vegvísir, an Icelandic folk symbol to assist the bearer with wayfinding — which, for Rake, is literal and figurative as he weathers his particular grief storm.
While Wick has plenty of his own tattoos, audiences have little clue what they mean. Wick clearly has the stronger lore, but Rake might have more of his own to come in future "Extraction" installments. That said, we'll call this a tie — though we favor Wick in the long folklore and tattoo game.
Marksmanship
John Wick and Tyler Rake have plenty in common. They're agile, strong, don't know how to handle their own emotions after a terrible loss, and they know their way around a gun. Across the "John Wick" franchise, Wick is seen using a series of assault rifles, pump-action shotguns, and even one that spits "dragon's breath shells." But Wick doesn't have to be flashy: he's relied on the humble pistol more than once. Glick-Glock, Mr. Wick.
Though Wick is proficient with a range of weaponry, Rake might be a hair more lethal when it comes to the way of the gun. At the very least, he's more efficient. Rake has a tidy, militaristic accuracy with his double-shots — which tracks, considering his Special Air Service Regiment background. While Wick is often fighting defensively, reaching for his guns and or blades on the back foot, Rake comes in hot with assault rifles — he's there for a job, while Wick is the job. Plus, while we see John reload quick as he can in real-time, it's at a snail's pace compared to however fast Rake switches magazines, mostly off-camera. Rake wins this round, even if it's just by a millimeter.
Communication
Wick is a man of few words. Rake, on the other hand, has got jokes. While Wick communicates his fight and non-fight intentions with force, raised eyebrows, and a "yeah" here and there, Rake isn't afraid to also use his words — no matter how typically action-movie they are.
"Do you trust me?" Rake asks Ovi Jr., the kid he is alternately stealing and saving in "Extraction." "No!" Ovi Jr. shouts. "Good," Rake quips — then drives the both of them into danger. Rake also spits out a few sassy lines and haunted-yet-impish grins with his handler, Nik. Rake even chats with Gaspar before battling him to the death, buying himself time, and a couple beers in the process.
While Wick gets his point across, and a rich communication history is implied, viewers of the "John Wick" franchise get the sense that Wick's chatting days ended when he lost his wife. Rake hasn't pulled ahead of John Wick in many fight rankings yet, but communication just might be his strong suit. At the very least, "Extraction" implies Rake regularly uses cell phones, and can hang with verbal communicators — a social grace we have yet to see John Wick add to his killer repertoire. Rake wins this round.
Grief
This is a tough call. Both John Wick and Tyler Rake are superpowered by grief. Both have beach-related grief flashbacks. Both struggle under the weight of ceaseless guilt for not being able to save their loved ones from disease — or, it must be said, the harsh and absentee nature of their usual lines of work.
Neither man addresses their grief head-on, or in what anyone anywhere would term a "healthy" fashion. Rake searches for solace at the height of adrenaline or in the bottom of pill and booze bottles. Wick doesn't search for solace at all submitting to a ceaseless quest for revenge. Wick knows he won't ever get back what he lost, but as he spends movie after movie fighting for it, he learns just how much more he has to lose. Rough.
Also rough: Rake openly admits to Ovi Jr. that he chose to abandon his sick child for another tour of duty because, as Ovi Jr. says, "he couldn't watch." It's implied that if Rake is still technically married, he still hasn't seen his wife in a long time — and that the cost of Rake's cowardice is his family. Even after reviewing the photo finish, we're calling this one a tie.
Points for style
Tyler Rake and John Wick both dress for success, even though they have very different looks. Rake is the little bit country to Wick's rock n' roll — the Sporty Spice to Wick's Posh Spice, if you will. Both looks are fashionable and functional, but even the director of "Extraction" thinks his player can't make the cut when it comes to Mr. Wick's bespoke tailoring.
"I'm gonna take away John Wick's bulletproof suit and I'm gonna give it to Tyler Rake," Sam Hargrave jokes to Collider in terms of Rake's odds against Wick. Rake's go-to athleisure-and-cargo pants make fighting in hot weather a breeze, but Wick's suiting is more than battle-ready. Wick's suits include armored panels and lots of small details you might have missed courtesy of his tactical Tailor. But the trailer for "Extraction 2" seems to tear a page out of Mr. Wick's multi-purpose lookbook.
In the trailer, Rake is dressed in a sleek winter jacket that at first blush looks like a Wick-approved tactical turtleneck. When Rake's jacket catches fire, he uses his fiery arm and fist as a weapon, punching out bad guys with style and grace. While there's no accounting for taste, we have to tactically call this one a tie.
Teamwork
No man is an island — not even a man haunted by a past he can never change and a future full of death, destruction, and at least one spin-off TV show. While John Wick and Tyler Rake do plenty of their work alone, they also work with — and against — teams, whether they want to or not.
Rake starts "Extraction" with a team — and even with, dare we say, actual friends? Even if grief and a bunch of booze bottles make it hard to tell, we get a sense that Rake had some sort of social life before he abandoned his dying son for the life of the loneliest soldier. Rake even works with an extraction team, has some sort of vibe going with his handler, and develops a bond with Ovi Jr. It's a trauma bond for certain, but hey! Trauma teamwork makes the dream work.
Mr. Wick, on the other hand, does his best to work alone. Whether Wick is chatting with Aurelio or Winston, he tries to keep it quick. As each movie progresses, though, we see Wick is actually part of a vast network. Of enemies, yes — but also of deeply loyal friends who seem genuinely happy to see Mr. Wick, even though they know his return is a sign of his own doom, and possibly theirs. Rake and Wick are both reluctant team players, whose teammates die because of their pursuits of revenge and justice. This one's a tie.
Water
John Wick and Tyler Rake fight their enemies on a variety of terrain. But since there are currently more movies in the "John Wick" franchise, it seems unfair to pit the two against each other based only on their stats for subcontinental combat. Though if we did, it would be hard to decide between Wick's dog-assisted smackdown in Morocco and Rake's well-matched battle with Saju in Dhaka. So instead, we'll pit Wick and Rake against each other in a splash fight.
Rake battles his demons in water. Though much of "Extraction" is spent in shimmering heat and golden dust, Rake's introductory scene sees him take a plunge from a great height down to the bottom of a bay. At the bottom, Rake "spins the barrel" of death, sees a flashback of his son, and ultimately rises to the surface to reluctantly and thematically fight another day.
Wick, however, fights everyone in water. Water is the bane of his existence and a popular decorating motif in a variety of High Table nightclubs. Wick has fought enemies while on horseback in the rain, shot up some perfectly nice glass doors in a nightclub's pool, and set fire to the rain when going up against Killa in yet another nightclub. Wick is clearly the Michael Phelps of assassins, and Rake is Ryan Lochte. Wick wins.
Roofs
Roofs are the unsung hero of the action movie world, and no one knows that better than Tyler Rake and John Wick. While both men have fallen off of roofs — only one man uses them with tactical frequency.
While Wick sees some roof action in Morocco, the main roof in John Wick's life is The Continental rooftop garden. Wick uses said roof as a de facto war room, breakfast place, and eventually as the sight of a stunt "death" coordinated with Winston to escape the long leg of The Table, however briefly.
Rake, on the other hand, is all about that roof life. In Dhaka, Rake tumbles off of roofs to give his enemies the slip. He throws enemies off of balconies constantly, and for the sake of this argument, we are counting balconies as roof-adjacent. Rake even throws Ovi Jr. from one roof to another, before leaping to said roof himself in a moment of classic action movie roof hijinks. Both Wick and Rake can raise the roof and fall off of it, but only Rake wins this round.
Defying death and overall verdict
Tyler Rake and John Wick just won't quit. Both of these guys can take a licking and keep on ticking. While haters may say this "superhuman" ability to survive clinical death-by-neck-shot or death-by-Parisian-stair-battle is what makes action movies cartoonish or predictable. If the hero can't fall, what can the stakes of such a movie really be?
The clear counter to that argument is that Chris Hemsworth and Keanu Reeves, the actors behind these characters, along with their stunt teams and stuntmen-turned-directors, are working together to bring a new dimension to the artistry of action movies. Rake and Wick survive physical trials the rest of us can't comprehend, in large part, because they cannot reconcile their own emotional ones. Metaphorically, Rake and Wick both speak to the power of unresolved grief — how it lingers, how it isolates, and how it can also lead to a path of something that looks like redemption.
These two men are almost evenly matched in their physical and intellectual abilities. Still, there can be only one winner. With respect to "Extraction" director Sam Hargrave's admitted bias, victory clearly belongs to Mr. Wick. Still, any fight between Rake and Wick would last for a long time, and would be a crossover franchise for the ages.