All 5 John Wick Movies Ranked

"John Wick" is the action franchise that almost never was. The plug was almost pulled just days before filming was scheduled to start in 2013 due to numerous financial problems, and even by August 2014, just two months before the first film was released, it was still going under the generic working title "Scorn," with no distributor attached. Keanu Reeves was box-office poison following the high-profile flop of "47 Ronin" the year before, and producer Basil Iwanyk has said a screening for studios went so badly, he assumed Lionsgate — the only people who showed any interest in releasing it — would dump it straight to DVD.

The rest is history. "John Wick" became a surprise box office hit, rejuvenating Reeves' career while also breaking new ground for the genre courtesy of stuntmen-turned-directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, whose elaborately staged fight sequences and bullet battles demanded other filmmakers up their game. The age of "Bourne"-style shaky cam action and frenetic fast-cuts in the middle of fights was officially over, and from there, Stahelski kept raising the bar for onscreen carnage as this unlikely hit became an even unlikelier franchise.

But the question remains: Is the original "John Wick" still the best? Below, we've ranked the five theatrically released films (sorry to the two fans of Peacock spin-off series "The Continental") in the franchise based on their place in our personal action pantheon. In the "John Wick" saga, the movies with the most standout set pieces, creative deaths, and expansive world-building rise to the top. Here are the movies in the series that best meet that potential.

• Cast: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick
• Director: Len Wiseman
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 124 minutes
• Where to watch: Starz, Philo, Apple TV

For a while, it sounded like "Ballerina" was cursed. Initially planned for a 2024 release, the movie got pushed back a year so Chad Stahelski could get to work with director Len Wiseman on creating new action set pieces, which star Ian McShane (Winston) later said on British TV was to "protect the franchise" because the initial cut wasn't good enough.

Was the tinkering worth it? Not really. A spin-off from the third film, centered on a minor character and released two years after the fourth, was always going to be a hard sell, and the box office reflects that lack of interest (with $137 million worldwide, it was the lowest-grossing since the 2014 original). Of course, the box office doesn't tell the full story, but it's easy to see why it was hard to muster enthusiasm; a climactic snowy shootout offers some of the high-octane thrills we've come to expect from the franchise, but everything before then lacks the distinct, darkly humorous identity we've come to love. 

Ana de Armas has proven herself to be a great action hero in small doses elsewhere — see "No Time to Die" for proof of her scene-stealing credentials — but here, she's given a generic, unlikely assassin figure even she struggles to elevate. If it weren't for the cameos by Keanu Reeves and co, you'd never assume this shared the DNA of the main franchise.

• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Asia Kate Dillon
• Director: Chad Stahelski
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 130 minutes
• Where to watch: HBO Max, Apple TV, Philo

John Wick's most infamous kill in-universe came from his ingenious use of a pencil. In the opening act of the third movie, where he's been forced on the run from the entire underworld after being declared "excommunicado" in "Chapter 2," he goes one better and kills someone with a book in a New York public library. It's a promising start to what should be the most relentless series of fights and kills in the series — instead, it very quickly becomes the most lore-heavy, as John begins a globetrotting mission to get his fate reversed after calling in a series of debts to former associates. Hey, even the most seemingly invincible assassins need to deal with bureaucracy sometimes.

It's the film where the depth of the world-building often feels like a crutch, spending too much time telling us the nuances of how this underworld operates, instead of showing them via the global cat-and-mouse hunt its predecessor appeared to be setting up. There are still plenty of exceptional set pieces here, but it's the most front-loaded entry of them all.

• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen
• Director: Chad Stahelski
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 101 minutes
• Where to watch: HBO Max, Apple TV

Is it controversial to say that the original "John Wick" is by no means the best? Because it's hard to deny just how groundbreaking the movie felt upon release, with its blend of tongue-in-cheek dark humor and painstakingly choreographed fight sequences washing away the grim, self-serious, and shaky cam-heavy brand of action movie that had become dominant in the post-"Bourne" era. There was no shortage of revenge thrillers during this period — the "Taken" franchise was still in full swing at the time of release — but where other films prided themselves on their grit, "John Wick" was a blast because it pushed its vengeance mission to the most over-the-top extremes its budget could allow.

With its nods to a wider criminal underworld and a fully fleshed backstory that made its hero an urban legend within his universe, "John Wick" introduced a world that was more creatively and elaborately drawn out than most franchises have been by their third and fourth sequels. The series would go bigger and better, but this was one hell of an introduction.

• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne
• Director: Chad Stahelski
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 122 minutes
• Where to watch: HBO Max, Apple TV

In one of the opening shots of "John Wick: Chapter 2," we see one of cinema's most unlikely action stars projected on the wall of a New York building: silent movie icon Buster Keaton. It's a blink-and-you 'll-miss-it nod which serves a second purpose; director Chad Stahelski suggests you'll see Keanu Reeves elevated to the same heights, pulling off several madcap practical stunts by the sequel's close. The best, most imaginative scenes in "Chapter 2" are self-aware about their silliness without winking too hard at the joke, as we come to realize almost everybody in this universe has ties to the underworld; a broad daylight shootout in the New York subway has life-or-death stakes for our hero, but seems almost unremarkable to anybody else who spots what's going on.

In "Chapter 2," John is roped out of retirement for an ill-fated Rome hit job that makes him the underworld's most wanted man. Splitting the action between the Italian capital and New York helps Stahelski one-up himself when it comes to practical stunts, not spotting a single tourist landmark he can't transform into the center of a creatively staged bloodbath. The entire world is now a blank canvas for the director and his rotating roster of action stars, establishing itself as the rare franchise that is impossible to jump the shark. The bigger, sillier, and outright funnier each set piece gets, the better these movies become.

• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård
• Director: Chad Stahelski
• Rating: R
• Runtime: 169 minutes
• Where to watch: HBO Max, Apple TV

A fifth film has been announced, so "Chapter 4" isn't the finale to the "John Wick" saga — but it's hard to imagine a subsequent chapter that could offer more of an exhilarating ending. John's vengeance mission against the high table is in full swing here, and he's on the run from Osaka to Paris against adversaries with unlimited weapons, prepared to burn entire branches of the Continental down at any cost. In terms of execution of premise alone, it lives up to the potential that "Chapter 3" didn't, delivering the thrilling global chase, which feels relentless.

Then there are the set pieces, with cult action stars ranging from Donnie Yen to Scott Adkins brought into the fold for fights which vary both in martial arts styles and every tone from silly to serious. The third act sees multiple Parisian landmarks become battlefields, from a "Frogger" style shootout at an Arc de Triomphe traffic jam, to the fight on the 222 steps of the Rue Foyatier before the final boss showdown. It's pure action movie Valhalla, and also feels like the wildest adaptation of the kind of stripped-down fighting video games many of us grew up on, with the most eccentric characters and most epic showdowns to date. It's hard to imagine the franchise ever besting this because it's hard to imagine any other action sequel topping it.