John Wick: Chapter 2‘s hall of mirrors fight sequence prompts enthusiastic reactions from VFX artists, who point out the challenges involved in the endeavor. After the surprise success of the first movie in 2014, Keanu Reeves returned as assassin John Wick for director Chad Stahelski’s bigger and bolder sequel. The film ups the action from the first installment with some stunning fight sequences, including a climactic one set within a hall of mirrors as Wick fights through a horde of enemies.
In a recent episode of Corridor Crew‘s “VFX Artists React” YouTube series, artists Sam Gorski, Wren Weichman, and Jordan Allen broke down John Wick: Chapter 2‘s hall of mirrors sequence and how it was pulled off. Allen provides some important background on the scene, revealing that Stahelski went to great lengths to ensure that a large portion of the shots could be pulled off practically, including spending “over three months dedicated to just blocking the camera,” but that still left a lot of VFX work in post-production. Read Allen’s full quote on the subject below:
When they were planning for this sequence in particular, there was over three months dedicated to just blocking the camera. And it’s because they were so focused on optimizing their angles and perspective to hide as much as possible. That said, the director estimated about 60 percent of the shots where the camera was visible were handled on set. That still leaves, in a nine-minute sequence, 40 percent of what we were looking at was handled digitally.
The VFX in the scene struck Gorski as such a monumental and frustrating undertaking that he jokingly asked whether the shots feature “illegal VFX.” Weichman then broke down exactly why it’s such a challenge, explaining that the abundance of mirrors make the VFX work far more complicated than just removing a camera operator, given “all the other reflections in the shot” and the “ripply” effect of the mirrors used in the sequence. Check out his comment, as well as the full video, below:
It’s more than just painting out the camera. It’s all the other reflections in the shot of that camera. And you have to match the distortion of those mirrors. They’re not flat mirrors. They’re ripply mirrors.
What John Wick 2’s Hall Of Mirrors Fight Means For The Franchise
Chad Stahelski Mixes Practical & Digital To Great Effect
The hall of mirrors fight in John Wick: Chapter 2 is, in many ways, emblematic of how visual effects are used in the franchise as a whole. Though a great deal of focus is put on practical action and the hard work of stunt performers, VFX work is ultimately crucial to bringing John’s story to life. For one thing, all the muzzle flashes in the franchise are added in post-production, as are the blood spurts that erupt when someone gets shot.
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Similarly, in the acclaimed John Wick: Chapter 4, there is a car chase and shootout around the Arc de Triomphe. Though Reeves did his own driving for the sequence and there were real car hits and stunt maneuvers, many of the background cars in the scene were entirely digital, and much of the scene wasn’t actually filmed at the Arc de Triomphe at all. Many key John Wick action scenes, then, rely on VFX to work, and the franchise has become very successful with both critics and audiences by using this strategy.
|
John Wick Franchise Rotten Tomatoes Scores |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Title |
RT Critics’ Score |
RT Audience Score |
|
John Wick |
86% |
81% |
|
John Wick: Chapter 2 |
89% |
85% |
|
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum |
89% |
86% |
|
John Wick: Chapter 4 |
94% |
93% |
However, this is far from an overreliance on VFX. The John Wick franchise uses VFX to augment scenes and add to their reality rather than centering the scenes around VFX, which tends to have the opposite effect, making them seem significantly less real. By weaving VFX work in and around practical stunts, both elements work in tandem to place the character in the heightened situations that have helped the franchise soar.
Our Take On John Wick 2’s Climactic Shootout
It’s An Improvement Over The Original John Wick
After intense “gun-fu” and night club-based action, the first of the John Wick movies with a bit of an anti-climactic fist fight with an enemy John should seemingly be able to beat fairly easily. John Wick: Chapter 2 doesn’t have this same issue. In addition to featuring a higher body count, the climactic shootout – and the film as a whole – makes a concerted effort to deliver more complex and intricate fight scenes.
The primary antagonist of John Wick (2014) is Viggo Tarasov, played by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo‘s Michael Nyqvist.
Though it’s a challenge to name John Wick: Chapter 2 as the best movie in the series given the strength of all the other installments, it is undoubtedly a worthy follow-up to the original. The hall of mirrors fight scene, especially, speaks to Stahelski’s approach to action and his willingness to continue raising the bar in each installment in the now-iconic action franchise.
Read More
Read ScreenRant‘s original John Wick: Chapter 2 review, in which writer Chris Agar calls the action “breathtaking“ and highlights Stahelski’s ability to craft new setpieces such as the hall of mirrors.
The John Wick franchise has expanded considerably with spinoffs including the Peacock original series The Continental, following the early years of Ian McShane’s character Winston Scott, and the 2025 interquel Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas as a Ruska Roma assassin. Keep track of all the upcoming John Wick movies and spinoffs here.
While the hall of mirrors fight is spectacular, read ScreenRant‘s breakdown of the evolution of John Wick‘s action, exploring how the operatic violence of the franchise continued to get bigger and bigger through the 2023 smash hit John Wick: Chapter 4.
Source: Corridor Crew
Following up on the hugely successful John Wick, John Wick Chapter 2 is an action thriller film that sees Keanu Reeves return to the role of a retired assassin forced back into the game to uphold an oath. When crime boss Santino D’Antonio comes to collect a promised favor from John, his reluctance gives way to honoring the agreement. Now tasked with helping Santio rise to a top position at the “High Table” crime organization, John will face off against some of the underworld’s deadliest hitmen and bodyguards.
- Release Date
-
February 10, 2017
- Runtime
-
122 Minutes
- Cast
-
John Leguizamo
, Ian McShane
, Thomas Sadoski
, Common
, Keanu Reeves
, David Patrick Kelly
, Lance Reddick
, Laurence Fishburne
, Ruby Rose
, Peter Stormare
, Bridget Moynahan - Director
-
Chad Stahelski
- Writers
-
Derek Kolstad
- Budget
-
$40 million
- Studio(s)
-
Summit Entertainment
, Thunder Road Pictures
, TIK Films
, 87Eleven Productions - Distributor(s)
-
Lionsgate
