# Nobody, or What if John Wick had a family? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 14, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031 "2020-12-14T16:06:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/1 "2020-12-14T16:06:16Z")
So I saw this [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZti8QKBWPo) for a new movie by the writer of the John Wick series and the director of Hard Core Henry. Bob Odenkirk, of all people, is a Wickian ex-hitman who dropped out of the life to have a family. This seems to be escalating both the older guy who is secretly an unstoppable bad-ass, and the secret underground organized crime super killer, with a little Charles Bronsen’s Death Wish fantasy of taking on the punks. Is this just going to be its own genre now? How many flavors of this particular stew do we need? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed John Wick, and I thought the first one ended well. The second lost me early, though. Why was he killing even more guys? It seemed like if you took it at face value, he could never rest until he killed every bad guy in the world. I have heard that the third is a lot fun, but what is next? Do we start seeing crossovers? The auditor\* and Baba Yaga cross paths when transporter ends up holding the daughter of an ex-CIA agent with a particular set of skills? \*Odenkirk’s character in Nobody ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/2 "2020-12-14T16:11:33Z")
For what it’s worth, the John Wick character was originally supposed to be an older man . They rewrote it when Keanu Reeves came on board. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/3 "2020-12-14T16:17:02Z")
He’s 56. How much older were they going for? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/4 "2020-12-14T17:00:35Z")
I liked Keanu Reeves before but he was cast as a laid back kinda guy. That changed although his killing is still done in a laconic fashion. Pretty much how “Taken” changed Liam Neeson into the most bad ass actor on the planet. I don’t know where the series could go after John Wick 3. He has already taken on the world. Does he go intergalactic? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/5 "2020-12-14T17:16:59Z")
> [@Strassia](#): > > Bob Odenkirk, of all people I’m guessing the “Better Kill Saul” joke was done almost immediately by everyone. Probably including Bob. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/6 "2020-12-14T21:41:51Z")
Wasn’t John Wick raised by the Russian mob? ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/7 "2020-12-14T22:01:01Z")
> [@Strassia](#): > > This seems to be escalating both the older guy who is secretly an unstoppable bad-ass, and the secret underground organized crime super killer, with a little Charles Bronsen’s Death Wish fantasy of taking on the punks. > > Is this just going to be its own genre now? How many flavors of this particular stew do we need? This genre has seemingly existed prior to John Wick, but usually it’s the person who falls into the super underground organized crime syndicate and then learns to be the unstoppable bad ass (such as Wanted) or someone who comes to release he’s a bad ass spy, which are almost all apparently super underground assassins (such as the Bourne series). ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/8 "2020-12-15T01:43:13Z")
It’s a great trailer, so I expect to see it in some format… ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/9 "2020-12-15T02:58:31Z")
James Bond was arguably a bad ass secret assassin (when he wasn’t a famous assassin). And there are dozens of spy and and hit man movies of various types from Gross Point Blank, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, XXX, Prizzi’s Honor, Leon, etc. The bad ass assassin is has been a hero and villain in many movies, but now we have this specific type of old man bad ass taking over the genre. It isn’t entirely unprecedented. The Equalizer was a TV show about a hit man we left crime to help people. The TV version didn’t kill rooms full of people with his bare hands like Denzel Washington does in the movie version. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/10 "2020-12-15T08:50:14Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I liked Keanu Reeves before but he was cast as a laid back kinda guy. That changed although his killing is still done in a laconic fashion. Reeves? The star of _Point Break, Speed_ and the _Matrix_? He was never really laid back. Personally, I think he’s one of our finest living action movie stars, if not the greatest of them all. He’s the Gene Kelly of shooting people in the head. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Wasn’t John Wick raised by the Russian mob? Sort of. Wick (not his real name) is Belarussian Roma, and was raised in a combination ballet and wrestling school, which was also involved in organized crime in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/11 "2020-12-15T15:07:27Z")
And regarding the thread title, John Wick _had_ a family, or at least a wife, who died before the events of the first film. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/12 "2020-12-15T19:37:52Z")
The “older guy turns out to be retired badass involved in a semi-secret underworld of assassins and spies” trope is really common in _wuxia_ ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/13 "2020-12-15T21:51:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And regarding the thread title, John Wick _had_ a family, or at least a wife, who died before the events of the first film. And a puppy so much sweeter and cuter than the massive pit bull he stole from the shelter. ---
**Author:** ![WalterBishop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@WalterBishop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WalterBishop)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/14 "2020-12-15T22:19:58Z")
I’ve been a huge Bob Odenkirk fan ever since _Mr Show_. I’ll definitely be seeing this. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/15 "2020-12-16T10:24:48Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The “older guy turns out to be retired badass involved in a semi-secret underworld of assassins and spies” trope is really common in _wuxia_ Now I want to go rewatch _Kung Fu Hustle_. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/16 "2020-12-16T16:26:15Z")
_John Wick: Suburban Mayhem_ is an upcoming film in the series. It features John and his family shooting down and blowing up loud partiers, neighborhood bullies and gossips, people who park rusted pickups in their driveways and anyone whose dogs poop on their lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nobody-or-what-if-john-wick-had-a-family/928031/17 "2021-03-30T03:23:04Z")
I think it’s time to bubble this one up again. I saw Nobody last Friday. I really enjoyed this movie. Who all has seen it? It was worth my first trip back to a movie theater in over a year.