"They're Making Two Separate Movies": JOHN WICK Director On The Problem With Action Scenes In Superhero Movies

"They're Making Two Separate Movies": JOHN WICK Director On The Problem With Action Scenes In Superhero Movies

John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski has shared his take on where movies are going wrong when it comes to action scenes, and highlights a glaring issue he repeatedly sees in comic book adaptations.

By JoshWilding - Jun 07, 2025 10:06 AM EST
Filed Under: John Wick
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Superhero movies frequently deliver epic, awe-inspiring action scenes. However, when something like John Wick comes along, it still somehow feels like a breath of fresh air (as did the grounded, bloody fights we saw in Daredevil: Born Again). 

During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski was asked to share his thoughts on the mistakes he sees other action franchises making. 

While he wasn't taking a shot at the comic book genre—this isn't a Martin Scorsese situation—Stahelski did share some insightful thoughts on where the likes of Marvel and DC might be going wrong. Overall, he makes some compelling arguments:

"Please make sure you print this: This is only my opinion and my opinion is no better or worse than anybody else’s. Some things I think don’t work might work for some people. It’s the execution. Like with Die Hard. There’s not a lot of action, the whole thing takes place on three floors of a building, but John McClane is a great character. When he runs through the glass barefoot, I’m [frick]ing in — that’s what you have to do. I could do the exact same choreography that’s in John Wick, but if you didn’t love Keanu Reeves as John Wick, we wouldn’t be talking right now."

"For the longest time, [the industry consensus] was, 'It’s not about the action, it’s about the story.' That’s not true. And then there was, 'It’s not about stories, it’s about the action.' That’s not true! You have to conceive the whole thing together."

"So biggest problem with action movies is people think they’re making two separate movies. The story doesn’t stop just because there’s punching and kicking. In some of the superhero stuff, when a second unit guy is doing half the movie, everything looks different during the action. Even the coloring and editing is different. [The film] never feels aligned. So if you don’t want to shoot your own action, then don’t do the movie. Whether it’s Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan or Guy Ritchie or the Wachowskis, they all shoot their own action."

It's no secret that Marvel Studios has been known to tell directors to get on with the story, leaving them to worry about the special effects and action scenes. 

Perhaps the best example of what Stahelski is referring to is 2018's Black Panther. The movie is widely considered a masterpiece by many fans (and rightfully so), but the final act battle between T'Challa and Erik Killmonger felt largely out of place. It was heavy on VFX and didn't fit into the tone established before they clashed. 

The Russo Brothers have always been pretty hands-on with action, as has Destin Daniel Cretton, so Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day hopefully won't suffer from the issues detailed by the John Wick helmer above.

What are your thoughts on Stahelski's assessment?

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SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 6/7/2025, 10:25 AM
I agree and disagree. Part of the charm with superheroes is how a simple bank robbery can turn into a revelation that a villain is building a nuclear reactor in the middle of Manhattan in the hopes of opening an ancient portal. Or a villain who has a group of mercenaries trying to steal a virus and the team's witch causes a massive explosion during the battle and now the team has to face the government. It's things like that which make superhero films such a fantastic adventure.
TrentCrimm
TrentCrimm - 6/7/2025, 10:43 AM
@SonOfAGif -

He's not saying having the action is bad, he's more pointing out how disjointed making these movies can be, and the noticeable difference that you get when a director isn't the one filming the action scenes, you end up with fight scenes that don't flow in a generic way with the rest of the movie.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/7/2025, 11:52 AM
@SonOfAGif - he's absolutely got a point though. Black Panther was a really good comic book film UNTIL that final act. @JoshWilding brought up probably the very best example.
IAmAHoot
IAmAHoot - 6/7/2025, 10:25 AM
The poor puppy, you jerk...
Vigor
Vigor - 6/7/2025, 10:37 AM
The story definitely continued in civil war during the airport scene. I loved that. It had some action-pausing dialogue which may have been clunky at parts. But it worked
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/7/2025, 11:58 AM
@Vigor - the airport scene is so superfluous though. There's zero tension in the entire fight. What were the consequences of that set piece....Rhodey got a bum leg for like a movie?
Vigor
Vigor - 6/7/2025, 12:07 PM
@McMurdo - were you not entertained?
Vigor
Vigor - 6/7/2025, 12:11 PM
@McMurdo - but to answer your question. -- the avengers soundly broke up. Which is why Thanos won
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/7/2025, 1:36 PM
@Vigor - that's a good point on the Avengers breaking up. That's a great point actually so I'll give you that for sure. In regards to being entertained, I'm one of those who wanted the true Captain America 3: The Search for Bucky film we were supposed to get before Feige decided to chase Batman V Superman, so that film, albeit a good movie ultimately, just never left a great taste in my mouth as a fan of Cap 1 and 2. And that airport battle always felt weightless to me. But I recognize I'm in the minority on that.
Vigor
Vigor - 6/7/2025, 1:41 PM
@McMurdo - fair enough!
dragon316
dragon316 - 6/7/2025, 11:00 AM
Never noticed some movies feels like there two part of movies in one kids sci-fi family comic book yes Star Wars , horror all kinds of genre of movies I’ve noticed it not only action
D245
D245 - 6/7/2025, 11:00 AM
BP a Masterpiece??? Come on, are we still patronising?
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 6/7/2025, 11:14 AM
@D245 - lolz, it is wilding talking here so take it with a GLASS of salt 😂
DocSpock
DocSpock - 6/7/2025, 11:36 AM
@D245 -

Yeah.
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 6/7/2025, 12:05 PM
@D245 - Still the best MCU movie, at least as far as solo movies go.
RobertARZVenez
RobertARZVenez - 6/7/2025, 3:56 PM
@FinnishDude - ah ah winter soldier
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 6/7/2025, 4:27 PM
@RobertARZVenez - That's the second best MCU solo movie.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 6/7/2025, 11:03 AM
They are absolutely separate movies because they start pre-vis on many scenes BEFORE THE SCRIPT. "Hey this sounds cool, put it in there" and that's how this committee does every movie. Then they Hire someone to thread the scenes they want into a cohesive story, that's the problem. That's why they mostly hire tv writers and directors
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 6/7/2025, 11:16 AM
@bobevanz - nice vid, will finish this later.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 6/7/2025, 11:05 AM
Comment sections should be quite refreshing from here on out lmao
AllsGood
AllsGood - 6/7/2025, 11:22 AM
@bobevanz - Enjoy it not sure how long it will last. I just checked you can go see his old comments.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/7/2025, 1:30 PM
@bobevanz - liberal woke something something boycott Disney something something something

How many continents can you name?

Trump something something woke Disney liberal communists.


(just in case you were missing him)
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/7/2025, 1:31 PM
@AllsGood - Well that means he's still here doesn't it? He's just being vewwy vewwy quiet.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 6/7/2025, 4:26 PM
@bobevanz - When you click on his name this comes up.

Unkown ComicBookMovie.com User
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 6/7/2025, 11:12 AM
The reason why Gunn and the DCU will be more successful than Marvel in the near future.

Marvel evolved into a sloppy studio thinking their herd of sheep that will blindly consume what they produce will save them
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 6/7/2025, 11:17 AM
Having seen a few reviews of Ballerina, a lot say the story is thin so the guy is a bit of a hypocrite there 😅
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/7/2025, 11:59 AM
@vectorsigma - the story is thin. I still enjoyed it but it's a straight up B movie and fully carried by the choreography.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 6/7/2025, 12:50 PM
@McMurdo - i see. I didnt really feel like watching this in the theater. I got gun fu fatigue after john wick 4 i guess.

And maybe im saving my effort for that 3x Superman watch on day 1.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 6/7/2025, 1:38 PM
@vectorsigma - I think I've only seen John Wick 1. I remember the puppy stuff but I never felt compelled to watch the sequels. I only went to this one because my dad was bored and wanted something to do. But I feel you for sure.
MisterBones
MisterBones - 6/7/2025, 11:39 AM
He’s not wrong. Sometimes the disjointed aspects bother and sometimes they don’t.

Marvel hires directors sometimes they don’t trust to shoot the action. But I think you should give them time, through development, to prep and make themselves comfortable with shooting and supervising the action set pieces if that’s the case. Encourage and embolden them to involve themselves in those set pieces.

For better or worse, at least it will bring a cohesion to the film.
Webheaded225
Webheaded225 - 6/7/2025, 11:43 AM
He's right on the money. It's well documented Marvel makes their movies by committee. So usually the producers, mainly Feige has his agenda of what the movie is supposed to be, and how it fits in the narrative of the universe, then they start doing the previs, which is an early version of action sequences on CGI, then they hire someone to write the script and work around the previs and the producers agenda of what they want to do, and then they get the second unit directors to shoot whatever is need to be shot, and only then a director is hired to shoot the scenes that are usually just dialog scenes between actor either on location or on a green screen where they'll decide what the location is later. Then when editing comes the guys are supposed to turn this frankenstein monster into something that resembles a movie. Sometimes the whole team is working together so it all feels cohesive, but sometimes it becomes a complete and utter mess, and then they have to reshoot it and try to turn it into a cohesive movie again, and the CGI a lot of the time needs to be redone just months before release, and that's how you get movies like Thor 4 and Quantumania. The process is just way too messed up.
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 6/7/2025, 1:00 PM
And this one of the big reasons why Man of Steel is a masterpiece in the superhero canon.

The story may not have been some of y'all's cup of tea, mainly because many people in younger generations have no frame of reference as to why a father would willingly sacrifice his life for what he sees as best for his son because y'all were all raised wrong, but as far as a total film goes, blending story, character, and action, it is at the very top of the superhero canon along with Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Superman the Movie.

Man of Steel is among the best of the best, precisely because of what Stahelski says here.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/7/2025, 1:42 PM
@HistoryofMatt - Man of Steel had a second unite director. Damon Caro.

Of course he's one of Zack's guys so there is a level of authorship and consistency maintained. But still Caro's stuff is Caro's stuff, not Snyder's stuff.

Maybe if we were to look at Man of Steel as being co-directed by Snyder and Caro, but it's not. It's a "Zack Snyder film" and for a guy who made such a fuss about not wanting another director's work in a film with his name on it, he's technically doing that with every film he makes.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/7/2025, 1:17 PM
I totally agree with him. I've always thought this myself. He is 100% correct.

Or maybe 99.99999999999999999999999999999% correct. Because I'm open to the idea of that level of delegation with maybe a certain level of oversight as still being technically the work of an auteur pulling the strings, sometimes you've gotta loosen those strings a little to get the desired action.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/7/2025, 1:20 PM
But it is important and I'm surprised more people don't talk about this when they talk about films.

It's like a musician not writing their own songs. It's that important.

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