There is only one thing people love more than seeing cute cuddly puppies, and that is seeing Keanu Reeves ruthlessly murder scores of henchmen on screen. It’s little surprise then that the John Wick movie franchise — which kicked off as the story of a retired killer drawn back to the craft after his puppy is killed by car thieves, a tale as old as time, really — has spawned three blockbuster sequels so far.
The latest, John Wick: Chapter 4, hits theatres in the U.S. and Canada today (March 24), and will likely bring the handsome all-American (but played by a Canadian) hitman’s kill count up somewhere above the 350 mark. He has also had a fair number of deadly rides in the four feature films that follow his trail of corpses, including a number of American muscle cars, some motorcycles, and even a living creature.
Here, we remember the vehicles driven by Reeves’ most murderous character.
1969 Mustang Mach 1
The car that started it all is John’s daily driver, a black 1969 Mustang Mach 1. Wick spends some time character building in it, making us love his ill-fated dog. When a Russian mobster compliments the car at a gas station, calling it a 1970 Boss 429, Wick corrects the year, but not the model — so maybe we’re supposed to see past the hood scoop, wing, and lack of manual transmission that give it away for what it actually is.
In the sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, we catch up with our hero as he enjoys his new life of peaceful tranquility alongside a new dog, which he found at the end of the first film and now drives around crated safely in the back of a Kia Telluride. Just kidding! He’s killing dudes, obviously, pretty much right away. At first, it’s to get his Mustang back. Then, after the Mustang is essentially destroyed, the killings continue for other non-dog or car-related reasons, all still totally legitimate.
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396
While the Mustang is missing, Wick makes due with a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 finished in a subtle Forest Green and boasting a big-block V8 engine making 350 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque. It’s not as powerful as the SS 454, but it’s still a decent loaner that appears in the first and second films. Wick isn’t too fussed over it, though, simply leaving it behind at the weird assassin’s hotel in a later scene and hopping into his next muscle car. Places to go, faces to shoot…
You can check out a drive/review of one of the three movie cars used in the filming — not the beauty car and not the smash-up clone, but the authentic ‘driver’ — here on YouTube.
2011 Dodge Charger SXT
Even though the plot hooks on the classic Mustang, it’s a modern-for-the-time Dodge Charger that steals the spotlight in the 2014 debut film’s chaotic climax. The debadged 2011 Dodge Charger SXT is used to chase down and do away with a number of important baddies — the kind with speaking roles! — including the big bad Russian mob boss. With a 470-horsepower 6.4-litre Hemi V8 propelling it, the sedan is not a terrible option for blunt-force murder.
Yamaha MT-08 Motorcycle
The stunt and special effects teams had some fun with a number of Yamaha MT-09 motorcycles for the third instalment, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, using CGI to create a wild chase and sword fight over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York. Attempts to decapitate Wick at 120 km/h were, spoiler alert, unsuccessful — stabbing a katana through the spokes must be against the ninja code or something.
The Yamaha MT-09 is a high-torque street bike launched in 2014 and available in Canada today for around $12,000. Not exactly the ideal platform for a street fight, but it’s not even the most ridiculous form of transport featured in the movie.
An actual freakin’ horse
At a time when every automaker is dedicating every extra brain cell and dollar to the development of zero-emissions vehicles, there’s something to be said about the original man-mover — the good old, living, breathing, farting horse. The specs are simple: one horsepower, four hooves with metal shoes, and four speeds: walk, trot, canter, and gallup. That’s enough for Wick to kill and fight off a good number of would-be assassins.
Directors evidently had enough fictional animal blood on their hands after offing that perfectly good beagle in the first movie, so the horse miraculously comes through the violent ordeal unharmed.
1971 Plymouth Barracuda
In the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4, Reeves’ character is seen behind the wheel of another icon of American muscle, the 1971 Plymouth Barracuda. The car houses a Super Commando Six Pack engine making 390 horsepower, which is the Cuda’s second most powerful engine (the 425-horsepower Hemi comes with a protruding intake scoop that might’ve interfered with stunt work).
We’ll be finding out soon how exactly he comes by and uses the car, but the road scenes we’ve seen so far show it missing both doors and engaged in a game of chicken in the middle of a Parisian roundabout. Good to see that Reeves and the other Wick movie-makers aren’t pulling off the gas.
Keyword: All of John Wick’s killer rides