The John Wick trilogy is arguably the greatest trio of action movies ever made. Keanu Reeves performance as a stoic, relentless assassin a🧔lready resides in the filmic hall of fame, and will likely only ascend to greater echelons as more films areღ released.
Chad Stahelski, the director behind these films has been confirmed as director for the film adaptation of Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima. Having launched only last year, 🍌Sony is wasting no time in turning the open-world blockbuster into a feature film. Given how much inspiration it also takes from the likes of Akira Kurosawa and other famous Japanese directors, it will be interesting to see how such a property is adapted.
With Chad Stahelski at the helm, I imagine it will be a visceral, fast-paced action caper with expertly choreographed violence at the core of its appeal. John Wick built a legacy on such qualities, drawing the viewer in with absurdly over-the-top gunfights, martial arts exchanges, a📖nd even a scene where Keanu Reeves murders two du🌠des with a pencil. Just imagine it as his version of a very tiny, lead-filled samurai sword.
Knowing this, I don’t expect Ghost of Tsushima’s journey into the world of film to be a tran🧜quil and poetic homage to Kurosawa. It will likely use such visual inspiration to make players of the game feel at home, but this definitely isn’t going to be a movie that expects the viewer to sit back and reflect on the sacred code of the samurai. Plot will be fleeting, likely secondary to the violence that Jin Sakai will inflict.
I don’t think that’s a problem - far from it. I honestly thought Ghost of Tsushima was at it🌱s very worst when Sucker Punch tried to convey the narrative as a serious contemplation of morality. The best characters sat far away from the main path, and its central villain was so painfully evil and one-dimensional that Jin Sakai’s struggle to kill him and abandon the Samurai code came across as melodramatic nonsense.
Chad Stahelski has likely been picked for this project because he has experience in perfecting the revenge story. John Wick is all about one man’s mission to avenge the death of his dog, and also the legacy left behind by ꦉhis late wife. When you break down the fundamentals, Ghost ▨of Tsushima is also about Jin Sakai seeking revenge, hoping to restore honour to his clan and take back his homeland from those who hope to destroy it.
If executed like this, it’s the perfect idea for a two-hour action flick. Jin won’t be spitting out haiku or donning Sly Cooper armour in the film - it will be all killer and no filler, with all of the game’s finest qualities put front and centre. This is the most excited I’ve been for a gaming adaptation in some time, partly because I absolutely love John Wick and would love to see its director handle such a vastly different setting. There’s no guns or gadgets to toy with here, so perhaps he’ll🐈 get creative in ways we’ve yet to even see from his work.
Another western creator taking on a Japanese world li꧅ke this leaves me with different concerns regarding the cast and filming, but I’ll revisit those at another time. Sony has the potential to do something brilliant with Chad Stahelski’s talent, and I hope it isn’t wasted.