What martial arts does John Wick know?

The John Wick movie series stars Keanu Reeves and is known for its intense, high-action scenes where he fights off bad guys in search of justice. Make no mistake about it, John Wick is about action, adrenaline, and violence. With this said, there’s understandably a lot of martial arts involved in the John Wick series. As you would expect, for a film that involves violence – martial arts is never too far away. However, what martial arts are used in John Wick? Read on for more information.

John Wick mostly uses Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Apparently, when training for the role, Keanu Reeves said that he mostly trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu which was used extensively in the movie. Here, Reeves would train with Rigan Machado and drilled moves that would translate to the film. At the time, Reeves wore a white belt which meant he was a beginner in the art. However, in the John Wick universe, it’s assumed that he’s highly skilled.

Throughout the fight scenes, John Wick grapples his opponents, puts them on the floor, and reverses positions on them to gain dominance. Although BJJ is relatively new to be shown in mainstream movies, it proved a hit with fans who couldn’t get enough. With this in mind, it’s believed that John Wick is meant to be a black belt in BJJ based on how he can handle his enemies.

John Wick also uses Judo and Sambo

BJJ was originally inspired by Judo and the two have a lot in common. However, it’s also known that Sambo is used as well. Sambo is a Russian martial art that is quite similar to Judo and they both work by out-grappling your opponent and throwing them to the floor. This involves gripping the jacket of the opponent and using it as leverage to put them to the floor. Like BJJ, these arts are great for self defense and in one scene, Wick uses a Hiza Guruma foot sweep to send an attacker crashing to the floor.

He also uses certain Sambo throws that are as stylish and flashy as they are effective. This makes for great movie scenes and once again you can assume that John Wick is a black belt in these disciplines due to the relative ease of how he pulls these throws off. Based on this, it’s believed that John Wick is an expert at grappling.

John Wick knows Karate

Of course, grappling is good to know but a true martial artist is always looking to evolve and grow. In the case of John Wick, he also knows Karate and once more is highly skilled in this area. This means if he can’t work his Judo or is faced by multiple attackers, he opts for a variety of Karate kicks, punches, and blocks.

Whilst something like boxing may be just as effective, you have to remember that in the movie industry, Karate is easier on the eye and gets fans on their seats. This may be the reason for Wick knowing Karate as it looks slick and stylish. When he can, he also combines his Karate with his grappling skills to great effect.

John Wick knows Krav Maga

John Wick is often seen disarming opponent’s guns and knows how to fight dirty. Sound familiar? Well, Wick was a professional hitman after all so it makes sense that he’d have trained Krav Maga at some point. His level of Krav Maga looks very good too and may have even been taught by the Israeli military or something similar.

Learning such as skill would be imperative for a hitman who will obviously be surrounded by dangerous weapons due to his profession, so it’s important that he knows how to defend from close range against weapons and resort to attacks such as eye gouges if he absolutely has to.

John Wick knows tactical shooting

When he’s not fighting with his fists, John Wick opts for guns and knows how to use them. As a result, you could make a claim that like Krav Maga, this was taught in some kind of military environment. Here, Wick knows how to use objects for cover, stay calm under fire and make strategic movements.

You may have noticed as well that his aim is pretty good and is to a very high standard. Having said this, you may expect this for a hitman who has lived until middle age, in a profession where many die young. Although tactical shooting technically isn’t a martial art, it’s still a difficult skill to master and is obviously a very dangerous one at that.

What is John Wick’s fighting style called?

According to the director Chad Stahelski, John Wick’s fighting style is called ‘Gun-fu’ which is apparently a combination of his martial arts styles. This is because Wick often fights with guns throughout the movie but does so in a stylish way. The ‘fu’ element to the name is a nod to Wick’s other martial arts skills and is a play on words of Kung-Fu. Overall, this is a good term to describe the skill set of John Wick who is both skilled with his hands but also knows how to mix it up with weapons if needed.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s fair to say that John Wick is a very skilled martial artist who excels in multiple disciplines. He is a black belt level in grappling such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, whilst he can also use grappling against the hands to disarm weapons with his Krav Maga skills. When he’s not grappling, he can also rely on his high level Karate to strike opponents which is useful against multiple attackers, as well as using his tactical shooting when facing opponents from a distance. As you can imagine, in combining these skills together you’ve suddenly got a very dangerous martial artist and hitman.

If you’re a fan of the John Wick series then check out the movies here.