Seemingly out of nowhere, the John Wick franchise reset the standard for modern action movies, as the revenge thriller captivated audiences with an exciting, fast-paced story that quickly evolved into a captivating universe of crime lords and hitmen. However, what really separated it from the run-of-the-mill action movies of the mid-2010s was its popularization of the iconic fight choreography referred to as “gun fu.” First introduced by the legendary John Woo in the 1980s in Hong Kong action, gun fu is a very specific type of fighting action in which gunplay is married with martial arts and melee weapons to create a distinct, nearly balletic style of close-quarters combat.

​