REVIEW

Every John Wick Movie, Ranked

By Matt Oakes · October 18, 2026

Nobody saw John Wick coming. In 2014, a scrappy revenge movie about a retired hitman avenging his dog turned into a career renaissance for Keanu Reeves and the most influential action franchise of its era, thanks to stunt-coordinator-turned-director Chad Stahelski’s balletic, long-take “gun-fu” and a mythology of gold coins, hotels for assassins and the ever-ominous High Table.

Four chapters and one spinoff later (Ana de Armas’ Ballerina), the series has only gotten bigger, longer and more operatic. John Wick: Chapter 4 tops my ranking, while Ballerina brings up the rear. Here’s every John Wick movie, ranked.

Quick list:

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
John Wick (2014)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Ballerina (2025)

5. BALLERINA (2025)

Ballerina (2025) still
Ana de Armas explodes into the JWEU (John Wick Expanded Universe) with the franchise-expanding spinoff Ballerina. Or, if we’re using the full, painfully cringe title, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. (The first and last time that full phrase will be used, I promise.)

Ana de Armas is a welcome new face (successor?) in the John Wick universe as a freshly minted female assassin on her own vengeance trail. The highs and lows should be familiar at this point, but so too should the consistency. These things just know how to get ’em to rip just right.▶ Watch on HBO Max · Rent or buy on Amazon · Read the full review

4. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 (2017)

At its core John Wick is pornography. Grade-A, uncut violence porn. Cinematic gun-fu meant to boner pop action junkies looking to get off at the theater. And that’s not a dig against the film. Many lesser films strive to achieve the kind of simple-minded, clear-eyed, uncluttered glory that defines John Wick and get caught up in unnecessary twists or lamebrained character subplots.

John Wick: Chapter 2 is everything fans of the first film wanted and little else. There’s more blood, more headshots, more campy Keanu Reeves stalking and killing his prey but even with Wick’s world opening up and filling out, the ultra-violent, uncluttered, wafer-thin action movie appeal has already started to wear. At least no dogs die this time round though.▶ Watch on HBO Max · Rent or buy on Amazon · Read the full review

3. JOHN WICK (2014)

Shoot first and ask questions later is the mantra of Keanu Reeves’ career-reviving starring vehicle, a film that rotates around the question of “Who is John Wick?” and eventually “What is he capable of?” Going in blind to its main plot details will likely result in a better experience as the first act coyly plays with the idea of slowly unveiling who exactly this John Wick character is.

John Wick eventually admits that it is in fact just the straight-forward actioner you’ve hoped it would transcend – with an ending you could forecast from 30 minutes in – but the sheer amount of adrenaline, relentless violence and smooth gunman skills help significantly to make up for its lack of an actual soul.Rent or buy on Amazon · Read the full review

2. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM (2019)

When you buy your ticket for John Wick 3, prepare for war. The third (and evidently not final) installment in Keanu Reeves’ increasingly trendy no-fuss no-frills action franchise is an idyllic distillation of the draw of the series, amped up to the Nth degree, slurping down a snifter of brandy, armed with Schubert on vinyl, locked, stocked, loaded, ready to tango.

Zany close-range action choreography, blistering technical marksmanship, a plethora of gorgeous backdrops, and Keanu Reeves’ amusingly cartoonish and glib performance make John Wick 3 – Parabellum exactly the kind of mindless action escapism fans of the series cream themselves over, if little more.Rent or buy on Amazon · Read the full review

1. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (2023)

What is a John Wick movie? A confluence of neon-lit backdrops, thumping EDM kill music, a stony Keanu Reeves hacking through monosyllabic dialogue, and more minutes of gun-fu action choreography than most other movies have just plain minutes, John Wick has become a genre unto itself. A John Wick movie is just that: a John Wick movie. And this John Wick movie, John Wick: Chapter 4, is the most John Wick of them all.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is almost three hours of next-level gunfu insanity. Director Chad Stahelski has raised the bar on the action once more while continuing to deliver the insanely entertaining dumb guy essence of a John Wick movie. This is Mozart for morons and I love it.▶ Watch on Prime Video · Rent or buy on Amazon · Read the full review

How to Watch the John Wick Movies in Order

Release order is the way to go, with one wrinkle: the spinoff Ballerina takes place during the events of Chapter 3, so it slots in neatly between Parabellum and Chapter 4.

John Wick (2014)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019)
Ballerina (2025)
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)