Donnie Yen portrays the blind assassin Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4, and one of his fight scenes pays tribute to two of Yen’s Hong Kong movies.
WARNING! Contains SPOILERS for John Wick: Chapter 4!John Wick: Chapter 4 pays tribute to two Donnie Yen movies in one of its big fight scenes. In John Wick: Chapter 4, the battle between John (Keanu Reeves) and the High Table reaches a boiling point with, with John killing the Elder, followed by the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) destroying the New York Continental and aggressively pursuing John. This leads John’s old friend Caine (Donnie Yen) to be summoned to take out John, with his daughter’s life being threatened if he does not.
While Donnie Yen has long been one of the biggest stars in Asia, he had appeared in relatively few Hollywood productions until his roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and xXx: Return of Xander Cage. In John Wick: Chapter 4, Yen’s full skills are showcased in a Western movie like never before, with Yen consistently amazing in his fight scenes in the film. One fight in particular during the movie’s battle at the Osaka Continental also makes nods to not one, but two of Donnie Yen’s Hong Kong martial arts films, namely the Ip Man films and Yen’s 1989 Hong Kong movie In The Line of Duty IV.
Caine’s First Fight Scene Is A Tribute To Ip Man & In The Line Of Duty IV
When Caine battles a group of Osaka Continental operatives trying to fight off the High Table’s invasion, he corners one opponent against a kitchen counter. Caine first pummels his enemy with a flurry of chain-punches, then finally puts him down with a wind-up punch as his finishing blow. In this one moment, John Wick: Chapter 4 pays major tributes to Yen’s fight scenes in the Ip Man movies and In The Line of Duty IV.
In the Ip Man martial arts film series, Yen portrays the eponymous mentor of Bruce Lee, Ip Man having been a renowned Grandmaster of Wing Chun kung fu. With chain-punching being a staple technique of Wing Chun, it is utilized in virtually all of Yen’s fight scenes in the Ip Man films. Additionally, Yen uses wind-up punches in two of In The Line of Duty IV‘s big fight scenes with John Salvitti and Michael Woods, respectively. Of course, such martial arts movie Easter eggs as these are to be expected in the John Wick franchise.
Why These Donnie Yen Movie Tributes Are Significant In John Wick 4
Throughout the John Wick movies, director Chad Stahelski has overtly paid tribute to many martial arts classics in the franchise’s action scenes. These have included the hall of mirrors in John Wick: Chapter 2 being a tribute to Enter the Dragon, and the many shattered glass cases in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum being a tribute to the climactic mall fight in Jackie Chan’s Police Story, in which much glass is shattered. Add in John’s Bruce Lee-worthy use of a pair of nunchaku in one of John Wick: Chapter 4‘s fight scenes, and Stahelski’s directorial trademark of paying homage to beloved martial arts films really stands out.
With Donnie Yen’s portrayal of Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4, it is far from surprising that he and Stahelski would strive to pay tribute both to Yen’s signature role of Ip Man as well as one of Yen’s early Hong Kong action films. Considerable talk has also arisen about a Caine-centric spin-off, which seems that much more likely after John Wick: Chapter 4‘s post-credits scene. Hopefully, the next chapter for Caine in the John Wick universe will feature more such martial arts movie tributes as those seen in John Wick: Chapter 4.
