In Plain Sight
Invisible Populations and Shadow Worldbuilding in John Wick: Chapter 2.
[Note- This film analysis uses the “homeless” for editorial clarity for readers unfamiliar with newer "unhoused" or "unsheltered." For more on the changing views of the term, check out Architectural Digest's piece.]
Yellow cabs, ubiquitous forms of New York City transport, are plentiful to the point of invisibility. Similarly, and sadly, the same can be said for the city's homeless population and the ethnically marginalized people of the five boroughs. John Wick: Chapter Two's worldbuilding puts these New Yorkers front and center. Rather than melting into the background with the extras, the homeless, the yellow cabs, and to a lesser extent, New York's ethnic backbone populate and propel the story. New York City is the biomechanical entity of steel, concrete, glass, flesh, and bone, and John Wick: Chapter Two exploits that.
In the opening minutes of Chapter Two, Wick's action propels into worldbuilding. Taking out a motorcyclist after a chase, Wick (Keanu Reeves) lifts a metal planchette from the body. Revealing the entry pass to the viewer opens the first layer of worldbuilding- the omnipresent yellow cab. The tradition of painting taxis yellow began in the early 20th century to make the cab visible from a distance. In 1937 taxi operators were required to obtain "medallions," metal plates secured to the cab's hood to identify its legitimacy. In a narratively playful symmetry, you need the iconic gold coin to operate within Wick's universe, and to run a cab; you require a medallion. However, the cabs in Chapter Two are anything but livery vehicles for tourists or stock brokers.
Wick's infiltrating the taxicab fleet's cavernous garage lets the viewer see the underground economy of vice at the universe's heart. Kilos of bundled drugs move in and out of the trunks, joining stacks of U.S. dollars and chests of gold coins. The illicit supply chain's simplicity is evident- the cabs can move anywhere in or out of the five boroughs and not raise suspicion. The vehicles are part of the machine that is Wick's New York City, purveyors of proscribed nutrients within the city's surface road capillaries. By moving in plain sight, the cabs become the height of efficiency and explore how the yet-to-be-revealed High Table builds and retains its wealth. New York's cabs, associated so closely with the hustle and vibrancy of a world-class city, are familiar to the viewer. In the background, or often right in front of the ignoring resident or visitor, are New York's homeless.
Homelessness, or unsheltered people, is a continuing stain on our society. The glaring injustice of the homeless population on the streets of New York played a role in John Wick: Chapter 2. Franchise director Chad Stahelski said scouting of New York put the homeless population in plain view "Sadly, there are a lot of homeless-looking people – but more so than other areas, they are completely invisible to the populace…The cops don't care. Nobody cares." [1] Where New Yorkers may become numb or complacent with the homeless, or the fearful tourists avoid any recognition of individuals, Stahelski saw them as part of the fabric of New York City. As a result, the population's invisibility to all but a few made their presence a narratively vital addition to the Wick worldbuilding.
Bringing together this group of unhomed people who populated almost every street scene in Chapter 2 was the Bowery King (Lawrence Fishburne.) The sequel's first suggestion of the clandestine intelligence network comes as Wick enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a meeting with Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio.) Seated at the foot of the majestic granite staircase was a single homeless character. As the film progresses, sending Wick to Rome and back, the return to Manhattan's subway provides an entry into the world of the Bowery Boys. Chased by assassins seeking the bounty on Wick, he drops a gold coin into the tin cup of a panhandler in the New York subway ending with the line, "Take me to Him. Tell Him it's Wick." With tarps and packing blankets heaped around him, the figure takes the coin, shunts Wick under the covers, and waits for a pair of pursuing killers to approach. When the assassins draw near, the grimy-appearing functionary of the Bowery Boys yanks a suppressed pistol and quickly dispatches the two. When they fall, two more homeless characters appear off-screen to haul away the bodies.
As if taken into an underworld, Wick awakens with stitches and an IV in a crematory run by the Bowery King. Just one part of a sprawling complex beneath the boroughs leading to tunnels and warehouses, the kingdom established by Fishburne's character possesses influence and secrecy. On the rooftop with dozens of homing pigeon coops, the Bowery King surveys his messengers and how they transport notes and SIM cards across the city. All in plain sight. Reveling in his position over the needy and wounded Wick, the Bowery King exclaims, "I am all-seeing. All-knowing."
So he can find D'Antonio and kill him for insisting he assassinates his sister, only to turn around and put a $7 million price on Wick's head; Wick acknowledges the Bowery King's power, "You have eyes begging for change on every street corner in this city…I need you to get me across the city. Underground." Begrudgingly, knowing any help to Wick will incur the D'Antonio's wrath, and out of professional courtesy, the Bowery King agrees. When asked for a gun, the King gives Wick a seven-round .45 caliber pistol, "Seven million gets you seven rounds." The character and his network establish a broad unseen powerbase. Because some characters might drive taxicabs or struggle to survive on the street, they are invisible for all intents and purposes.
This invisible world within a world underpins much of Chapter 2's narrative. Similarly, early in the film, when Wick seeks weapons and a suit before traveling to Rome, he uses the services of a safe deposit company. Operating from a store font, possibly with many legitimate customers, the shop manager, a rotund Orthodox Jewish man behind the counter, provides Wick with a leather case containing a suit, gun, passport, and gold coins. Sending the eponymous killer on his way with "Happy Hunting, Mr. Wick," the quickly sketched character demonstrates a vast world of people, professions, and ethnicity playing roles in the Wick world. In the follow-up film to the surprise 2014 hit, 2017's Chapter 2, worldbuilding is driven not just by the diversity of the professional ecosystem but through reliance on the faces that are ignored or stepped over by the rest of the world.
Background characters are often just set dressing, designed to fill out space and frame. One of the successes in Wick's worldbuilding is its ability to study the fabric of everyday life and find narrative inspiration from it. Rather than overcomplicating or overexplaining the universe, Wick's worldbuilders create the ecosystem to then pull on those pieces when suitable for the narrative and action. A violin-playing busker in Chapter 2 is actually an assassin, played with vigor by Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and MMA-trained stunt performer Heidi Moneymaker. Commuters having coffee are killers in waiting and are soon dispatched with a pencil. Where some creative teams would turn every background character into mindless cannon fodder, the Wick writers, directors, and producers appear to understand that worldbuilding starts and succeeds with a rich milieu that advances the story or calls-back to earlier concepts or plot devices.
In the next installment, we will explore the concept of the mysterious High Table and examine how worldbuilding emerges from their occulted presence.
[1] Nugent, John. "John Wick 2: 12 Secrets from Director Chad Stahelski." Empire, 21 Feb. 2017, www.empireonline.com/movies/features/john-wick-2-chad-stahelski/.