Keanu Reeves’ firearms techniques in John Wick are hailed by a former United States Army Special Operations soldier.

During an interview posted to YouTube by Insider, retired U.S. Army soldier Patrick McNamara looked at various firearms scenes from iconic films. Among these are several sequences from 2014’s John Wick, which McNamara spoke highly of throughout. Among these were scenes in which John Wick practices “battlefield recovery,” during which, “there’s a variety of pistols around, but he’ll find a magazine that matches the pistol in his hand.”

McNamara went on to applaud Reeves’ techniques all around, from ensuring rounds load correctly to using his surroundings to his advantage during a firefight to performing basic press checks on fresh magazines loaded into a weapon. “You never want to go ‘Click’ instead of ‘Boom’ in a gunfight. You know it’s like the loudest sound you could hear in a gunfight. So press checks are free. Do a press check if there’s a lull in the fight.” McNamara continued, “You have to respect Keanu’s gun-handling ability. Not only his gun-handling ability, but you understand the work that he put in, especially with the mechanics, because when it comes to reloading, press checks, everything like that, it’s obvious that he has got time behind a gun.” In terms of “cool points,” McNamara ranked Reeves’ performance in John Wick as “a solid 10.”

John Wick Launched a Franchise

2014’s John Wick introduced Reeves as the titular assassin who made a name for himself working for a secretive organization operating out of various Continental hotels. The film became an overnight sensation with audiences and critics alike, many of whom hailed it tense action sequences and intriguing world-building alike. Since the release of the first film, three John Wick sequels have been released, as well as a limited series, The Continental: From the World of John Wick, which premiered on Peacock in 2022, and multiple upcoming spinoffs including a From the World of John Wick: Ballerina feature film set to premiere sometime in 2025.

In November, original co-director David Leitch opened up about potentially returning to the franchise for one of the many upcoming projects set in the universe he helped create. “Never say never. I love the Wick world, I love the people in it, and I’m so grateful for the time that I was there,” Leitch noted. “But, yeah, I totally would. At 87North, we do have a ton of irons in the fire, and we actually have our own Donnie Yen project, Kung Fu. We have our universe of Violent Night and Nobody, which both have sequels coming. So there’s a lot to manage, which is great. But, if it was the right time and the right story and I was the right person to tell it, of course, I would. It’s such a fun world, and I’m really proud that I helped create it.”