John Wick 2's Hall Of Mirrors Leaves CG Artists Shocked And Mortified By The Amount Of Work Required

John Wick: Chapter 2
The fight sequence in the hall of mirrors provokes enthusiastic reactions from visual effects artists, who point out the challenges involved in the endeavor. Following the surprise success of the first film in 2014, Keanu Reeves returned as assassin John Wick for director Chad Stahelski's bigger, bolder sequel. The film ramps up the action from the first episode with some impressive fight sequences, including a climactic one set in a hall of mirrors as Wick battles a horde of enemies.

In a recent episode of Runner CrewIn the "VFX Artists React" YouTube series, artists Sam Gorski, Wren Weichman and Jordan Allen analyze John Wick: Chapter 2The hall of mirrors sequence and how it was accomplished. Jordan provides some important background on the scene, revealing that Stahelski went to great lengths to ensure that a large portion of the scenes could be performed practically, but this still left a lot of visual effects work in post-production.:

When they were planning this particular sequence, it was over three months dedicated just to camera blocking. And it's because they were very focused on optimizing their angles and perspectives to hide as much as possible. That said, the director estimated that about 60% of the scenes where the camera was visible were done on set. That still leaves, in a nine-minute sequence, 40% of what we were seeing was handled digitally.

The scene's visual effects strike Sam as such a monumental and frustrating task that he jokingly asks if the scenes feature "illegal visual effects." Wren then explains exactly why it's such a challenge, explaining that the abundance of mirrors makes VFX work much more complicated than just removing a camera operator. Check out his comment below:

It's more than just painting the camera. It's all the other reflections in the scene from that camera. And you have to match the distortion of these mirrors. They are not flat mirrors. They are wavy mirrors.

What John Wick 2's Hall Of Mirrors Fight Means For The Franchise

Chad Stahelski mixes practical and digital to great effect

The hall of mirrors fights in John Wick: Chapter 2 is, in many ways, emblematic of how visual effects are used in the franchise as a whole. Although a lot of focus is placed on the practical action and hard work of the stunt performers, Visual effects work is crucial to bringing John's story to life. For one, all of the franchise's flashes are added in post-production, as are the sprays of blood and mist when someone is shot.

In acclaimed John Wick: Chapter 4Likewise, there is a car chase and shootout around the Arc de Triomphe. Although Reeves self-directed the sequel and there were real car crashes and stunts, many of the background cars in the scene were entirely digital, and much of the scene was not actually filmed at the Arc de Triomphe in any way. Many keys John Wick Action scenes, then, rely on visual effects to work, and the franchise has been very successful using this strategy.

Our take on John Wick 2's climactic shootout

It's an improvement over the original John Wick

After intense "gun-fu" and nightclub action, the first John Wick ends with an anticlimactic little fight with an enemy that John apparently should be able to beat quite easily. John Wick: Chapter 2 don't have this same problem. In addition to having a higher body count, the climactic shootout – and the film as a whole – makes a concerted effort to deliver more complex and intricate fight scenes.

Although it is challenging to name John Wick: Chapter 2 the best film in the series given the strength of all the other episodes, it is undoubtedly a worthy continuation of the original. The hall of mirrors fight scene also speaks to Stahelski's approach to action and his willingness to mix the practical and the digital, an approach that has worked wonders so far.

Source: Runner Crew