10 Most Amazing Practical Movie Effects Of The 2010s

So many action films come and go (most of them starring Nic Cage) without leaving an impact or spawning a sequel, but the excellent action scenes in John Wick (and its sequel) helped elevate it above similar fare.

Why are they so memorable? Besides being shot in (mostly) longer takes - so you can clearly see everything that's going on - directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski decided to choreograph these scenes by using the art of "gun-fu" as a foundation.

Originated by John Woo in the mid-to-late 1980s, gun-fu is a fighting style that combines fast-paced martial arts with firearms, to create a fluid, seamless succession of close-quarters gunplay encounters.

This gives John Wick's gunfights the brutality of a hand-to-hand brawl as well as the more showy, explosive nature of a traditional shootout.

Gun-fu is by no means exclusive to John Wick, but the longer takes, the lack of CGI (which movies like Kingsman cover their gun-fu scenes in) the fact that Keanu Reeves doesn't need a stunt double, the R-rating allowing for a more bloody depiction of the style, and the lack of shaky-cam, all combine to make these action scenes some of the most impressive you'll ever see onscreen.