10 Underhyped Movies That Blew Everyone Away

3. John Wick

Keanu Reeves John Wick
Summit Entertainment

The Non-Hype

When we say that nobody cared about John Wick in the run-up to its release, we really, truly mean it. "Aging movie star doing a generic action-thriller" is almost its own genre at this point, and to be frank, the vast majority of them (Taken 2, Taken 3, The Gunman, Stolen, please tell us when to stop) are rubbish.

So when it was announced that Keanu Reeves would be joining these not-so-esteemed ranks, you could almost hear the world groan. Even the most hardcore Reeves fan will admit that his acting game leaves a lot to be desired, and all things considered, John Wick seemed destined for one place, and one place only: the bargain bin.

The Big Reaction

But by god, we were wrong. We were so, so wrong.

Not just a good action flick, but a top-tier action flick, John Wick actually put effort into crafting some outstanding, punchy action sequences, and smartly, it paired these with a simple yet effective story (if you didn't tear up when the dog died, you are an emotionless robot), meaning that the quieter scenes were just as engaging to sit through as the gunfights.

With two equally-excellent sequels under its belt, a decent video game on store shelves and a TV series on the horizon, John Wick is one of the most remarkable franchise success stories of the century. Absolutely nobody saw this coming.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!