Laurence Fishburne Is the Greatest Scene-Stealer of the John Wick Series

The Big Picture

• Laurence Fishburne’s role as The Bowery King in the John Wick series grows in significance and impact in the fourth installment.
• The Bowery King’s eccentricity adds a different sense of humor to the series, counterbalancing Keanu Reeves’ self-seriousness.
• The Bowery King becomes John’s ally and friend, showing genuine compassion and defiance on John’s behalf, making him a significant figure in John’s journey.

While the first John Wick film was a small, grounded revenge thriller with a story as simple as a dead dog, Chad Stahelski’s action saga has expanded into a globetrotting neo-noir about the latent society of assassins, criminals, and syndicates that exist within the world’s largest cities. Each John Wick film has reminded the viewer that while Keanu Reeves’ singular likability is our gateway into this world, he’s not entirely alone. Characters like Winston Scott (Ian McShane), Charon (Lance Reddick), The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon), and The Doctor (Randall Duk Kim) emphasize the formality and chivalry that binds the assassins and members of the High Table, and give the films a sense of consistent continuity. However, Laurence Fishburne’s recurring role as John’s ally “The Bowery King” is just plain fun, and by the fourth installment, he proves to be one of the most emotionally impactful characters in the series.

Laurence Fishburne Is the King of the Bowery

The Bowery King is first introduced in John Wick: Chapter 2 as one of John’s old allies, who agrees to shelter him and reequip his arsenal when he becomes the target of a manhunt in New York City. The Bowery King’s conversations suggest a personal history to Wick that isn’t directly tied to the High Table; he may not be among the upper class of assassins, but he and Wick have clearly had enough adventures together that they’ve earned a mutual sense of trust. The humor in the John Wick films generally comes from the stone-cold self-seriousness of the characters, yet Fishburne is able to change that up with a performance that is blatantly absurd and adds more than a few great one-liners.

It’s rare for an action star to be in two separate franchises that changed the genre forever. The Matrix was a groundbreaking classic that blended ancient philosophy, Joseph Campbell’s theology, martial arts films, Japanese animation, neo-noir anxiety, and cyberpunk into a postmodern science fiction masterpiece; John Wick combined the elegance of Akira Kurowsawa’s samurai films with the worldbuilding of a comic book franchise, inventive gunplay, the neo-noir aesthetics of Michael Mann, and the perpetual tension of French political thrillers. In both franchises, Reeves is the audience’s entry point into this strange world, but it’s Fishburne who shows the wisdom of someone who’s already adjusted to them. John Wick: Chapter 4 gives Fishburne his most sizable and impactful role thus far.

The Bowery King Is An Ally At The Right Time

Due to the cold formality of John’s interactions with the members of the High Table, it’s hard to distinguish between politeness, mutual respect, and genuine friendship. Although John counts Winston and Charon as his allies because of their shared goals of maintaining balance in the High Table and protecting the New York Continental, it’s not like John considers Winston to be a “father figure” to him in any way. Even Halle Berry’s Sofia Al-Azwar, who appears as his new accomplice in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, is there to seek John’s help in protecting the Casablanca Continental; while there may be some casual flirtations between the two, John is not the priority of her mission.

In comparison, The Bowery King seems to be protecting John out of genuine compassion. Reeves and Fishburne work so well together onscreen that there’s an entire history implied between them that never has to be spelled out. It’s also a reminder that this world of assassins isn’t just bound to gorgeous cityscapes and ancient works of art. The Bowery King is a street-level crime lord who aids homeless communities; perhaps he may not factor into the internal politics of the High Table, but he’s nonetheless affected by their decisions.

Fishburne Brings Humor to the John Wick Universe

The Bowery King is also just such an eccentric character that any of his appearances add a different sense of humor to the series. Reeves’ self-seriousness has been utilized by filmmakers like Kathryn Bigelow for comedic effect, and by The Wachowskis as a messianic symbol. Stahelski intends for him to be more genuinely relatable, and counterbalancing him with an actor like Fishburne that can go broad shows that John has friends on all sides of the societal spectrum.

There’s also a meta quality to their interactions that the John Wick films playfully acknowledge; the franchise is a love letter to Reeves’ career, and so bringing back his most famous The Matrix co-star is obviously a nod. What’s amusing is that Fishburne is decidedly not just doing a Morpheus impression, replacing any sense of ancient wisdom with the absurdity of holding an underground intelligence network within a soup kitchen. The idea of an undercover agent who masks himself in plain sight actually calls back to some of Fishburne’s earliest work in crime films, including his excellent performances in Deep Cover and King of New York.

The Bowery King Is a Friend John Wick Needs

By the time of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, The Bowery King has essentially become John’s version of Q from the James Bond series, and gives him the gadgets he needs. However, The Bowery King’s defiance on John’s behalf is quite endearing, as he refuses to turn his friend in when the Soup Kitchen is invaded. We see John lashing out towards The Adjudicator and the other High Table assassins because they threatened his friend; this shows that John isn’t just dead set on getting revenge for the death of his wife, but that he’s willing to avenge any friend that is in danger.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is easily the grandest, most elaborate entry in the series thus far, and it’s notable that the Bowery King appears in three of the most critical scenes. He delivers a fiery monologue in the opening scene that compares John to figures of mythology and religion, and the mixing of Fishburne’s voice with the piercing sounds of John’s training creates a sensational effect. He appears once more to equip John with his suit before the descent to Paris, as if he’s giving him his “superhero costume” before the last major battle. Of course, The Bowery King is one of the two attendees at John’s funeral; while Winston can speak about John as the legend he was, The Bowery King had the pleasure of knowing him as a man.

Interestingly, John Wick: Chapter 4 is the first in the series to be released after Reeves’ return to his other core franchise with 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections. While the fourth installment in the sci-fi series was generally excellent, subversive, and original, the one thing it lacked was a presence like Fishburne’s who could put the entire adventure into perspective. John Wick: Chapter 4 is a reminder of just how well Reeves and Fishburne work together on screen, and how powerful their chemistry can be.

John Wick: Chapter 2 is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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