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‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ (Photo Credit: Lionsgate)

Editing is a little bit like comic book lettering. It’s a complex and particular art form that, at its best, is often invisible. It is often far easier to notice bad editing than good editing in film, and often the best editing, even at its most noticeable, is intangible.

Describing it proves difficult despite the extent to which it contributes to the language of a film. There’s a reason it took Quentin Tarantino a couple of shots to fully get back on track after his longtime collaborator, editor Sally Menke, passed away. Menke contributed so greatly to the visual language of his filmography, that there’s a palpable difference between Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. Despite being roughly the same length, Menke’s absence is largely why the latter feels so much longer and less cohesive. Because of this invisibility, editing is, too often, a thankless task.

However, if there’s an exception to this it’s action cinema. A great action setpiece is a rare opportunity for an editor to cut loose and show off their skill set in the most bombastic and kinetic fashion possible. Action is the genre that is made or broken by editing. Poor editing defuses tension and momentum. It takes away from the impact of a fistfight, or car chase, or shootout. It provides the necessary spacial context for a setpiece and balances character. There’s no genre in which editing is simultaneously this essential and so hard to pull off.

When it works, you’re enthralled by the action taking place in front of you and, perhaps more importantly, you can comprehend what’s going on clearly. When it fails, you likely don’t fully notice – but have you ever just kind of zoned out during an action sequence and waited for the next vital plot point to come along? It’s likely due to poor editing.

There’s no better indicator of what the difference between good and bad editing looks like than director Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film Creed and his 2018 MCU effort Black Panther. To be clear, these are both great movies (Creed recently made Geek’s Best Movies of the Decade list). But Marvel films at large often treat editing as an afterthought and as a result, their action sequences are far from the most engaging or compelling. It’s a shame as ostensibly massive superhero blockbusters should feature top-tier action setpieces. But more often than not, shoddy editing takes away from their potential impactfulness.

The above sequence is the climax of Creed. Editors Michael P. Shawver and Claudia Castello do some really special work here, first and foremost manifested in exhibiting their control over the impact of the punches landed. They linger on shots long enough for us to see the strikes connect in full and how each fighter responds to them. They also pull off the vital task of conveying space to the audience at all times. We’re aware of the size of the ring in which Apollo and Ricky are fighting, aware of how much space there is between them when they aren’t face-to-face throwing punches. It makes for an enthralling action sequence in which we feel the impact of every punch and are able to follow our protagonist as he navigates the space.

Conversely, bad editing drastically diminishes one of the early setpieces in Black Panther. Shawver returns to the editing room for this one, but this time he’s joined by Debbie Berman, a Marvel regular who’s responsible for Spider-Man: Homecoming and Captain Marvel as well. Notice how every time a punch or kick is landed in this scene, there’s almost instantly a cutaway to a new angle in which the character on the receiving end reacts. Editing like this quietly breaks the momentum of a fight sequence and makes us more aware of the fact that what we’re watching is stuntwork.

You want to talk about great action and great editing? Let’s talk Wick. John Wick, specifically. The boogeyman. The Baba Yaga. The defining action character of the 2010s. These movies have, as we addressed in our Best of the Decade feature, largely defined the aesthetics of action movies for a generation. You never tune out of the action in these movies – it’s the reason you show up, to begin with.

While there are some impressive cinematic techniques at play during these sequences in the form of lengthy oners and lush, neon cinematography, it’s the editing that ultimately makes them work so well. While watching a Wick movie you’re aware of just how much every punch, stab, and bullet wound hurts. You never lose track of where John is in a setpiece, even one as crowded as the shootout at the concert in John Wick: Chapter 2. This editing, however, always remains functional above all else – it’s never so distracting that you have to come out of the moment to appreciate it. It’s the glue that holds these tremendously special action movies together.

Your favorite movie in this franchise is likely a toss-up (there’s no wrong answer), but the impact of John Wick: Chapter 2 remains one of the more resonant moments in the legacy of the franchise. It’s when we realized that these movies were going to be a big deal – remember, the first became something of a word-of-mouth hit. John Wick: Chapter 2 is the moment it became a dominant cultural force – and it should be rewarded as such.

It Should Have Been Nominated for: Best Editing

John Wick: Chapter 2 came out in the relatively stacked year of 2017, which gave us Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Dunkirk, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and countless other stone-cold masterpieces. This made the Oscars even more competitive than usual. Still, somehow the list of nominees for Best Editing feels half-baked.

At the very least, they got the winner right in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. Rest assured, that win isn’t going to be argued here. Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver also secured a much-warranted nomination, both given how well it covers the car and foot chases featured in the film and for taking on the task of syncing the editing up to the music that plays throughout the movie. I, Tonya isn’t going to be studied any time soon, but it does feature a bevy of clever editorial tricks and feels worthy of the nomination it received. The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri though? Cut them both, honestly. The former is a good movie with competent editing, but the latter hardly warrants any of its nominations, if we’re being honest.

One of these slots – likely that which went to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – should go to John Wick: Chapter 2 for its stellar competence in editing a movie roughly three-quarters of which is an extended action sequence (maybe give the other to Get Out).

Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise / Lionsgate

Editor Evan Schiff provides pacing and empathy through his work in the cutting room, guiding the audience through a series of increasingly complex action setpieces. We are never lost along the journey John traverses in this film and every action setpiece is anchored in stellar spacial awareness and a brutal refusal to cut away when a punch lands, when a knife sinks into skin. His editing (paired with Director of Photography Dan Laustsen’s airtight work) also allows the audience to take in the film’s multi-national surroundings, from Italy to New York City, without missing out on an action beat. In John Wick: Chapter 2, the streets of Rome are idyllic as ever, despite being set against nonstop violence.

There’s more Wick on the way, so maybe one of these days it’ll begin a long-deserved technical run during Oscar season. The Academy doesn’t tend to give movies like these much love though, so it’s hard to be optimistic about that. Still, at the rate these movies are improving and innovating, the fourth installment may prove to be something voters in the editing and technical craft bodies can’t overlook any longer. Just remember if that happens that it all started in 2017 with John Wick: Chapter 2.

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