All of us probably have heard about John Wick. Despite it being a fictional character featured in the movie, his shooting skills were pretty good. The character was featured by Keanu Reeves, who mastered shooting range in preparation for the role. But can we all train to shoot guns like John Wick?
Realistic gunfights are messy; they are not so action-packed and are rather slow-paced by comparison, even more so in an urban area with so many opportunities to hide and ambush any assailant. This is why teamwork is so important in the military, it’s just not possible for you to John Wick through such a high-risk and complicated environment. But if you still push forward, the team behind John Wick/Keanu Reeves firearms training was the Taran Tactical.
Taran Tactical is the organization that teaches Keanu Reeves his weapon-handling skills. And yes, it is pretty impressive, isn’t it? (Not sarcasm) I also had many a “wow” moment when I watched the movie.
But, what you are mistaking is the difference between weapon handling skills and actual gunfighting skills. John Wick approaches his gunfights like a 3-gun action challenge match, with a huge dollop of Hollywood stirred in and a small drizzle of “tactical” on top. From the way, he holds his weapons to the way he moves to the way he shoots. It’s almost as if he is in a live-action 3GACM.
The issue is real life isn’t a 3GACM. In real life, your targets are not static; they are living, breathing humans with brains and actively trying to take you out instead of predictable fodder for the protagonist to slaughter. The movie makes the bad guys glorify reactive paper targets for John Wick to 3GACM his way through. Tactically, John Wick is a dumbass. But Keanu Reeves’s firearms skills in the real world are quite impressive, as you may see in the video below.
