David Leitch may have used the success of John Wick as a springboard to launch himself towards a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest action directors working today, with his last two movies – Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw – both earning over $750 million at the box office. But his first solo effort as a director is frequently overlooked, and remains one of the most underrated action movies of recent years.
Atomic Blonde starred Charlize Theron as MI6 super-spy Lorraine Broughton, and the vast experience that both the Academy Award-winning actress and her director possessed when it came to crafting expertly-choreographed stunts and set-pieces resulted in a stylish and bone-crunching movie focused on a no-frills hero played by an A-list action star that unsurprisingly invited comparisons to a certain Mr. Wick.
A sequel to Atomic Blonde was recently confirmed to be in the works at Netflix, while John Wick: Chapter 4 is set to start shooting as soon as Keanu Reeves finishes up his commitments to The Matrix 4. Given the shared creative minds behind both well-dressed merchants of violence, the idea of a crossover between the two characters is a mouth-watering prospect.
Charlize Theron clearly agrees, too, and in a recent interview the star of Netflix’s upcoming The Old Guard admitted that she’d jump at the opportunity to do some sort of team-up.
“Listen, as soon as I get the call, I’ll be there. They just have to tell me where, when, and I’ll show up. Keanu is one of my most favorite people in the whole wide world, I absolutely love him. I respect him, I admire him and I am so grateful that I got to make two movies with him. We both kind of find ourselves in this new stage of our career, and so much of Atomic Blonde was influenced by John Wick. So, if we can get those two characters to meet up in a timeline that makes sense, I’m all about it.”
Once Atomic Blonde 2 and John Wick: Chapter 4 are in the can, you’d have to be insane not to pursue the idea of a crossover. David Leitch provides the connective tissue, the stars have been friends for decades having first worked together in 1997’s The Devil’s Advocate and are also regarded as two of cinema’s premiere action heroes, and the idea of the franchises crossing over would have fans of the genre turning up in massive numbers for what would surely be a nailed-on hit movie.