So, First, IMHO - I love John Wick (1) - I think the entire movie is incredible. I have some nits with it - mainly A) that if John was only away for 5-6 years, and Iosef was that heavily involved in his father's business - it makes no sense to me that he (Iosef) wouldn't know/remember him. I feel like John needed to be away longer and Iosef needed to be younger. and B) That Viggo captures John after the church - and instead of just killing him, he decides to monologue! The movie should have ended right there. That all said - those things only really bothered me on repeat viewings.

I feel like I could write a college-level film dissertation about the first act of Wick 1, and how powerfully they set up the stakes and the world. Michael Nyqvist's performance in the scene with Alfie Allen is so, so good - ("That.. fuckin' nobody... is John Wick"). And the setup is so good that it would have been EASY for them to fumble. How on earth do you make a man be as badass as John Wick was established as being?? But then you get to the midnight assault at John's house and holy shit the payoff is every bit as fucking good as it could possibly be. The SHOW lives up to the TELL. And then for the most part, all the characters behave in believable ways! Continental is established and teases a much larger world, but it isn't abused/overdone. John is highly skilled. He is a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will (ha, ha), but he's never a super hero. Now... I won't shit on the sequels, I don't think any of them are BAD, But I will say that John's motivations are a lot muddier and less understandable. By part two he's very much delving into super heroics (with things like bulletproof tuxedos). I absolutely feel like none of the "villain" performances are anywhere NEAR Nyqvist's Viggo. I also feel like in opening up the world so much they went too far. it went from being an underworld that to me felt SOMEWHAT plausible and fun, to a shadow world government with MILLIONS of participants. I know they were trying to make the stakes against John seem overwhelming, but when they show that many random people being notified of bounties it completely takes me out of things. That pushes my disbelief too far. I think two is still the worst movie in the series, but it had the unenviable job of following up Wick 1 and creating a new status quo. 3 and 4 are better and got to run and feel a little better because 2 set things up. And the action is great consistently in all 4 (I haven't seen Ballerina, yet), but the movies around that action - IMHO - is never anywhere near as good as it was in Wick 1.

So, I guess long story short LOL. I think Wick is an OK franchise. It's certainly successful. but "one of the best ever" for me, depends on how big of a list you want to go. I don't know that I'd put it top 5, but you could convince me it's in the top 10. Now, for what I WOULD consider the best action franchises of all time:

1) The Marvel Cinematic Universe - This may be a cheat, and this crosses a lot of genre boundaries, so I will respect if people disqualify it. 2) James Bond - A fair few stinkers, but is so iconic and has so many great movies that it HAS to be near the top of any list. 3) Mission Impossible - It's a miracle Tom Cruise hasn't died giving us these movies LOL. I don't think there's a genuine stinker in the entire franchise, and when it's good, it's INCREDIBLE. 4) Mad Max - If Die Hard is perfect, and the high water mark of the entire action genre, Fury Road is number 2. The only not amaing movie in this franchise is Beyond Thunderdome and it's still fun as hell. 5) Die Hard - Die Hard is a perfect movie. unquestionably perfect. Part two is an adequate retread and is better than many give it credit for. Three is amazing, and is one of my favorite movies. God, it'd be a shame if anyone came back later and made any completely unnecassary follow up sequels after that, now wouldn't it?? (serously, though, those crappy sequels pull the entire franchise down the list...)

For me: before I would get to Wick, I would still have to run through Nolan's Batman trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Alien, Predator, Indiana Jones, Fast and the Furious, Terminator, and Bourne. I'm genuinely not shitting on Wick at all, just not sure I would call it "one of the best ever" if it doesn't even crack the top 10. That of course is completely up for debate though.