Fails the Bechdel test

John Wick: Chapter 4

Name: John Wick: Chapter 4
Released: 2023

2023. Directed by Chad Stahelski, written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch and Derek Kolstad.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 2 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Condemned by the tyrannical High Table to be on the run for the rest of his life, deadly assassin maestro John Wick (2014) embarks on a Sisyphean mission of suicidal fury to decide his fate after the merciless carnage in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019). At last, John's violent journey, fuelled by vengeance and grief, ultimately leads him to a fateful confrontation with his former employers, the crime masters that forced him into exile. And as the blood-stained vendetta to destroy those who pull the strings continues, old companions face the brutal consequences of friendship, and all-powerful, well-connected adversaries emerge to bring Wick's head on a platter. But talk is cheap--now guns have the final say. Baba Yaga, the grim messiah of death, must make every bullet count in this bloody, once-and-for-all struggle for freedom.

Released: 24 Mar 2023
Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.6 / 10
Metascore: 78 / 100
Awards: 40 wins & 51 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

John 116 lines, man
The Marquis 103 lines, man
Caine 100 lines, man
The Tracker 82 lines, man
Winston 80 lines, man
Shimazu 56 lines, man
The Harbinger 37 lines, man
Akira 33 lines, woman
Killa 32 lines, man
The Bowery King 25 lines, man

Full cast, 30 people

Keanu Reeves as John Wick
Donnie Yen as Caine
Bill Skarsgård as Marquis
Ian McShane as Winston
Laurence Fishburne as Bowery King
Lance Reddick as Charon
Clancy Brown as Harbinger
Hiroyuki Sanada as Shimazu
Rina Sawayama as Akira
Scott Adkins as Killa
Aimée Kwan as Mia
Marko Zaror as Chidi
Natalia Tena as Katia
Shamier Anderson as Tracker
George Georgiou as The Elder
Yoshinori Tashiro as Sumo #1
Hishofuji Hiroki as Sumo #2
Daiki Suzuki as Daiki
Julia Asuka Riedl as Operator
Milena Rendón as Operator
Ivy Quainoo as Operator
Irina Trifanov as Operator
Iryna Fedorova as Babushka
Andrej Kaminsky as Priest
Sven Marquardt as Klaus
Raicho Vasilev as German Gangster
Lous and the Yakuza as DJ
Christoph Hofmann as Valet (uncredited)
Vhelma Richardson as Gangster (uncredited)
Jimmy Moneta as Paris Driver (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 137

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 3	0	1
4 to 6	0	3
7 to 9	0	1
10 to 12	0	15
13 to 15	0	8
16 to 18	0	35
19 to 21	0	11
22 to 24	0	27
25 to 27	0	0
28 to 30	0	1
31 to 33	17	21
34 to 36	0	17
37 to 39	3	48
40 to 42	4	0
43 to 45	0	22
46 to 48	0	6
49 to 51	9	15
52 to 54	1	26
55 to 57	0	27
58 to 60	0	54
61 to 63	0	2
64 to 66	4	3
67 to 69	4	16
70 to 72	0	5
73 to 75	16	20
76 to 78	0	5
79 to 81	0	58
82 to 84	0	16
85 to 87	4	35
88 to 90	0	55
91 to 93	0	19
94 to 96	0	0
97 to 99	0	0
100 to 102	0	22
103 to 105	0	0
106 to 108	0	0
109 to 111	0	6
112 to 114	0	1
115 to 117	0	3
118 to 120	0	0
121 to 123	0	6
124 to 126	0	9
127 to 129	0	0
130 to 132	0	5
133 to 135	0	64
136 to 137	0	4

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 8 are women's.

62 lines from women, 692 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 20 men in the cast. 2 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 108 of 790. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 244 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 8% of the words (528), men 92% (5,911).

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Chad Stahelski (man)
Written by: Shay Hatten (man), Michael Finch (man)
Produced by: Chad Stahelski (man), Basil Iwanyk (man), Erica Lee (woman)
Shot by: Dan Laustsen (man)
Edited by: Nathan Orloff (man)
Music by: Tyler Bates (man), Joel J. Richard (man)
Production design by: Kevin Kavanaugh (man)
Costumes by: Paco Delgado (man)
Cast by: Kharmel Cochrane (woman)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

5 women, 17 men, 10 not listed
Sound

3 women, 18 men, 8 not listed
Art

4 women, 15 men, 1 not listed
Production

3 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

4 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
Directing

0 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
Visual Effects

2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 58 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Rina Sawayama 32

Men

Bill Skarsgård 32, Scott Adkins 46, Keanu Reeves 58, Donnie Yen 59, Lance Reddick 60, Laurence Fishburne 61, Hiroyuki Sanada 62, Clancy Brown 64, Ian McShane 80

Exhibit G: the money

It made 4.5 times what it cost.

Budget: $100 million
Box office: $447 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 137 scenes and 790 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf