This little post I made on Akira and John exploded more than I expected, so I shall offer more interesting observations that I noticed about lighting choices/colour symbolism in the John Wick movies. Before we get into it, I would like to recommend these analysis [1, 2] by @evren-sadwrn on Marquis de Gramont, John Wick and Helen Wick talking about the same topic as I am below.
Most of Charon's scenes throughout the franchise were otherwise dark backdrops only brightened up by the lamps/light sources around him, which exemplifies the fact that he is the most reliable, dependable and trustworthy character, ally and friend in this dark criminal underworld, fitting for someone named after the ferryman of the underworld in Greek mythology.
The only scene where Charon notably breaks this pattern was his final scene when the Marquis shot him when he and Winston and everyone else were drenched in the Marquis' harsh golden lighting, which was heartbreaking to say the least.
Similarly, Marcus' scenes in the first film had mostly grey backdrops, representing the stability, monotony, and lack of transformation of his life, in contrast to John who just lost his wife at the time.
The two exceptions happened during the two most important points of his character arc, the first one being darkly-lit when Marcus decided to not shoot a resting John from the Continental's window and warned him instead, and the second one being brightly-lit when Marcus got beaten up and then killed by Viggo in his home for helping John. These two scenes were also backdropped by yellow lighting as opposed to the blueish hues from his previous scenes.
Cassian & Ares, Gianna & Santino
I'm putting these four characters together in the same section because they share a common theme in terms of lighting choice, especially during their last scenes. Both Cassian's and Ares' final fight with John ended in brightly-lit settings with white lights. On the other hand, both Gianna's and Santino's death scenes took place in darkly-lit settings. The parallels, man, the parallels!
The lighting choice for Caine was kinda hard to pin down, and I think it's because it's meant to represent the emotional conflict Caine faces throughout Chapter 4. The fluctuation between light and dark, neon and natural lights reflects his dilemma very well, with his darkest lit scene arguably being his duel with Koji, where he also took down his sunglasses, thus signifying his lowest point in the movie.
But I think it's also worth noting that despite being the obvious second main character after John in the fourth film, Caine was merely a side actor basking in other people's spotlights, whether that be the Marquis' harsh golden lights, Koji's neon lights, or John's yellow candlelights/sunlight. Caine was a supporting role up until the post-credit when he reunites with his daughter. That's when he gets his own spotlight and arguably brightest scene he appeared in.
Okay, that's all I could find as of now. There are definitely more characters to dissect and study but I will stop here. If you want more analysis like this, please reblog.
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