Mami in Action 12 - Gun Kata II

Mami in Action #12 - Gun Kata II

Hello and welcome to another edition of Mami in Action! Honestly, I was not planning to feature another issue of Mami in Action so soon and featuring the same weapons as seen in the previous issue no less. However, after watching John Wick 2 and witnessing some of the best Gun Kata action cinema had to offer in a while, I felt compelled to do another edition of Gun Kata. This time, inspired by the moves John Wick uses in both the first and second movies! Even the splash image is a reference to a scene where John Wick uses his left hand to shoot down an enemy while searching for rounds with his right hand.

Often in the films, John Wick would fire a round into his enemies kneecaps before finishing them off with a head shot. Without any wasted movement, John would transition the pistols to a hip firing position to easily take down his crippled enemies which were now at half height. Brutal yet, extremely effective. 

Other enemies who are beaten to submission and lying on the ground hurt are then finished off with head shots. With his pistols pointed to the ground, John executes his enemies with ease and is a scene very often shown during film's various firefights. John lives up to his reputation and leaves no loose ends. 

For the most part, the gun fights in John Wick are fairly realistic with John employing proper stances, grips and rarely dual-wielding. There are of course times where some movie magic is sprinkled in to make the scenes look even cooler! Albeit unrealistic, one of them involves John firing at an enemy on his left using his right pistol and disarming another enemy on his left using his right hand. Nevertheless, it looks so cool!

In the first movie, John uses a H&K P30L as his primary pistol together with a Glock 26 as his backup. Later in the second movie, he switches to a Glock 34 as his primary and retains the Glock 26 as his backup. With the exception of the Glock 26 (in the first movie), most of John's firearms are heavily modified. Unfortunately, the closest thing I have are the Glock 18 and H&K USP. Perhaps I will feature them in the future?

I wonder what sort of guns John will be using in the third film.

Part of John Wick/Keanu Reeves' intimidation factor does not just come from his lethal proficiency to turn anything into a weapon. Rather, it is intimidating form. Dressed entirely in black with his emotionless expression, it really strikes the perfect image of a legendary assassin/hitman. And all of this is perfectly encapsulated with the "slow walk" pose featured in the theatrical promotional posters. 

One final attempt to replicate the close up picture of John Wick's theatrical promotional poster. Add a dark background, darken the shadow, add neon effects and several fancy lines and you have, "Tomoe Mami: The Movie". I wish!

Stepping away from John Wick for a bit, while many would consider Homura more suited for the role with her already using modern firearms and her cold, calculative demeanor, I actually think a John Wick-esque role would sever Mami better. Versatile in all forms of weaponry and martial arts, incredibly strong when alone and possessing sharp senses and an unbreakable will, Mami is the perfect cast for the sort of role. All we need is some dark back story which drives Mami into the depths of the underworld. Well, that is enough make believe for today. If you have not already watched the John Wick movies, I strongly recommend that you do and then come back to this article. Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!