Blind assassin Caine, played by action legend Donnie Yen, is pressed into service to the High Table by the manipulative Marquis de Gramont. Caine will do anything to keep his daughter alive, well, and playing violin in the public square — even if that means killing old friend John Wick. So how does he do this?
Okay, we admit, this is less a statement of confusion than it is an appreciation of Caine’s creative and relentless fighting style. The slice of Caine’s cane (yes, we see what you did there, Chad Stahelski) against metal and stone is a great sonic signifier of the pain he’s about to rain down on his opponents. Caine’s heightened sense of hearing helps him locate John Wick using the crunching glass in the gallery scene at the Osaka Continental. However, one of Caine’s most unique techniques involves the use of cleverly placed doorbell sensors.
At first, it’s puzzling to see Caine slap a bunch of electronic rectangles on various surfaces in the Osaka Continental’s dark kitchen. It almost looks like he’s setting bomb charges, but he isn’t — he’s just setting traps. When the Menpo-looking High Table stormtroopers invade the kitchen, they set off the doorbell sensors and give Caine a precise audible target. If WUXIA assassin radio was playing under this scene, we’re sure it would have featured Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell.”
