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I remember the first time I watched John Wick. The first 20 minutes were enough to tell me everything I needed to know — this wasn’t just another action flick. This was a man wronged, a man underestimated, and a man absolutely unwilling to roll over and accept defeat. I didn’t expect to find geopolitical metaphors in a Keanu Reeves movie, but here we are. Because if there’s one country in the world right now that embodies the relentless resilience, the defiant spirit, and the sheer badassery of John Wick, it’s Ukraine.
Chapter 1: Underestimated and Attacked
Let’s set the scene. The world looked at Ukraine in 2022 much like the Russian mafia looked at John Wick — a minor obstacle, a former force of power that surely wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Ukraine was, by most traditional measures, outmatched. The invading force had more men, more weapons, more money. The world braced itself for a quick and brutal conclusion. Kyiv would fall in days, they said. Zelenskyy would flee, they said.
But like John Wick, Ukraine had other plans.
The moment the first punches (or missiles) were thrown, Ukraine did what nobody expected: it fought back with everything it had. Not just with tanks and guns, but with grit, with humor, with an unshakable national identity. It was…
