It’s a been a John Wick summer as spinoff Ballerina hits theaters this weekend and I recently visited the newly opened in person venue in Las Vegas, suitably named The John Wick Experience. Located off the famed Strip at the Area 15 complex, a new age playground of sorts for kids and adults alike with arcade and virtual golf, experiental visual exhibits, food, bars and more.
John Wick is a standalone ticketed experience, you’re greeted by a “Specialized Waste Disposal” van, hearkening back to the first films’ many a clean up scene. The set up is you’re visiting a Continental hotel and there’s a full on bar and gift shop open to the public inside. If you’re there for the Experience, a Continental employee takes you “up” an elevator and into the switchboard room to begin. Following the film and TV series lore, John Wick has been excommunicated and so have you. The group of 10 or so are all assigned bounties with your names on the board. I had the high bounty of the hour with $1.5 million!
From there you move from room to room, interacting with actors, learning about the bounty hunters after you, getting some help and advice while solving light escape room style challenges to move on. It’s very immersive and interactive, some rooms are more for exposition while others you have to work together to find clues. The actors are all in, taking their characters seriously but also fun when needed as a casino dealer roasted many of us in the group to keep things light.
There’s John Wick and Caine suits on display in the Tailor section and I wondered if these were screen used by messrs Keanue Reeves or Donnie Yen. Not really knowing what to expect out of this, I wondered if we were supposed to Jiu-Jitsu anyone then shoot them in the head, figuratively or virtually. There is a shooting simulator towards the end but it was not as easy as Time Crisis at the arcade next door as the weapons were hefty and offered a lot of feedback, so much so that everyone left with sore fingers and forearms.
After a harrowing escape, your group ends up in a “club” with another bar complete with lasers, techno and a Reeves looking mannequin watching. Very fitting given the amount of action scenes that take place in similar environments in the film. All in it was a fantastic experience and nice complement to Area 15 where you can spend a whole day exploring. Rewatching the films recently made it even more rewarding as cast members ask a few specific questions but any casual fan should enjoy as well.
One of the employees mentioned Ballerina star Ana de Armas had visited recently and they were looking at implementing some features from the spinoff into the experience to keep things fresh. But now, yeah, I’m thinking I’d be back.
