With word now circulating that Bill & Ted of the eponymous movie Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure could make a return, we thought it apropos to revisit our meeting with half of that duo – the half that played Ted “Theodore” Logan.
Grunts: eponymous.
As John Wick Says, ‘Be Excellent to Each Other.”
It’s all fun and games until John Wick shows up on the range with you. Less so if you’ve done something to piss him off.
It started with a motorcycle trip. The Quail Motorcycle Gathering is near Monterey, which was my destination. Before going I checked in with old instructor/friend Fred Ruiz to see if there were any shooting classes in the vicinity during the timeframe I was to be there. He put me in touch with another friend, Johnny Law, who wondered if I might be interested in spending the day with Taran Butler.
Why, yes. Yes I would.
Butler is a thirteen time Multi-Gun national champion, and the man behind Taran Tactical Innovations. Turns out he was going to be in the area, as was Keanu Reeves. The Quail Motorcycle Gathering is a unique show featuring a number of pristine classic and vintage motorcycles as well as new models, and there are always a number of “motorcycle dignitaries” present. Reeves is one of those; many people are unaware that approximately five years ago he started the Arch Motorcycle Company with talented motorcycle builder Gard Hollinger.
Arch Motorcycles had a few bikes on display and Reeves was on site, speaking with everyone from those interested in the motorcycle brand to those who just wanted to snap a selfie with John Wick (or Neo, or Tod Higgins, or Tom Ludlow, or …). Like most of you and about 7 million other people, I’d seen the video of Keanu just killin’ it on the range while training for the John Wick sequel. You know, this one.
Though not wanting to be taken as “that fan”, I thought to myself…
I should go tell Keanu I’m on my way to meet Taran, and see what he has to say about the guy.
The response was immediate.
“Taran is an amazing human being,” Reeves said. “That guy is just the greatest.”
As you can imagine, that made me want to get out on the range with Taran even more. We’ll talk more about that in Part 2, though I will say this: I mentioned to Taran that I’d met Keanu, and he laughed.
“Small world, huh?” he asked. “Keanu is very serious about his shooting and training. He’s good, he’s real good, and he enjoys and respects it.”
John Wick 2 was released today — go watch it, assured that those drawstrokes, reloads, and long-gun to handgun transitions are all him.
You can read more about the Quail Motorcycle Why We Ride Ride right here.
Sara
“Emergency: Activate firefly, deploy green (or brown) star cluster, get your wank sock out of your ruck and stand by ’til we come get you.”
Tough is cool, gross is not.
Nope. Not a “serious shooter” if he’s only doing it to bone up for a movie role. He’s getting paid to do it so he can do a better job pretending to be a “serious shooter.” Bet it all stops after the movie is in the can.
He’d be a “serious shooter” if he did it on his own, spending his own money, just for the love of it. In other words, if he did it like most of the rest of us do.
You have a point. But, he does have some real skills. Kind of like “I know kung fu.”
There are definitely good shooting elements from Taran, but there’s also some questionable Israeli mag flip shit from Aaron Cohen and center axis relock bullshit that almost undoes the good work Taran put itn.