2014 · Chad Stahelski · 101m
A retired hitman seeks vengeance against the gangsters who killed his dog.
Timestamps below are for the Theatrical cut (1h 41m).
Home invasion: Iosef Tarasov and two men break in, beat John unconscious, and kill his puppy Daisy. The kill is shown as an out-of-focus background action (described elsewhere as a blow with a blunt object) accompanied by a yelp on the soundtrack — it is NOT a clear, in-focus shot. John then wakes to find a blood trail on the floor leading to the puppy's body; the body itself is shown from behind, no visible wound. Grief is brief on screen — John buries her, then the film moves into revenge-plot mode.
REASSURANCE MARKER, not a warning: John, badly wounded, breaks into an animal clinic and adopts a pit bull puppy that was scheduled to be euthanised. This second dog is NOT harmed — logged because viewers who stopped at 0:14:38 often ask whether it happens again.
One puppy (Daisy) is killed during a home invasion, early in the film. Exactly one animal death — a second dog appears later in the film and is explicitly NOT harmed, which is worth surfacing as reassurance since many viewers stop watching after the first scene and never learn that. The kill itself is deliberately de-emphasized: shown out of focus in the background rather than in a clear shot. Multiple independent sources (a parents-guide breakdown and behind-the-scenes director commentary) agree the moment is blurred/off-focus and that only a blood trail on the floor is shown afterward — no blood is shown directly on the puppy's body on screen.
00:14:38On screenHome invasion: Iosef Tarasov and two men break in, beat John unconscious, and kill his puppy Daisy. The kill is shown as an out-of-focus background action (described elsewhere as a blow with a blunt object) accompanied by a yelp on the soundtrack — it is NOT a clear, in-focus shot. John then wakes to find a blood trail on the floor leading to the puppy's body; the body itself is shown from behind, no visible wound. Grief is brief on screen — John buries her, then the film moves into revenge-plot mode.
01:33:53On screenREASSURANCE MARKER, not a warning: John, badly wounded, breaks into an animal clinic and adopts a pit bull puppy that was scheduled to be euthanised. This second dog is NOT harmed — logged because viewers who stopped at 0:14:38 often ask whether it happens again.
On screen — you see it. Heard, not seen — it happens off camera but you hear it. Aftermath only — you see the result, not the event. Off screen — not shown and not heard.