Can anything truly worthwhile be achieved without at least a little bit of pain? 

That's the question at the heart of a terrific new documentary called "Wick is Pain," which chronicles the unlikely journey of "John Wick" from a spec script called "Scorn" into an indie movie that nearly didn't get made, then into a film that almost went direct-to-video, and finally into a game-changing action franchise that has multiple spin-offs on the way and a fifth entry in the works.

It's a compelling, complicated question, one that's been explored on screen many times and to exceptionally wonderful effect in 2014's "Whiplash," which came out the first year as the original "Wick" film (and specifically in an ending that made our list of favorite movie moments of the 2010s). "Wick is Pain" engages with this conundrum while also taking viewers through a whirlwind introduction to Chad Stahelski and David Leitch,...