John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum Review
R: Pervasive strong violence, and some language
Lionsgate, Thunder Road Pictures, 87Eleven Productions
2 Hrs and 11 Minutes
Director: Chad Stahelski | Screenwriters: Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, Marc Abrams
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane
Super-assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.
Did you know that when you look up the word “badass” in the dictionary, you just see an image of John Wick? No words, just John Wick’s face. I say this because he is STILL the baddest mofo in cinematic history. As far as action heroes in films go, John Wick might be the top tier badass of them all (sorry Rambo).
It is truly overwhelming how dedicated director Chad Stahelski is to this franchise as he takes each action sequence to the next with fluid fighting choreography that is either bloody, brutal, or both. Can we have Stahelski direct every action movie? Please? Hell, let’s have more stunt actors direct action movies because, not only are they skillfully experienced in their craft, but they are so knowledgeable when it comes to blocking and choreography, which works in this movie’s favor. The film doesn’t feel like a sequel for the most part, but like more of a continuation.
Set several hours after the events of the predecessor where John must face the consequences of his actions and is excommunicado for killing Santino, a member of the High Table, on Continental grounds. So now it’s JOHN WICK VS. THE WORLD, as the Baba Yaga fights through a crazy set of mercenaries in various locations across the world to survive and find a way to get back to safety.
Out of all the John Wick films, this is the most action-packed and thrilling installment yet. The action is relentless and gloriously insane. Five minutes in, the first big action sequence occurs and once that first big kill is delivered, your entire theater will scream out:
and believe me, you’ll be saying, “Damn!” nearly every two seconds with each brutal kill that occurs and you’ll have to call Clark Gable because you’ll run out of damns to give.
The amount of effort and imagination director Chad Stahelski provides for the action sequences in this installment is plentiful and unlike anything you’ve ever seen, for he’s reliant on two major elements: choreography and location. You can just feel the inspiration that went into developing the action sequences, for it resembles absurdist beat ‘em up hack-and-slash games. Remember the game MadWorld? If you don’t, I’ll describe it to you. MadWorld was a M-rated game for the Wii which focused on this dude name Jack who had a chainsaw on his arm and had to fight his way through this open world island. Part of the mechanic that made the game so fun was how it incorporates the items of each setting to deliver the goriest and bloodiest of kills while still using your own set of skills.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 IS MADWORLD THE MOVIE! The film resembles MadWorld’s mechanics as it takes advantage of each setting by taking the open-mapped playgrounds and utilizing the set of tools in the environment to orchestrate the deaths of people Wick decimates. You get an action sequence in a library and you can guess what item Wick uses to kill. You have an action sequence in a barn and you can guess what item (or… animal) he uses to kill. You think that John Wick killing two dudes with one pencil was badass:
And believe, me each one of those crazy set pieces are relentless and hilarious. Hilarious not because of the absurdity of the action itself, but the absurd amount of creativity that goes into each sequence. It’s partially the reason why Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2: Redemption stands triumphant to me and I encourage other action directors to do the same: utilize your environments and locations for the deliverance of your action rather than just the tools your hero has.
All the best aspects about the previous films are continued here. Since we are now well aware of the functionality of the world of the assassins, which has already been explored in Chapter 2, we already get the atmosphere. Then, there’s still the fact that John is the only action hero in film that I can think of who actually receives damage, gets fatigued during fights, and is vulnerable. It benefits this world for being authentic and raising the level of tension in each scene. He’s still a badass and shows to be even more badass than ever before, but he isn’t indestructible, which is an aspect I admire.
Due to John Wick being the mark with a high bounty foe every assassin on the market, we see him go up against a crazy set of mercenaries determined to take him down. Some of the charm comes from the foes themselves who are humbled and honored to spar with him. You never really see foes exhibiting mercy because they want a fair, fun fight. Especially Mark Alan Dacascos as Zero, who is the major mercenary hired by the High Table council who’s really in for the thrill of killing Wick more than the bounty itself. He starts off so serious as he and his team is established, but as he becomes more prominent he’s more of a comic relief who kind of turns on a dime towards the third act. That said, Dacascos provides enough life and jokes that it delivers full-hearted laughs and it never really disrupts the tone.
And Halle Berry… damn what a badass. Even when Halle Berry comes in with her two murderous canines, the action gets even more innovative. She’s the player-two-assist to this open world game they must survive in. Plus, Berry proves she’s still got it. She makes everybody forget that she was Catwoman, for her main weapons are her dogs.
When the action pauses for a breath of air, we explore places in John’s past that he must face to receive his passage to freedom. We travel to John’s origin as it hints at how he acquired his set of skills without having to spoon-feed the audience with flashbacks by - once again - allowing the settings to speak for themselves.
Also, the film raises the stakes to a higher level, for the High Table’s legal team drops in and tells those who gave John Wick the ability to carry out his murder - mostly Winston (McShane) and Bowery King (Fishburne) - “Yeah, you fucked up and now there’s blood on your hands so you better kill his ass or it's your ass on the line.” Yeah, the true villains here are The Galactic Senate. Wait, wrong franchise… I meant the High Table, which is like the The Galactic Senate.
We already did the world expansion in the previous film and, while it does follow more of an international adventure, this really sets more on the policy and the castle-like system where these assassins are merely slaves in service to a high table. While they are a very mysterious group, I wish I was aware of the number of members who control it. We see members of them throughout the film but, in a world where everyone is an assassin leader or an assassin, I just need to see their significance as opposed to the power they have. Plus, we’re three movies in and at this point we should see the real higher-up adversaries to raise the tension, especially with the way it sets up another sequel by the end. To use Hunger Games, another Lionsgate property, as an example, we weren’t three movies in when they established the ruthless nature of the capitol. I know this franchise started as a small indie action thriller that eventually got bigger and more bombastic, but this would’ve been a nice place to show more of the real puppet masters pulling the strings.
The tone gets very Marvel-esque where it’s reliant on quips and over-the-top lines of dialogue, which is more apparent whenever the action slows down.
I was going to be critical of the lead-up of the climax, for it gets very standard and bland considering the amount of imaginative insanity of the sequences that preceded it. At that point it becomes mostly a shoot ‘em up, but I love the beats it takes as it resembles the final section of a video game where you have to defeat a wave of goons at the highest difficulty where they barely take much damage before you are forced to wreck the final boss.
I want a John Wick video game NOW! Make it like a beat-‘em-up, fps, side scroller, something! I just need it transfused into my veins TODAY! The recently-announced John Wick Hex doesn't look like it provides the same fulfillment the movies do. Fuck it, put him and Sophie in Mortal Kombat. If Negan from The Walking Dead can be in Tekken, John Wick can be in Mortal Kombat.
It’s strange how very NYC it is. How many friggin’ assassins reside in New York City?! Most of the people who go after John are people all over New York and it's an abundant amount. It’s funny how there are more mercenaries than Uber drivers in the city. Plus it captures our nonchalant careless nature so accurately. Like gruesome assassinations can occur in the overly crowded space of Grand Central and nobody around even cares as people in the background just keep moving to their destination. Somebody will find those bodies later, but as long as the trains are working. Yup, that’s New York!
John Wick: Chapter 3 continues the franchise’s incredible winning streak of glorious, skillful, brutal action in a thrilling chapter that solidifies John Wick as being the greatest action franchise to ever exist in cinematic history, bar none.
I’m glad there’s still fire to this franchise as it shows no signs of slowing down. It’s so overwhelming how well this continues its winning streak. Hopefully the next one will be the last just so it can finish strong and go down as the best action quadrilogy of all time .
Rating: 4/5 | 87%
