Genre:
Action, Thriller
Produced by:
Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee
Directed by:
Chad Stahelski
Written by:
Derek
Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, Marc Abrams
Production Company: Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment
Starring: Keanu
Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance
Reddick, Said Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Jason Mantzoukas
Runtime: 130 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
Picking up right from where John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) left off,
seasoned hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves)
is now declared “excommunicado” after committing a murder at the Continental
Hotel, an assassin’s no-kill zone. A $14 million bounty is placed on John’s
head, sending hordes of assassins scrambling to track him down. And he might
have to fight or, if necessary, kill his way through the night just to see the
light of day.
REVIEW:
As far as sleeper hits go, John Wick was the stand out of 2014. It
is not as if that movie never had any chance for success.
John
Wick
had the most experienced names in the action genre on and off the screen. Chad Stahelski co-directed the movie
alongside the uncredited David Leitch,
both renowned stuntmen. Keanu Reeves
played the titular character, an actor who had proven in past works like Speed (1994) and the Matrix trilogy (1999-2003) to be Hollywood’s most reliable
action hero. In terms of the release year, it came at the most convenient of
times when revenge-driven action movies starring late 20th century
icon like Keanu Reeves were in
demand.
At the same time, it had as strong of a
chance to fail. Stahelski and Leitch hadn’t had any directorial
credits prior to John Wick. Keanu Reeves wasn’t the major box
office draw he was back in the 90’s. And also, John Wick was an original idea by Derek Kolstad, which made the movie a tougher sell given today’s
intellectual property-driven era.
But 2014’s John Wick did what all successful movies do: make money. But beyond
that, the movie beautifully combines its moneymaking charms with high quality
writing and production. In a time when action movies got stale, John Wick serves as a breath of fresh
air. In a time when Keanu Reeves’
career had stalled, this movie marked a welcome return to form for the actor. With
a story filled with vast world-building potential, it was primed for franchise
filmmaking.
Flash forward to 2019, and John Wick is a trilogy. Following up the
similarly critically-acclaimed John Wick:
Chapter 2 is John Wick: Chapter 3 –
Parabellum. Like any sequels, John
Wick: Chapter 3 comes with the intention of making things bigger than ever
before, both on an action and casting standpoint. Its cast ranges from 90’s
Hollywood stars like Halle Berry and
Mark Dacascos to Indonesian martial
artists like Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman. But it’s not as if
there’s nothing holding Parabellum
back from surefire success. It is, after all, a third entry in a franchise.
Save for a couple exceptions, it has become a long-held tradition that the
third entry is often the worst in a franchise.
And fear not, for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is amongst that exception. John Wick 3 is a third movie in a
franchise that’s as good as or, in some respect, better than its predecessors.
It perfectly summarizes why the entire John
Wick film franchise is beloved by many. It’s a franchise that manages to
maintain all the things that were so strong about its predecessors while also
willing to push the envelope for its next installment.
As an action movie, John Wick: Chapter 3 unquestionably pushes the envelope. Just when
it seems impossible, this movie manages to invent a hundred new ways to do
action sequences. It’s action that’s never been done and seen before. Name any
action movie that features an army of dogs biting someone in the crotch, or a
horse taking out a goon with its hoof or, still horse-related, John Wick riding
a horse through modern-day New York City? Besides John Wick: Chapter 3, there hasn’t been any. As ridiculous as it
may be, Chad Stahelski’s proficient
direction makes the animal actions look badass.
Brilliant animal stunts aside, they
still couldn’t take the spotlight away from the movie’s true badass: Mr. Keanu Reeves himself. The John Wick franchise has been to Keanu Reeves what the Mission Impossible franchise is to Tom Cruise, an absurd test of an action
movie actor’s endurance and sometimes sanity. How far can he push himself
physically?
And John
Wick: Chapter 3 is quite possibly the furthest Keanu Reeves has gone during his long action hero run. Based on the
movie’s action-packed opening 20 minutes alone, the 54 year old (yes, Keanu Reeves is 54!) continues to roll
back the years at every scene that’s thrown in his way. During that period, his
character John Wick is crunching bones with any objects possible (be it a
library book or a horse), aiming perfect headshots at a hundred faceless goons in
quick succession, and when the dust settles, it looks like he still has enough
strength for another round. It’s the sort of introduction that beautifully sets
the tone for the rest of John Wick:
Chapter 3. It’s going to be wall-to-wall action where an action sequence on
top of another action sequence on top of another action sequence comes together
at such breakneck speed with very little to no breaks. John Wick: Chapter 3 really has John
Wick: Chapter 2 to thank for doing much of the story work for them, so it
gives the creators freedom to put the pedal to the metal.
In other action movies, the
overabundance of action can be overwhelming to the point of weariness. Not John Wick: Chapter 3 though. All the
action sequences never feel in any way overwhelming or wearisome due to its focus
on style over gore. Granted, since this is an R-rated movie, it is normal to
let slip a few bone snapping and blood splattering along the way. But the
violence in this movie truly earns its R-rating not because of how graphic it
is, but rather because of the raw intensity brought to life by the actors’
action performances. And the performances benefit once more from the
franchise’s signature slick camerawork and stunning stunt work.
John
Wick: Chapter 3
continues its tradition of relying on wide shots and long takes to capture all
the gun fu, martial arts, canine and horse madness. And yet again it’s the same
cinematographic choices that lend the performance-driven action with
much-needed realism and immersive thrills. But the cinematographer would not
have anything to work with without the performers in front of the camera. As
far as choreography goes, it seems like Chad
Stahelski and the stuntmen see eye-to-eye. Stahelski wants the action to feel as close as possible to a live
performance, and as silly as this may sound, the movie is exactly what John Wick: Chapter 3 would look like if
it was a stage play. Its actions are dictated by the grace of the performers’
movements and skills as opposed to the forces of their punches, imbuing the
white-knuckled, violent fight scenes with a nice balletic quality.
And it’s these masterstroke choices made
by the people on and off the screen that keep John Wick: Chapter 3’s violent action sequences consistently
entertaining throughout. In fact, it’s so consistent that it’s hard to pick any
stand-out action sequences since every scene kind of steals the show. Art and
violence don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but in John Wick: Chapter 3, they’re in perfect matrimony.
In the midst of the action, John Wick: Chapter 3 is just as entertaining
during the character moments, which is a credit to Derek Kolstad’s writing. Kolstad
manages to bring its colorful action movie personalities to glorious life through
snappy sound bites and old-fashioned quirks. Each character’s screentime may
vary, but rest assured, they are gonna make a good impression.
It helps that this third installment fully
commits to the second installment’s tongue-in-cheek approach. John Wick: Chapter 3 is a worthy
continuation to John Wick: Chapter 2
because it’s both narratively and tonally connected. It acknowledges how
ridiculous its assassins’ universe is as well as the over-the-top mythologizing
of John Wick’s assassin life. Imagine a movie where Zero (Mark Dacascos) is geeking out over the idea of killing his idol John
Wick, Sofia (Halle Berry) being a
sassy, no-nonsense badass with a soft spot for dogs (in other words, a female
John Wick), and Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman spouting
Eastern-flavored wisecracks for international viewing. The last one in
particular is a treat for the Indonesian fans. Beyond just a fair chunk of
dialogues, Yayan and Cecep actually have far more screentime
here than Ms. Halle Berry. And yes,
the three-way fight between them and Keanu
Reeves are action sequence at its best, raw and uncut. But it would not
have been as exciting without Yayan
and Cecep’s bantering, which
explodes towards another stratosphere when Keanu
Reeves puts his Indonesian language skill to cool action hero use.
John
Wick: Chapter 3
manages to stay true to the series’ underlying emotional theme while also using
that to push the titular character towards possibly his greatest obstacle yet.
Look past the action, the underlying emotional theme of all the John Wick movies revolves around a man
who is trying to leave his troubled past behind and lead a better life, only
for that past to refuse his decision. That’s reflective of how the stories went
in the first two movies, where it’s often the past that’s enticing John Wick to
come back into action.
By the time the second movie ended and
the third movie begins though, the tables have turned. For the first time in these
movies, it is John Wick who is inadvertently enticing the past into action. In his
eyes, the decision that he made in that second movie was meant to quite
literally assassinate his past rather than entice it back. But instead, like
the undead, it just came back to haunt him. Also, it posed a question in regards
to John Wick’s character: has he really left his past behind?
In that respect, John Wick: Chapter 3 sees John Wick at his lowest point in the
trilogy so far. He might have lost his wife and dog in the past, but at the
very least he still has the comforts of the Continental Hotel to find the
smallest shred of calm. In this movie, he doesn’t even have that to lean onto. And
worst, he’s got hungry assassins coming at him left and right. He’s practically
a man without a home, running from one place to another without a clear destination.
If there’s anyone willing to take him in, he’s had to scrap for it. Simply
said, here is John Wick at his most desperate. And his desperation serves as a fitting
metaphor for this installment’s story of a man who is out to prove himself again
to the world that he is a changed man.
John
Wick: Chapter 3
further takes John Wick’s relationship with the Continental manager Winston (Ian McShane) into a much deeper place
than ever before. John Wick has seen a revolving door of people walk in and out
of his life, but Winston has always been a constant. Anytime John is in
trouble, Winston is the first person he goes to. As much as Winston knows that John
Wick means trouble, somehow John has a place in his heart. That’s reflected by
the different ways he dealt with an anonymous assassin and John Wick when both
of them broke the hotel’s rule. In the first movie, he wouldn’t hesitate to execute
the anonymous assassin right away when she broke the rule. In the second movie
though, he gave John Wick an hour head start when he did the same thing. What
makes John Wick the exception?
It is easy to draw parallels between John Wick
and Winston’s emotionally close relationship with one of a quasi-father and son
story. Winston banishing John Wick for murdering a person in the neutral Continental
grounds is basically a heightened version of a father grounding his son for
breaking the rule. Like any father, a part of Winston cannot bear to see John
Wick suffers, which greatly affects his work life. It leaves Winston in bit of a
moral quandary: whether to prioritize professionalism or love.
John
Wick: Chapter 3
might be a progressive step in the action territory, but it’s a slightly regressive
one in the narrative territory. It is by no means saying that Derek Kolstad’s script is terrible, but
the movie can get too immersed into its world-building that it comes at the
expense of a story.
Kolstad seemingly has conflicting
ideas of what John Wick: Chapter 3
is. On the one hand, it’s a John Wick movie, but on the other, it’s a deep
exploration into the High Table organization brought up from John Wick: Chapter 2 plus a few subplots
involving the Continental, other assassins and crime lords. Ultimately though,
the movie tries to do way too many things at once, leaving a messy, convoluted salad
bowl of ideas that never quite coalesce into a cohesive whole.
As a result, it loses steam come its
second act. At the same time, its premise can only go so far. Yes, the whole
movie is about everyone chasing John Wick, but then who is John Wick chasing? What’s
his endgame? A hero needs a motivation for a movie to work, but here, John Wick’s
motivation is so murky that he can come off as a guy running around like a
headless chicken.
And this leads to the movie’s other
problem: a lack of an identifiable villain. For the most part, the big bad is Zero,
an athletically and flamboyantly exciting villain by the way, but once the
movie peels back the layers of who Zero is, it really doesn’t have a big bad. As
an exploration into the High Table organization, the movie is just as unclear
about that as its predecessor. A health inspector-like figure in the
Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) shows
up occasionally to stress out that the High Table is a real thing and that it’s
a threat to John. But the High Table never feels like a real threat, since the
two characters are distant and disconnected to each other.
And also, John Wick: Chapter 3 requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. In
some cases, it’s easy to give the nonsense a pass, but in others, it’s too damn
hard.
The most nonsensical part of John Wick: Chapter 3 revolves around
this idea that basically everyone in New York is an assassin. Granted, it makes
for an extra cool action scene, but logic-wise, it strains so much credulity to
the point that it gets too cartoonish.
The scene involves John Wick walking in
a crowded place when suddenly a murder ensues. But somehow, in a crowded place
where anyone would notice something as gruesome as a murder, not even one
person noticed. And worst, no one’s screaming or scrambling for their lives. Apparently,
murder is a mundane activity for New Yorkers. No sooner than later, the same
thing happens again in the same location.
To the movie’s defense, the murder is
conducted in a quiet, discreet manner. Also, it’s possible that the hundreds to
thousands of people in that crowded place are all assassins, which is why they
seemed calm and nonchalant when the murder happened. But come on, that’s just
hard to believe. John Wick: Chapter 3
is mostly silly for all the right reasons, but it’s times like these where it’s
silly for the wrong reasons.
John
Wick
is into its third chapter now and it’s already a fact that Keanu Reeves is irreplaceable as the title character. As far as action
hero goes, Reeves’ John Wick proves
once more to be a gun-fu/martial art force to be reckoned with, but his
portrayal of the character here in particular allows him to exercise more of
his acting range, leaving a John Wick that’s blessed with a Zen-like poise, boundless
stamina and agility as well as a slew of fun deadpan comic timing. In her
little screentime as Sofia, Halle Berry
is purely coolness and badassery personified here whether she’s cracking wise
with John or marching her well-trained dogs into an insane gunfight scene, which
confirms that she is indeed the best dog trainer in the world. Mark Dacascos as the villain Zero is
unsurprisingly skillful during the stunts, but somehow, also surprisingly a
natural comedian with his geeky sense of humor in a character that’s a drastic subversion
of Dacascos’ past roles serious
persona.
CONCLUSION:
John
Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is a breathtaking shot of adrenaline
rush for action movie junkies, loaded with a balletic string of gun-fu, martial
arts, Keanu Reeves kicking serious
butt and, if that’s not extreme enough, an enjoyable slice of canine biting and
horse kicking.
Score: 8.5/10
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