Review - John Wick: Chapter Three - Parabellum

John Wick Chapter Three is (surprisingly) the third film in the surprise franchise that is John Wick. Picking up from the events at the end of the second film, our man John Wick has an hour before a $14 million bounty is set on him and every hitman and assassin in the world comes after him. Clearly, this is a tantalising enough pitch, one that has had me salivating since that cliffhanger in 2017, but the film doesn't just leave it there. Once again, we get more insights into Wick's world, the people he has met along the way and the countries that also house underground assassin rings. It is all very silly and honestly, that probably makes the plot the worst thing going here. Don't get me wrong, the silliness feels fairly knowing, this is a step up from Detective Pikachu last week. It's just that the silliness is never fully cashed in on, refusing to either have some slightly more sensible plot points or to go properly mental with itself. Not a complete loss, it just feels like a slightly missed opportunity.

Fortunately on the performance front, this is an action movie in which all of the cast are willing to throw their all into the stunts and that is a buck that absolutely stops with our star, Keanu Reeves. For my money, Keanu has been in probably some of the best action movies ever made (those obviously being Point Break, Speed and The Matrix), so it's been a real delight that the John Wick films have offered him a resurgence. Usually, an actor starring in action movies after making his name in them in the eighties or nineties puts in minimal effort now (just look at Bruce Willis) but not Keanu. The man is still putting in the training like you would not believe, getting into a better physical shape than I will probably ever be in. Sure, some of it is done by stunt doubles but not nearly as much as you might expect there to be and it's those moments where you are very clearly watching Keanu Reeves have the shit kicked out of him that are the most impressive. Halle Berry also pops by for a little bit of action of her own and while she's good at that, I confess that I've never really felt she's a particularly good actress and her dramatic moments here are pretty weak. Other supporting cast do much better though, perhaps because they have less action to focus on. Ian McShane is clearly still having a blast as the manager of The Continental and he's doing his best to wipe Hellboy from my mind which is wise. Lance Reddick is also great as the concierge, getting a little bit of action to play with for the first time here. Laurence Fishburne, Said Taghmaoui and Asia Kate Dillon are all great in supporting roles too but I think mainly, it's the stunt team who are spectacular, not least of all the two dudes poached from the Raid movies.

Mentioning the two actors from The Raid does allow me to finally get into the action of the film, the thing we're all watching this film for. Unfortunately, mentioning The Raid does John Wick no favours as The Raid films (and similar Indonesian action film The Night Comes For Us) are absolute gold standards for violent action movies. Every punch, crunch and gunshot are utter agony in those movies and you leave feeling utterly exhausted in the best way possible. In defence of John Wick though, saying the action in this film isn't the greatest I have ever seen should not be as insulting as it sounds as the action here is still brilliant. This remains the kind of film where characters walk into a room and a gleeful audience start looking around, trying to guess who is going to be murdered with what. Plus, because of the aforementioned dedication of all the performers here, what can be achieved is a far less choppy style of editing. Taken 3 fence jumping this is not! (Google it if you have no idea what I mean). Shots can go on for so long that the agony moves from the characters onto the audience and each encounter can feel risky. The action is also kept impressively fresh by changing the scope and style frequently. Some scenes are hand to hand combat, some are gunfights across courtyards, another is a giggle inducing motorbike fight. All are great, though some viewers may feel like much of the creativity is wasted on earlier fight scenes and many in the middle stretch are just your average "people shooting guns at each other but done very, very well" scenes.

So, John Wick: Chapter Three - Parabellum (that subtitle is explained btw): it's as stupid as a sack of bricks but due to wonderful action, that doesn't really matter too much. Much as I'd have liked a conclusive trilogy here, I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for where the John Wick franchise takes us next. As a big dum dum of an action movie junkie, I simply have to give this film an