John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is awesome. There’s no other way around it. It’s wild and crazy and over-the-top and non-stop fun from start to finish. It’s not the best movie of the year, but it certainly stakes it’s claim to the most fun of the year.
Picking up mere minutes after the ending of Chapter 2, Parabellum sees the titular character on the run from innumerable assassins, all wanting to collect on the $14 million bounty on John Wick’s life. And, well, you can pretty much guess what happens from there. John Wick dispatches of his wannabe-killers faster than you can count. Seriously, the rate at which he accumulates the body count is ridiculous. But it’s a John Wick movie, what else would you expect? But if large chunks of the movie are just Keanu Reeves killing people in droves, what makes it so good?
Well, that’s just it. The action and fight sequences might just be the biggest factor behind Parabellum’s quality. The third entry continues what has become a staple of the John Wick franchise: excellently choreographed and wonderfully fights. There’s no shaky cam, there are no excessive cuts. What these movies have been able to do with these scenes is beyond impressive. And Chapter 3 only ups the frequency and intensity. That the movie maintains its established high-quality does wonders for the viewing experience. Much of the movie takes place at night, so a couple scenes are maybe just a touch too dark. But that’s almost entirely inconsequential compared to how great everything else is.
But the fighting isn’t everything. The movie maintains the excellent visual appearance that the first two have become known for. Nearly every single scene looks fantastic. That is especially true in the scenes on the New York streets. One of the smaller aspects that I love about all three movies is the unique use of color in these shots. I won’t do it justice trying to describe it. If you know, you know. If you don’t, you will.
In addition to all that, we finally get some backstory – something the first two movies were completely lacking – as well as expanded view of the uber-creative world in which the movies exist. The backstory was welcomed. It didn’t over-do it by any means, a worry I often have, that movies will all of a sudden try to shoehorn in some added emotional motivation. This often ends up feeling forced and out of place. But not here. It gives just enough to allow you to connect with John Wick the person instead of John Wick the killer.
However, the world-building is about the only place it falters. Asia Kate Dillon (of Billions fame) plays an Adjudicator of the High Table, sent to dole out consequences to those who assisted John Wick during the events from Chapter 2. Unfortunately, the Adjudicator ultimately amounts to walking exposition, explaining plot points to the audience those who work under the High Table would surely already know about. And while it does detract from the movie, it makes sense. If the John Wick series is to continue, we need more information on the shadowy and elusive High Table.
The first two entries’ plots both essentially boil down to “Main character is wronged. Main character seeks to right the wrong.” The High Table is mentioned, but the movies reveal next to no specific information. To have a successful continuation, their background and activities need to come to light. So while done in a somewhat clunky manner , it revealed necessary information, information that hopefully frees up any future movies from doing the same.
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