Film Review: In "John Wick 3", the action is as impeccable as ever, but the story is faltering
Si vis pacem, para bellum.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
The John Wick franchise has become a staple of modern action films. It skitters gingerly between James Bond’s clean cut suave and Mission: Impossible’s ridiculous set-pieces, taking one step affront with its incredible stunt coordination and insanely bloody body-counts, and taking two steps back with its unnecessarily convoluted plots.
John Wick 3: Parabellum, continues the franchise moments from where it left off; with a fourteen million dollar bounty on his head, dog-loving contract killer John Wick (Keanu Reeves) attempts to find safe passage, atone for his crimes, and stay alive.
On paper, the plot is simple and effective. Not to say that action films require simple lots (a good action movie is often times only as great as its villain), but John Wick 3 is less about gun-toting, ass-kicking survival strategies and more about appeasing a contract-killer Internal Affairs division who seek to destroy anyone who aided John Wick during the previous film.
To start things with a bang, as John Wick would; the problem with Parabellum is its inability to focus on its own story, in favour of world-building, sure by now that it’ll get another sequel. A film should focus on itself before it focuses on franchise maintenance (may I remind you the tragic Robin Hood remake set up for a sequel, though Parabellum is miles ahead of that tragedy). This leads to a simple plot being overly convoluted and twisted, regardless of its pretty simple outcome.
However, when it’s not exploring the inner-most coils of New York City’s contract killer connections, Parabellum’s stunts are the best in the franchise, and perhaps the best Hollywood produced action film stunts in decades. Let’s be honest, thats what we’re here for. Featuring an ensemble of stunt coordinators who broke bones behind Spider-Man 2, Mission: Impossible 5, 300, and more, alongside the phenomenal international fight team from the critically acclaimed Indonesian The Raid franchise (which would be highly recommended to any John Wick fan who wants a bit more gore and oomph to their story), Parabellum features perhaps the most intense and well executed cold-open fight scenes of all time, which are leagues ahead of any James Bond opener.
Although the endless spurts of CGI blood in the later gunfights can get tiresome, the brutal hand to hand combat sequences (with some interesting weapon choices) will continuously leave audience members on the edge of their seats.
The excellent choreography is impeccably captured by cinematographer Dan Laustsen, whose smooth eye makes sure you know exactly which body part is hitting where. Sound designer Luke Gibleon works hand in hand, making each brutal thump and slice sound as shiver-inducing as it should (and believe me some of those stabs will make you squeamish).
John Wick is moulded to Keanu Reeves’ Zen-like personality and so he plays the character as well as ever. And at 54 years of age he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Halle Barry, Lawrence Fishburne, Anjelica Huston and more Hollywood giants stud the screen with simple yet effective underworld figures that the actors clearly have a good time portraying. As usual with the John Wick franchise it’s a joy to see Lance Reddick and Ian McShane tag-team as the infamous ‘Continental Hotel’ ambassadors.
Unfortunately, Asia Kate Dillon disappoints in their* first big screen role as The Adjudicator, an ill-delivered Girl with the Dragon Tattoo role which is far more prevalent than one would desire.
*note: Asia Kate Dillon is non-binary and uses ‘they’ pronouns
Parabellum kicks higher and harder than its action competitors. While it stammers in story, it shouts in stunts making it an easily enjoyable popcorn thriller. Given a little room to breathe, John Wick is obviously ready for another chapter.