John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum
Alright, so first things first- John Wick carrying on an action sequence utilizing horses as weapons is every bit as great and fun as that implies. It happens early on in this third chapter of the franchise, so admittedly, it’s a downward slope from there, but trust me when I say it’s worth the price of admission all on its own. Thankfully, the rest of the movie has plenty of juice left in it to keep us in the theatre for the next hour and 45-50 minutes.
“Parabellum,” which translates to “Prepare for war” in the film, starts off almost immediately where the second film ended, as Winston (the delightful Ian McShane) has given John (Keanu Reeves) an hour head start before his excommunicado from the society of assassins he has re-entered since the first film begins, and a $14 million contract is opened on him. It’s best not to think about how this film starts at night, in the rain, where as “Chapter 2” not only wasn’t raining, but still had some light left, in trying to figure out how the weather in New York shifted so dramatically; the point is, John is now a hunted man, and he is looking to find safe passage to sort out how he can get back in the game, and survive. The road leads him to a colleague he is owed a debt by (Sofia, played by Halle Berry), while the High Table has sent an Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) to investigate what happened at The Continental, and how John Wick escaped with his life.
The mythology that writer Derek Kolstad, sharing co-writing credit this time with Shay Hatten, Chris Collins and Marc Abrams, is fascinating not only in how it sucks you in to a criminal fraternity that isn’t just a riff of organized crime, but it also presents the question of how half of New York City seems involved in this fraternity, from public locations to taxi drivers to a hotel like The Continental, which doesn’t really hide what it is. I’m intrigued by how massive an “underworld” this is where so many entities are involved, in one way or another. While that aspect grows, so does our understanding of John’s place in it, as he tries to find a way to safe ground through some hidden objects and old connections like Sofia and a Russian ballet director (played by Angelica Huston). (And may I just ask, what is it with Russian ballet being a cover for assassins and spies where this is a trope we just cannot escape in action movies?). We get further hints of his backstory before he left the life for his dearly departed wife while he’s trying to secure his future, and Reeves continues to show a commitment and kinship with the character that serves this film, above all others, well, even as the emotional stakes lessen the further away from his inciting reason for returning to the life. Like with “Chapter 2,” the action and style is bigger and more thrilling, but it can also go on a bit too long, as the film feels built more around action than story. It’s a shame, but it’s also easy to enjoy what it offers in that department.
The film continues to set up further entries, but I’m not as interested in seeing them after “Parabellum.” If they do, I hope Kolstad, director Chad Stahelski and Reeves get back to the basics of the first one with what they’ve set up. Figure out what the emotional stakes, build the action around story rather than the story around action (although, full disclosure, some of these sequences in “Parabellum”- the library fight at the beginning, the throwing knives, the horses, and the shootout John and Sofia find themselves in- are classic set pieces), and keep it simple, stupid. You’ve stretched the boundaries of the visual style (this time with cinematographer Dan Laustsen doing stunning work), and composers Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard know exactly how to score this universe after three films, and you’ve still got plenty of great supporting characters (McShane, Berry, Dillon and Lance Reddick as The Continental’s concierge, Charon) left to bring their fire to the film. (Too bad we won’t get more from Mark Dacascos’s Zero, and his henchmen, however.) The stakes are set for a great time. “Parabellum” is merely a good one, though I do not regret having it.
