John Wick 3: Parabellum

The continuation of the seemingly futile premise that is the John Wick saga.

Filled with many of the usual and choreographed violent action sequences you would come to expect. In between this, there seems to be an inordinate amount of bureaucracy and supposition surrounding the ominous "High Table".

For all accounts it's well made, but it's just more of the same and rather derivative of the first two. Just don't expect anything more from this and it'll do fine.

I'm a fan of the John Wick films. The action sequences are of the highest order and there is quite a bit that feels unique in each action scene. By half way through JW3I started to long for a plot line or a human relationship. There needs to be more to a movie than just fighting.

Another significant increase in body count contribution, not including the injured and\or maimed, as John inserts his wickedness into the flesh and bones of those whose aim is unworthy of their role in organised crime, either that, or they've never handled a weapon or are visually impaired or only shoot blanks or all three.

I liked the first two movies, both had a meaning behind all the action that takes place, this movie the plot is weak and the fight scenes way too long for the weak plot. Keanu still portrays his character as the Boogeyman really well, I enjoyed it but just felt it dragged on a bit much and the fight scene especially with Halle could have been cut down.

It is 5 years since the first John Wick film - one that took me by surprise by how silly it was as a narrative, but yet how well it delivered action sequences. The second film was only 2 years ago, and it raised the stakes and went from a man seeking revenge on another group of people, into one where the world was filled with assassins, popping up from everywhere all the time. I remember ending that film feeling like it had gone too far but that the third would probably do more of that. True enough, Parabellum ("prepare for war") sees the whole world filled with assassins, and a huge administrative system around them - but yet the whole lot of them can't seem to cause John Wick too much trouble. As with the first film, this expands the world more than it can bear, and although it looks cool at times, the world makes no sense whatsoever and it hurts the film the more it relies on it (which it does as it expands it).

The simplicity of the first film is therefore gone, and the slick fun is hurt because it feels bloated in scale, and has to work to sell this unsellable world to the viewer. At its best though, the film doesn't concern itself with this and instead has nicely flowing sequences of well-choreographed violence that is well directed and performed. It is brutally violent but it is almost like a ballet to watch it. Having two cast members from The Raid films had the positive impact of having them, but there was a negative too because those films manage to deliver stakes and tension in the violence - something John Wick just doesn't manage to ever do. I enjoyed the flow and pace, but never got caught up in a fight in a way where it had me on the edge of the seat; contrast the fight with Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman, and the fights that the two are involved with in The Raid 1 and 2 respectively - their John Wick fight is enjoyable but their fights in The Raid movies had weight, danger, and risk.

The endless lack of consequence does make it hard to stay engaged with, and it needs it to be cool and slick so that we never connect it to the real world - but seeing people stabbed in a busy train station with people just walking by without reaction does make that hard, for example. It is still slick, quite enjoyable tosh, and very well put together in terms of fight sequences, but it does feel bloated and overlong, and could have done with a tighter world - although I guess they cannot put that back in the box after the second movie took it out. Enjoyable for what it is, but it has a lot of weaknesses that detract while watching.