The third installment of the unlikely franchise about a
professional killer shooting and stabbing his way toward some sort of
redemption, the deliriously violent “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”
lives up to the high standards set by previous installments of the sleekly
stylish and exciting series.
Keanu Reeves once again plays the monosyllabic John Wick, a
retired assassin who’s drawn back into the life after some Russian punks steal
his car and kill his dog, a posthumous gift from his wife, Helen, who’d just
died of cancer.
He wreaked brutal vengeance upon everyone who crossed him,
and the succeeding films have followed the rippling effects of his fateful decision
to dip his toe back into his old blood-spilling ways. His reasons for returning
may have been noble, but once the past had his scent again, it wasn’t eager to
let him go.
The series introduced us to a complex underworld of
criminality, hinted at in the first film, then fleshed out and expanded in the
second. The denizens of this strangely civil world adhere to a strict code of
engagement and they pay dearly for any infraction. At the end of the previous
film, Wick committed a major no-no, executing a member of the High Table, the
shadowy guild of killers who rule over this world. “Parabellum”
picks up immediately where that film left off, finding Wick excommunicated,
with a $14 million bounty on his head and the entire population of the criminal
underworld very keen to collect.
From there, the film moves at a breakneck pace, with scene
after scene of relentless, pulverizing action. These fight scenes are both
cartoonish and beautifully choreographed, and there’s a dancerly
quality to the intricately rendered mayhem, a swirling kaleidoscope of action
and movement.
Each film has introduced a few additions to characters, and
this time the new cast members include Anjelica Huston, Halle Berry, and best
of all: Asia Kate Dillon as a representative of the High Table known only as
The Adjudicator. Sent to pass judgement those who’ve offered aid to Wick,
Dillon is able to project a quiet menace without so much as raising their voice
or lifting a finger in battle.
With each new set piece, you can feel director Chad Stahelski
and his stunt team working overtime to top themselves with fights involving
books, swords, motorcycles, horses, and sword fights on motorcycles. And
knives, lots and lots of knives. There’s always a winking humor and playfulness
to the violence in the “John Wick” films.
I still admit to feeling some slight internal conflict about
these films, which fetishize gun violence in some occasionally uncomfortable
ways. The clear fantasy of the world it presents does help, but only slightly.
And I can’t help wishing the filmmakers had found a way for the film to say
something about gun violence it gleefully doles out.
But for pure excitement and craft, the “John Wick” films have
grown into one of our most reliable action franchises — right up there with the
“Mission: Impossible” series. When you just sit back and marvel at the skill
and imagination that went into its creation, it’s hard not to be an admirer.
Summer movie season may just be beginning, but I can’t imagine I’ll be seeing a
more thrilling action film this year.
This article appears in May 22-28, 2019.
