I suppose after two films of beautifully-choreographed action and genuinely rich story, this series has to come to a peak eventually. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is a great action film and an expectedly ridiculous addition to this franchise. Even though the action is fantastic as usual, I could not get behind this story as much as I wanted to. I was led to believe the premise was solely about John's escape from New York, but the many peculiar plot choices throughout this movie definitely led me astray. Perhaps I get a bit too nitpicky when it comes to my elevated action films, but in the case of many franchises nowadays, I wish this film contained the same heart as the previous two.
Picking up directly after the events of the second installment, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum follows the "retired" hitman as he is on the run from the entirety of New York City following an excommunicado order and a $14 million price on his head. As he and his trusty dog run to escape the Big Apple, he has one hour to find a way to stay alive. Thankfully, Wick runs into some familiar accomplices while simultaneously getting help from some new faces. Watching the initial two films in this series is practically a requirement for this film since the story takes place right off the bat from the end of the second. What makes these films (or at least the first two) so incredible is that they are able to combine ridiculously gorgeous and ruthless action with a ridiculously genuine story. At the heart of these films are all revenge stories, as John Wick attempts to get back what his enemies took from him when he was the most vulnerable. However, as this series goes on and on, he only seems to get in worse and worse situations. Unfortunately, this third installment seems to lose the heart of this character at times. I forgot multiple times throughout this movie what Wick's ultimate goal was in the first place and I feel like this story became so much more convoluted than it needed to be. The inclusion of the strange desert subplot and the losing of his finger just did not seem suitable with the world that had been built. Hitman's wife dies. Bad guys kill hitman's dog and take everything form him. Hitman gets revenge. The simple yet beautiful premise of these movies is as simple as that, but this film seemed to lose that along the way.
Despite the story not drawing me in nearly as much as the personal and heart-wrenching plot of the first two, Keanu Reeves is still as great as ever. There is no other actor that could have possibly been cast in this role or portrayed the grittiness and passion as much as Reeves. For a ruthless yet reticent hitman such as John Wick, Reeves absolutely embodies the nature of this character yet again. The aspect of this protagonist that I enjoyed most in this particular film was the fact that the writers included much more information about his backstory. This story examines the character for how he grew up and how he was raised to become such an amazing fighter. We even learn John Wick's real name; one that I'm sure even his beloved wife did not know about. Halle Berry is also a standout throughout this film as she plays Sofia, an old friend of Wick and the manager of another hotel run by the High Table. Sofia and her unsurprisingly loyal dogs steal every scene that they are in and bring another great level of world-building to this film in addition to their exciting action sequences. However, as creative and enthralling to watch as this brutally choreographed action is, this film seems to rely a bit too much on it. Sure, it is always entertaining to see John Wick break open a man's skull with a book or slap a horse's butt to crack a man's neck with its hooves, but it became very repetitive towards the end. Despite how well it was shot, the constant punching, kicking, blasting, and slicing seemed to use the same techniques that had been seen previously. Perhaps it is due to the late showing I went to and my near inability to keep my eyes open, but that responsibility falls more on the film itself to keep me engaged.
While I definitely thought this third film would be the conclusion to this trilogy, the ending once again paved the way for more stories of this modern icon and his ridiculously fun violence. I am genuinely interested in seeing where this series goes from here now that it seems to be running out of plot ideas. But nonetheless, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum still proves itself as an incredibly fun time at the theaters and cements this character as a definite legend.
My Rating: ★★★
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