After being made excommunicado by the High Table, John Wick tries to find a way to make amends, while every hitman and assassin hunts for him to collect the $14M bounty on his head. At the same time, an Adjudicator arrives to deal with the situation Wick's actions have caused...
In the trailer for John Wick 3, there is the following exchange:
The Director: "All this for what, because of a puppy?"
Wick: "It wasn't just a puppy."
When you strip it all back to the beginning, the first film, the killing of that puppy set in motion a chain of events that have escalated as the series progressed. In the first John Wick film, he wanted revenge for the death of the puppy (and stealing his car, though that gets forgotten in all that follows). In the second film, Wick's trail of revenge brings him back into his old life, the consequences of his actions. This third film takes it further as more consequences follow from his actions at the end of the second film (I won't spoil that for anyone yet to see it).
And all because of a puppy!
To build a series of films around that one act must have seen a crazy notion, but screenwriter Derek Kolstad has written, or in the case of Parabellum (which translates as 'if you want peace, prepare for war') co-written with Shay Hatten, Chris Collins & Marc Abrams, a film series where thanks to intelligent writing have expanded from that original premise in clever ways. The way the world John Wick inhabits has developed well (here the film takes a trip to Casablanca at one point), without the films ever needing to slow down. It's also getting funnier too. There have been moments of black humour in the previous films, but this one does make you laugh out loud at times.
But humour and world building aside, what you are here for is John Wick in action and director Chad Stahelski along with stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio stage some truly extraordinary fight and stunt scenes, with it has to be said, some of the Raid 1&2 stunt and fight team. Wick uses everything from guns and knives to books and horses (no really!) to kill anyone after him. My favourite, the killer dogs. Stahelski is a former stunt and fight coordinator himself and knows how to films fight scenes and, like he did with the previous John Wick films, shoots them in clear ways so you can see what is going on, without resorting to quick edits. He lets the action flow every well indeed.
But he also gets good performances from his cast. As well as the returning Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane and Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge, who this time gets involved in the action, the newcomers, Halle Berry as Sofia, a woman Wick turns to for help, Asia Kate Dillon as the Adjudicator, Angelica Huston as The Director, who also knows Wick and Said Taghmaoui as The Elder, who controls the High Table are all great in support. Marc Dacascos plays Zero, the main villain Wick has to confront and is clearly having a lot of fun with the role.
But, like the previous two films, Parabellum belongs to Keanu Reeves. The brief moments of respite allow Reeves to show Wick's almost zen-like qualities. But when he does, often, Reeves shows just how comfortable he is with the action. Be it in gun or weapon battles, or in hand-to-hand fights, Reeves really throws himself fully into everything.
The music, the set design, the visual aspect of the film are all very good indeed. There really is little here to dislike. It's exciting, tense, outrageous at times, but stays on the right side of ridiculous (looking at you Fast & Furious!). It's possibly the best mainstream Hollywood action film since Mad Max Fury Road.
I loved the film. All the way through, I sat there with a big dumb stupid grin on my face.
Check it out when you can, it is a film well worth seeing.
Highly recommended indeed.
Rating: 5/5
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