John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

John Wick started off as a relatively simple idea that not a lot of people were interested in, but that changed the second they saw the 2014 film starring Keanu Reeves. Despite housing a very cliched and uncreative premise for an action film, the movie wowed audiences and critics with its passionate performances, engaging world building, and thrilling action sequences, enough so that a franchise was birthed which led way to multiple sequels. While Chapter 2 released in 2017 kept people’s interest in the series alive, the third film, Chapter 3: Parabellum, wasn’t met with the same level of unanimous praise even though it did technically give people what they asked for. This shouldn’t be too surprising given how most action sequels wear out their welcome pretty quickly, but people seemed willing to stick with John Wick as it felt a little more highbrow, and yet even this series was forced to realize that there’s only so far a one-note idea can go before it starts to lose steam.

Set immediately after the events of the second film, John Wick (played again by Keanu Reeves) is on ultra-high alert now that he is at the top of the hit list for The High Table, with hitmen and assassins bombarding him at every turn with no respite. Having no one to trust now that even past connections like The Bowery King (played again by Laurence Fishburne) are off the table, John manages to smuggle himself into Casablanca and gets the help of a former friend named Sofia (played by Halle Berry), to track down a mystery elder in the middle of the desert who gives him the opportunity to have the hit placed on him removed if he permanently returns to work for the High Table and kill his old friend and manager of the New York Confidential hotel, Winston (played again by Ian McShane). After refusing this request, John, Winston and hotel concierge, Charon (played again by the late Lance Reddick) plan to make a stand against the High Table and fight off all incoming forces, which includes an Adjudicator for the High Table (played by Asia Kate Dillion) and her hired assassin, Zero (played by Mark Dacascos), who is greatly interested in taking on the legendary ”Baba Yaga”. A final stand-off at the place where all the chaotic violence originated from, this climatic battle will finally determine the fate of the fabled assassin.

Released in 2019, John Wick: Chapter 3 may have been the highest grossing film in the franchise up until that point, but it also left some people a little unfulfilled, forcing them to question if the ball had finally dropped for this series? While not doing anything monumentally worse than the previous sequel (which in itself was nowhere near as strong as the first), the issues were more apparent, and it was becoming clear that this universe wouldn’t (and arguably shouldn’t) last forever.

What’s bizarre about this franchise is how it simultaneously does and doesn’t need to exist, operating in a sense where it continues growing certain aspects of its world, but leaves crucial components of storytelling vacant in exchange for said elements. While the first film was wonderfully singular in its delivery and  worked through its rather basic concept with an fantastic execution, things changed when it became a franchise, as it was clear from the second film that there was no room to develop story or character since they were never meant to be further elaborated on, which by extension leaves this third film feeling hollow, shallow, and only existing as an excuse to expand its cool environment and showcase more fantastic fight scenes. Even if it is still entertaining, there’s something clearly missing, and the soul and even feasible reality of these films is being sacrificed so the creatives can keep topping themselves with each passing feature in order to not get predictable. It may improve some issues like having better villains and a more active pace, but simultaneously doubles down on other problems like its lack of narrative weight and pretty blanket characters, resulting in a film that feels better to watch than the last film, but has incredibly similar cons.

It feels a lot more engaging as a whole,  goes at a solid pace, continues to make its world and environment a lot of fun to be in, ups the stakes enough to keep people invested, and does tie into the last film quite smoothly, but it’s hard to ignore how this premise with barely any substance to begin with is being elongated further and further just so that Lionsgate can keep its newest revenue maker (it’s easily their most successful brand after Hunger Games, so they don’t want to lose it). The plot written by Derek Kolstad is so minute and bare when it’s not being suffocated by its action, that the film never justifies its running time, made abundantly clear when it reaches the third act and nothing of narrative significance really occurs prior to reaching this destination. The scripting by Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins and Marc Abrams brings the same flavor to its dialogue and world-building, but it’s starting to feel repetitive and is losing areas and people to explore, which makes things feel very stagnant. While it does have a better flow and energy, there is so little going for it in terms of motivation, goal, and purpose that it just comes across like an extended action sequence rather than a final movie in a trilogy (which even then didn’t stick as they made a fourth film after the fact).

The characters don’t seem to progress in any substantial way and don’t have much to offer outside of how they can kill people, but at least they’re given a touch of quirky charm to keep them enjoyable. Keanu Reeves has been on an odd journey throughout this franchise, as his acting was surprisingly strong in the first movie and he really excelled in the action and even the more serious and quiet moments, yet he weirdly returned to his monotone under-performing acting style in the second film and only shined during the fight scenes. If that wasn’t already strange, he goes back to being pretty strong in this film, managing to recapture his old energy and feels more alive, urgent, and engaged all throughout, and this fluctuation makes very little sense considering it’s always the same people writing and directing him, so it’s very bizarre. Most of his support is pretty strong as well, making up for the relatively bland and awkward cast of Chapter 2 by bringing in some fun new faces and even redeems those who were used poorly before. Laurence Fishburne is still given the same level of thespianism and over-dramatic flair, but the acting feels strangely stronger and less shaky than the last film, Randall Duk Kim and Anjelica Huston have small but memorable cameos, and even familiar faces like Ian McShane and Lance Reddick are given more screen time and feel more like fleshed-out characters rather than props for the plot.

The villains played by Asia Kate Dillon and Mark Dacascos are better foils than the previous two films, which only really relied on a hateable factor for their villains to leave any impression whereas these two contain more of a personality. Dillon has a stern cold quality that makes her hateable but feels a little more defined and has more presence than the previous film’s antagonists, and Dacascos has an almost light-hearted mischievous quality that makes him charmingly memorable, although he isn’t really used well or really feels like a proper final conflict. Despite being a big name and having an entire section dedicated to her, Halle Berry isn’t featured that heavily in the story outside of a single drawn-out section in Casablanca that really just feels like a massive detour, and when she is used, her performance is a little mixed. While she is laughably unbelievable as a tough-nosed, swearing action star, she is able to pull off the more supportive friend angle pretty nicely and she does have good stunt work, so she doesn’t drag any moment down at least.

These films are known and have even been immortalized for their action, and while this film was praised as having the best out of the three films, it was also the one with the most ‘’out-there’’ action as well. Ironically in a franchise that kind of reshaped how fight scenes were filmed and showcased in modern western media, some people believed this film had too much action, what was shown off felt a little too outlandish, and that the franchise was heading in a much more comedic and unrealistic area, which most didn’t approve of. On the one hand, it does have a greater surplus of fights that takes up a majority of the running time (for a two hour long movie, maybe 15 mins is spent on plot), and there are some moments where the executions can be a little goofy (mainly the ones done by horses and dogs), but John Wick has always been a franchise that’s had shades of quirkiness to it, so this isn’t too far out of reach. The action is still really impressive with returning director, Chad Stahelski, still constructing some very effective sequences which have a lot of great choreography, timing, and energy behind them, and it still manages to be engaging even if it can be overused.

There’s something charming about how this can be such a cut-throat world, but it’s still allowed to be playful and nice, like how John Wick can face two assassins that genuinely respect him and wait for him to stand up to continue trying to kill each other, it adds a nice dose of life into what could be a very bleak unpleasant world. It’s reaching a point where John Wick does feel a little too invincible in regard to what he can survive (he survives falling from what looks like a ten-story building and just needs a rest to get better), but again that could just be the action genre leeway that it’s asking the audience to abide by. The production designer by Kevin Kavanaugh further implements the neon, almost modern cyberpunk-like stylization that pushes this universe more into the realms of fantastical realism, with a vibrant color palate accompanied by harsh strobing lighting that keeps the film grounded enough, while still incorporating a cinematic twinge. Most of the costuming handled by Luca Mosca also has a very professional and stylish look that does match how you’d imagine an assassin cult would dress like, but it still has enough personality to be more than just general attires, these films still manage to visually stand out even if they never feel like they’re showing off.

Chapter 3 feels like the culmination of everything good and bad that has come from turning John Wick into a franchise, as even though this movie doesn’t really prove why it needed to be one, the talent involved are strong enough that it’s been able to stay afloat in spite of legitimate issues. It has all the workings of a good engaging action flick, but it fails as a third film in a trilogy and only stands as strongly as it does thanks to its supplements and built-up goodwill rather than its main ingredients. The acting, action and world-building are still good if not improved upon, but its minimal story, zero character progression and overall lack of relevance keeps it from feeling fulfilling. If you were getting tired of these films, this one won’t change your mind, but if you are perfectly accepting with the direction these movies are heading in, it seems like there’s nothing in the way from giving you a good time.