John Wick: Chapitre 3 - Parabellum

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.

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.

About 6 months ago I saw a picture of the set of 'John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum' featuring Keanu Reeves on horseback shooting at motorcyclists. It was such a great looking shot that I have been waiting eagerly to see how it looked in the actual film ever since. It did not let me down. The style this film possesses is insane. It is one of the best looking action films I have ever seen.

The pacing of this film is also incredible. It starts the action immediately and almost never lets up. I can't wait to see what the death count was in this film because it will be truly enormous. The only problem is when the death count is that high the film can struggle to keep the originality up. After a while each death starts to look very similar to the last, and the 50 before that, and it can even become a little tedious to watch.

The only other flaw I came across with the film was that John Wick is on the defence too much. Instead of being angry and on the hunt like the first two films, for the majority of the Chapter 3 he is in survival mode. Still very fun to watch, but it isn't quite the same as seeing him take brutal revenge.

And the film is brutal. I could be wrong but I don't remember the first two entries in the series making me cringe in terms of violence as much. There were some very hard things to watch at times in this movie even for me, and I pride myself on handling those sorts of things fine most of the time. One of them early on got an audible gasp from the entire audience and I saw multiple people having to turn their heads to the side.

'John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum' is two hours of your life that will pass by very quickly. This is as non-stop action as films get. I think this is the third best action series currently producing movies (after 'James Bond' and 'Mission Impossible'). Will it get a third one? The first entry on the trivia page suggests no, however the end of this movie suggests yes? I guess we will have to wait to find out. For now enjoy the hell out of this one.

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.

..THE FILM-MAKERS, { VERY SIGNIFICANTLY }, HAVE FORGOTTEN TO ADD { " F A N T A S Y " }, TO THEIR LITTLE LIST OF GENRES APPLICABLE TO "JOHN WICK, CHAPTER 3 : PARABELLUM" .

" Life is suffering, Art is pain " ~ the Character known simply as : ' The Director ' .

This is EASILY THE MOST BRUTAL FILM I've seen in a fair bit of time. PLEASE { D O N ' T ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ } take your { M I N O R }-children/siblings/relatives/friends/wards along with you for this film. Sure the violence is 'Highly-stylized', but I can UNEQUIVOCALLY assure you : there's a seriously GRATUITOUS amount of "HARDCORE, UNABASHED, BLOODLETTING " in the picture, at EVERY-SINGLE-TURN. I just gave "MARVEL'S AVENGERS : ENDGAME" A { " FIERCELY TRIUMPHANT 10 / 10 " }, ( for crying out loud ! )..... so there's JUST NO WAY that I can, in 'All-good-conscience', give this particular cinematic-outing anything higher than a { " Resounding, Hard-Sought " } 7.25 MARKS OUT OF 10 MARKS .

NOW ON THE { P L U S ⭐ } SIDE :

The Said-Film is absolutely KNEE-DEEP IN : 1. SERIOUSLY RIP-TICKLING { & VERY, VERY TIMELY, INDEED - ! } CONCENTRATED BOUTS OF COMIC RELIEF ( SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE ⭐ ! ) , 2. UTTERLY "MIND-BENDING" { '& SEEMINGLY NEVERENDING' } FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY, & . . 3. SUBLIMELY "SYNCHRONIZED-TO-THE-ACTION" 👉 { NEON, FIRE-LIGHT & GENERAL SPECIAL-EFFECTS LIGHTING; OFTEN BATHING THE VIEWER IN SUPREMELY GORGEOUS COLOUR SWIRLS AND 'COLOUR-MACHINATIONS' } 👈 .....FOR THE PASSIONATE ART-LOVERS ⭐ , AMONG YOU, AT LEAST !

And believe-it-or-not , there are ( EVEN A FEW ! ) "UNEXPECTEDLY" TOUCHING MOMENTS OF UNADULTERATED, SOUL-STIRRING POIGNANCY .

The film is at the end of the day, more a SPLENDIDLY, UNASHAMEDLY-DARK "CARICATURE", then it is a mindless gore-fest .

And given that ( LITERALLY, " EVERY THIRTEENTH PERSON ! " - As depicted in the film, i.e - ) on the streets of New York City is represented as an EVIL, MURDEROUS-ASSASSIN, you would INDEED BE WISE to remember, ( where the film-makers appear to have VERY ERRONEOUSLY forgotten ), that this is, "When-all-is-said-and-done" ....

..... a pure, unadulterated ->- " F A N T A S Y ⭐ " ->- ( & THAT IS ALL ! ) ~ in order to be able to TRULY enjoy this "Veritably DARK, DARK, RED", Cinematic-extravaganza ~ TO THE FULLEST ⭐ .