John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019)
The first John Wick was a surprising treat that came out of nowhere. It was a fun, slick action movie with a very simple plot, a lot of charm, and an intriguing world involving underground societies of criminals and assassins. The action scenes were amazing, with many of them being shot up close and in tight surroundings without losing sight of what was going on. It had some cheesy dialogue, but the charm and the novelty of the little-action-movie-that-could make it suitable. Then the second one came out. It expanded on some of the concepts, upped the ante of the action, and explored more of the world in the process. I enjoyed Chapter 2 overall, but I thought it was losing some of what made the first movie so great. So, I was a little apprehensive about the franchise continuing. After a year of delays in trying to watch it, I finally saw John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum for myself.
Image: Lionsgate
Pros
Action scenes are still shot and choreographed well
Some fleeting moments of humor that work
Cons
Charm has been lost and the cheesiness overflows
World is becoming less and less intriguing
Some of the jokes are a little weird or flat
More grotesquely violent than previous films for no reason
Even John Wick is too superhuman at this point
Plot & Thoughts
After John Wick (Keanu Reaves) killed the antagonist of Chapter 2 on the grounds of the Continental Hotel, a safe zone for assassins, he was marked “excommunicado,” making him number one on the assassins-most wanted list. He was banished from all safe zones and had one hour to escape New York before the sentence would become active. As you might expect, he wasn’t able to leave the city without running into trouble. What’s more, it seems that his transgression was so heinous that anyone who helped him along the way may be facing their own execution. The real question is, what is John Wick going to do from here, now that he’s the most wanted man in the world? Will he ever be able to get back to some semblance of the normal life he had before he lost his first dog and his house? At the very least, will he be able to end the sentence against him and not be a man on the run? That’s essentially the goal of Wick at this point.
Image: Lionsgate
So the plot is around the same level of complexity as the last time around; still pretty simple, overall. However, that simplicity has not really helped make Chapter 3 as good as its predecessors. The first film worked well because it was a more personal endeavor for Wick as a character. The plot’s simplicity was centered around him and his vendetta. The second one had its personal interactions and it felt like a suitable way to up the ante, but it was already starting to lose some of that special spice of the John Wick universe. With this one, the plot just didn’t pull me in in the same way. It relies on you being attached to John Wick as a character and the other side characters who have already been introduced but doesn’t do much to keep you invested in anyone. If anything, John Wick isn’t really an interesting character without revenge as his motivator, and he doesn’t really grow in any thought-provoking ways. He’s a desperate man who gets more and more desperate, then shows some integrity by the end and gets pretty beat up for his trouble.
In the process of John Wick’s journey around the world to free himself of his death sentence, we get more information about the structural hierarchy of the underground assassin society. Some of what is shown is provocative in some ways: assassin schools, arbitration rituals, etc. What is less interesting about the whole system is how it relates to the “high table” and who sits at it. While the first movie introduced a great deal of concepts with their world, (the currency, safe zones, euphemisms for murder), we have slowly gotten more and more insight into Wick’s world. As a result, it’s getting less and less interesting. This is a common problem when you have a mysterious or intriguing world and then, as you overturn all the rocks, you don’t actually find anything new or unusual when more is revealed. It was one of my concerns with sequels for this franchise and seems like it’s only likely to get worse if they feel compelled to expand on the world any further.
Image: Lionsgate
Why does this matter? Part of what made the first John Wick such a delight was that it was a simple revenge story that was peppered with details about this new world of assassins. You wanted to learn more, see the crazy cool fight scenes, and see Wick get his revenge. In Chapter 2, he loses his motivation for revenge until the second half of the film. In addition, more traditions of the assassin world were introduced, as well as this hierarchy of assassin leaders and political power within the dark underworld. Personally, I liked it better in the first movie when it felt like everyone was operating based on a code and just a simple sense of power. Chapter 3 doubles down on the structural concepts of the world, doesn’t have any significant antagonists who have any personal ties to John Wick, and revenge isn’t a motivation for him in the entire movie. As more is revealed about the world, and as we spend more time with Wick, he and his world are becoming less and less interesting.
All we’re left with is the action, which is still fantastic to watch. There’s also a lot of it. I was exhausted by the end from the sheer number of action sequences that were in Chapter 3. The sequence involving the choreography of the dogs was impressive, as well as the last two fight sequences in the film. The chase sequences on the horse and motorcycles were also exciting to watch. However, some of the violence in Chapter 3 was a bit more graphic and gory than previous entries, and I’m not really sure why. It’s not like the John Wick movies are tame in terms of violence since there are undoubtedly hundreds of people who have been shot in the head at this point. But there were a few moments in this where I wondered why they felt it necessary to show it in such graphic detail.
Image: Lionsgate
The last thing I’ll mention has to do with the overall charm of the series. The corny lines of the first film were entertaining and fun because of the unique scenario and the newness of the franchise. It fit well and felt like an independent comic book brought to life. With each sequel getting bigger and more bombastic, that initial charm has worn off and the John Wick comic book feels like it was bought by Marvel (Disney) and lost its soul in the process. The corny lines are just corny, not cool or funny. In addition to that, John Wick is practically a superhero at this point. He was talked up as the Baba Yaga, but he was still human in some ways, which made the first movie more endearing. He was skilled and efficient, but he wasn’t perfect or untouchable. He got beat up and captured, but he was resourceful and lucky, so he managed to live up to his reputation without it being too ridiculous. As the stakes have been raised and raised, John Wick has become more and more like the Arnold Schwarzenegger characters of films like Commando and Last Action Hero. He still gets beat up, but to an unbelievable degree. In fact, there are spots where he should have just died if he was really human. Apparently. he’s Wolverine because he’s somehow able to not only survive a beating but also be strong enough to defeat other master assassins after the fact.
TL;DR (Conclusion)
John Wick: Chapter 3 is exactly what I was worried it would be: a somewhat hollow sequel in a solid movie franchise that probably should have just stopped after the first one. The action sequences are still something to behold. Everything is shot well, as there are plenty of beautiful moments in this movie. However, the more time we spend with John Wick, the less interesting of a character he becomes. The more we uncover about his world, the less there is to want to learn. I suspect that unless Chapter 4 makes good on its promises of revenge for Wick, this franchise won’t be able to hold my interest, regardless of how good the action is.
