John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) - Review
Former hit-man John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has been through a lot recently. He finally escaped a life of murder to live with his wife, but then his wife died, leaving him only with a small puppy. A Russian gangster stole his car, killed his dog and beat John remorselessly in his own home, and thus John did the thing anyone would do - he murdered the man, his father, and all of his associates. Just as John tried to go back into retirement though, he became embroiled with a shady figure in the mysterious "high table", and naturally cleared his debts and murdered the guy. Naturally, murdering him wasn't the end, and thus the "high table" set out to punish John Wick with a $14 million reward for the person who kills him, and John is left all alone in New York city...
This third chapter opens shortly after the ending of the previous film, with John on the run and looking for a means of survival. The whole series has been based on the idea of John going up against impossible odds, and naturally this third entry pits him against an entire city, leading to a series of intense shoot-outs, chases and full-on brawls. Baba Yaga won't go down without a fight, and here director Chad Stahelski raises the bar with some of the best and most stunning action sequences in recent memory. Keanu Reeves is on top-form, committing entirely to the choreography as Wick, and manages to pull-off some jaw-dropping stunt-work. 'Parabellum' may be 131 minutes, but it's an intense 131 minutes, when even the slower scenes are filled with tension. Just when you think that the film can't raise the bar any higher, it does - providing incredible feats of cinema. This isn't your 'The Bourne Supremacy' with close-ups, shaky-cam and fast-paced editing - this is a proper action movie, with a variety of shots that go on for as long as they need to. Stahelski is so confident in his leading man that he'll just leave the camera at a nice medium-wide angle to showcase how immensely talented Keanu Reeves is, and to reinforce that John Wick really is doing the stunt-work here.
It helps also that Stahelski never relies solely on dialogue to fuel the film's narrative, relying mostly on visual cues and vague, occasional lines to influence character, story and context. John Wick's origin is almost completely explained in this film, but almost entirely without dialogue. Say what you will about 'Parabellum', but it's visual story-telling is phenomenal. The cinematography too is gorgeous, seeped in vibrant colours, dark shadows and a downpour of rain. Shots are perfectly framed to showcase the action and the characters, and it's one of the most aesthetically-pleasing films I've seen in a long time. The actors too, are charming and charismatic, whether it be Ian McShane charming his way through a third outing as Winston, or Lance Reddick finally showing off an extra side to the concierge, or Laurence Fishburne's enigmatic Bowery King, or Halle Berry's surprisingly endearing Sofia, or...pretty much everyone in this film is great. Fill a good action movie with likable characters played by talented actors and it works more often than not. Whilst the villains aren't as despicable and before, they are equally charming and threatening. It's incredible how polite everyone is in the John Wick films. After beating a guy to death with a book, John still places it back carefully on its designated shelf. Two of his assailants later help him up to continue the fight, pausing only to compliment his skills.
To say too much more about 'John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum' would be spoiling it, and despite it's somewhat unwieldy title (does it really need two subtitles?), it certainly lives up to it's promise. It might be slightly too long, it might be somewhat repetitive, but it is an incredible piece of cinema, and expertly made by talented artists. Kudos to all involved, 'Parabellum' is undoubtedly a hit. 9/10
Comments
Post a Comment