What is there to say about John Wick? If you have seen the first two installments in the franchise then you have a good idea of what you’re in for, if you haven’t then you probably won’t be seeing the latest. Parabellum is a break-neck action film that hardly ever takes its foot off the accelerator.
Director Chad Stahelski took a fairly low-budget idea and turned it into a very successful film franchise. Besides the obvious things these movies do well, Stahelski understands and fosters self-awareness…perhaps more so now than prior. The world of John Wick is a stylized fantasy of violence, fashion, and secrecy…losing sight of that would be a mistake. If the films tried to be taken seriously the franchise wouldn’t be where it’s at today. In only two weeks, this third installment already has a higher lifetime box office gross ($182-million) than either of its predecessors while having to contend with Avengers: Endgame. That willingness to embrace its identity is a valuable lesson and it has clearly resonated with moviegoers in increasing numbers. The stuntman-turned-director knows the ins and outs of a good fight scene and he’s stuck with Jonathan Eusebio as his stunt director since the first movie. While several of the action sequences do drag on for a bit too long, there’s no questioning the quality of the work. Stahelski has parlayed the success into a number of other projects coming down the pipe, which may or may not include a fourth and/or final film in this franchise, and is in a position to become one of the preeminent action directors in Hollywood.
Keanu Reeves has had an interesting career, to say the least. He’s never at a shortage for work and aside from the three franchises that have made and kept him famous, his roles are usually pretty eclectic. The vengeance-fueled and duty-bound hitman John Wick isn’t necessarily the most challenging character but Reeves continues to play the role well and it was a much-needed palate-cleanser after Replicas early this year. It was great to see Halle Berry again. She has been fairly inactive on film as of late but it was a nice reminder that she is more than capable. The Oscar-winner worked well opposite Reeves, playing Wick’s indebted associate, and they are good on screen together. Sure, she is the one carrying the majority of the emotional burden but nonetheless. It would have been nice to see the whole movie come together as a team up flick but it wasn’t to be…at least this time around. Really, the whole supporting cast is one of the strongest elements of the franchise and adding Berry to the likes of Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Lance Reddick, Angelica Houston, and Saïd Taghmaoui only makes things better.
It was easy to see the project was given a larger budget and Parabellum possessed a noticeably larger visual signature this time out. With that money, Production Designer Kevin Kavanaugh had some fun elaborating on some of the ideas put forth in the first two films. Filming in New York surely gave the film some added panache but stellar set design and decoration, coupled with excellent lighting techniques and color, brought the environment to life in a whole new way. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen took advantage with some great continuous, single shots that highlighted the surroundings while Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard blended a very strong original score to lace all these ambitious action sequences together. While the movie may tend to be fairly one dimensional in many ways, the technical execution certainly was not.
If you walked into the theater, to begin with, there’s a pretty good chance you didn’t walk out disappointed. This movie was bigger, more elaborate and more John Wick-ier than the previous two combined. There is no mistaking this for some artful masterpiece but that’s kind of the point too. I grew up in an era where movies such as this got made all the time and many of them were fairly decent…enjoyable at the least. Not necessarily assassin flicks but action-thrillers that knew their lanes. While I’m not asking, nor expecting, the industry to shift back in that direction it’s nice to know there is a place in the market for John Wick and that I’m not alone in thinking so.
Recommendation: Fans of the franchise surely won’t be disappointed. If you are not in the mood for some quasi-realistic violence and a barrage of bullets, you probably want to sit this one out.