"John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum” Review
The first John Wick was very much an action movie about people and these last two ones are solely movies with people doing action. Similar to its big budget stunt demo contemporary, Mission: Impossible, "Parabellum" provides a plot that serves as a vehicle to the next amazingly choreographed action sequence. After sitting through two exhausting hours of some of the most ambitious action scenes put on film that are all driven by biting sound design, impossibly technical stunt work, spectacular cinematography and set pieces ripped out of the best moments from films like The Villainess and Skyfall, I wondered if any of it made sense from a script or character standpoint. Not really. But that's clearly not the selling point of the movie. I think there's a lot that feels lost because of that.
What at first felt like a grounded story about a man's grief over his dead wife, portrayed by a man who has gone through that in real life, now feels like a really gruesome cartoon that doubles down on the tongue-in-cheek meta humour and bloody gushing action (featuring some of the best animal stunt performers). I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun but this hollow loop of boring plot set up to the next big fight scene eventually felt really repetitive, despite how great the set pieces were.
Halle Berry is a welcome addition to the ever growing roster of eccentric characters and the movie sets her up to be a great foil to Wick himself. But in the end, doesn't quite know what to do with her arc, at least for now. Mark Dacascos is also an amazing presence to have and is a meta subversion in the best way and feels like a fuller character than everyone else in the movie and I wish there was as much thought point into the rest of the characters as there was for him but what's actually in it is a bit disappointing.
John Wick 3 is a balls to the wall fun action movie but its lack of logic in character and plot holds it back from being one of the best action movies. That being said, as one scene points out, art is suffering. A lot of people have suffered to bring you entertainment as spectacular as this. And you should definitely go watch it.