John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

Just like the Matrix series, the John Wick series is the child of; interesting concepts, mediocre direction, bad writing, bad dialogue, fine (ok) acting and good to great fight choreography...

John Wick 3 outstays its welcome and becomes tedious with all the boring twists and uninspired resolutions.

you'll watch it once, forget it ever existed and then never watch it again.

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I don’t have a written review for each of the previous films, but I did watch both and thoroughly enjoyed them! John Wick (2014) is one of the best movies of that year and one of the best action films ever. However, John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) is a bit more convoluted and messy regarding its story and how it brings our protagonist back into the game, but the franchise’s outstandingly choreographed fight sequences still make it tremendously entertaining.

And it’s precisely the mind-blowing, bone-crushing, jaw-dropping, extraordinarily long and brutally choreographed action scenes that make John Wick one of the most badass characters in the history of cinema! The Academy has been looking for something new to make the Oscars more popular, and the creation of new categories has been their number one idea. Well, nothing fits the show better than Best Stunt Work. Obviously, franchises like this one or Mission: Impossible would become major successes at this award show. These two sagas are undeniably the most important and crucial for the survival of truly real action. What you see, it’s what you get.

Nowadays, viewers already have their eyes set to acknowledge everything as CGI or some sort of visual effect. I’ll never forget when I left my Mission: Impossible - Fallout screening and while getting out of the theater, a group of friends was laughing around saying something along the lines of “of course that scene is fake and this moment is CGI, how can you believe that?! You’re such a moron!” They were roasting one of their friends, thinking he was the dumb one when he was probably the one who was laughing the hardest. This definitely leaves me sad. Sad that people won’t realize how incredible movies like these are. How they genuinely work like crazy to provide the audience with real and authentic stunts.

Yes, it’s over-the-top. Yes, CGI and visual effects are still applied, but just to litt...

Strong contender for best John Wick movie to date. And that ain't faint praise. I've been strong invested in the franchise ever since it was first announced John Wick would be a playable character in Payday 2. Then when I actually watched that first movie? Forget about it. I fuckin' love this guy. And now, here we are with a trilogy cappin' Parabellum. Strength to strength to goddamn strength.

Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite.

John wich Chapter Three, Is the best action shooting movie in 2019

Not the best of the three movies (so far), but still one hell of a ride and excellent fight sequences. Keanu Reeves once again is in his element, though emotionally not much is asked of him from his character.

The franchise keeps getting better

Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.

• Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus; De re militari (4th or 5th century AD)

It wasn't just a puppy.

• John Wick (21st century AD)

Directed by stuntmen turned directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, and written by Derek Kolstad, the original John Wick (2014) was something of a sleeper hit, earning almost $90 million against a $20 million budget. The 2017 sequel, however, was a bona fide blockbuster, earning $171 million against a $40 million budget. And now we have John Wick: Chapt__er 3 - Parabellum, which has maintained the franchise's monetary trajectory, earning $230 million against a $75 million budget. Indeed, Parabellum earned more in its opening weekend in North America ($57 million) than the original did in its entire North American theatrical run ($43 million). The three films were also critical successes, and have come to form the basis for the "Wickiverse"; an expanded universe that includes the forthcoming Chapter 4, a spin-off prequel film (Ballerina), a TV show (The Continental), and two video games (John Wick Chronicles and John Wick Hex).

Not bad for a franchise that began life as a story about a guy getting revenge on the thugs who killed his puppy.

Except, of course, it wasn't just a puppy.

With Stahelski back in the director's chair for the third time, and with a script by Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams, as with the previous films, Parabellum is built on the foundation of Sir Keanu of Reeves's zen-like stoicism, a quality he can deploy to make a violent swordfight look about as stressful as sleeping on silk linen with "Fur Elise" playing in the background and a cat gently purring on the pillow beside you. And although this third entry in the franchise does flirt with a few themes amidst the mayhem (honour, fealty, destiny), it's not trying to be something it isn't, well aware of its own id...

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear. This is a movie you watch for the action and not much less. But then, that not really a surprise is it?

The movie takes off literally minutes after the last one ended. John Wick is on the run and that’s the story for most of the movie. Well, not entirely. He does have a plan but first he has to escape the many assassins trying to cash in the 14 million dollar bounty on his head.

This movie is all about action. The movie is R-rated although I honestly do not understand why. Sure there’s lot of action and a lot of killing but still, I wouldn’t say it merits an R-rating and apparently the French ratings organisation didn’t either since here in France it France it got a 12+ rating. That is, it is only restricted for those younger than 12 years.

Anyway, as I wrote above, this movie is all about Keanu Reeves and action. Lots and lots of action which usually ends up in one or more persons getting killed by John or some of his remaining friends.

Is the story and the action realistic? Hell no! But it is fun to watch even though most of the bad guys shoots as accurately as imperial storm troopers. Most of the time at least.

Towards the end I did think it got a bit silly. The fight against Zero and his last two students was pretty rubbish. It was kind of kick, hack and slash for a few minutes and then stand of and wait until the other guy got up again. Then rinse and repeat. Silly indeed.

Also, they could really tone down on the ludicrous survivability of John Wick. I mean, come on! He gets hit by cars and walks away. Not to mention the final scene were he falls something like six seven floors, bounces (and I mean bounces!) off a fire escape and a trash container and apparently survives.

I probably should rate the movie a star less for that kind of stuff but I wont. This is something as refreshing as a Hollywood movie apparently meant to entertain and nothing else. There’s really no political or social preaching or any...

It's got the curse of the third movie, this - the script has been almost totally sacrificed for the imagery (which for the first 20 minutes is actually quite stunning). The fight scenes seem to go on and on well beyond the point where even Arnie would have been killed. Ian McShane is as wooden as usual; though this time we had (and missed) the chance to lock him in a huge safe. Laurence Fishburne brings a little gravitas to this, but otherwise it's just well beyond the pale, sorry.

Part of me wants to pretend that I couldn't find the paper thin plot of the film and rag on it for a complete and total lack of story... but I could follow what little of a plot there was so that would be kind of disingenuous.

Not only that, but it would also be pretending that I didn't know what kind of movie this was when I sat down with my wife to watch it. And, honestly, I can't stand the reviews that take a John Wick film and pretend that they expected something like Chinatown walking in.

You know the ones I'm talking about, those reviews that lament the fact that they got a brainless action movie when they sat down to watch a brainless action movie.

If I said "I'm not that deep" I'd be giving them too much credit. So rather than saying that, I'm going to say that, when I sat down to watch it, I didn't lie to myself and pretend it was going to be anything more than a John Wick film.

What you have is sleek, beautifully choreographed action brought to you in the most brutal of ways and delivered in a form that requires you to suspend your disbelief because it is just the right amount of totally unrealistic.

Does it have a plot? Yeah, but not really. It has just enough of a plot to make a loose story and not so much that it would get in the way of what was promised to be carnage candy.

And, honestly, carnage candy is the promise that the John Wick people gave us and nothing more... and each installment of the franchise delivers on that promise. It never, ever, claims that it is anything more than an action film, and it never, ever pretends to be anything deeper.

It isn't a great film. It never claims to be. But it is a great action film, so you have to take it for what it is.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum picks up right where the sequel left off, with Wick being excommunicated from the assassin underworld. The bounty is set at $14 million and Wick has an hour to escape the city before his former associates come to collect.

While the plot might not be as strong as the sequel, it continues the same story points seamlessly. This film feels more like a continuation of larger narrative spanning across franchise, rather than separate semi-connected story like the first two. This film is bigger than the last, with vast and diverse landscapes for Wick to create havoc in. The lore of world is expanded showing us more of the assassin leadership and how the chain of command works. All of the new additional characters worked well and were integrated into the story perfectly.

The action is picked up a notch, creating some of the craziest sequences I have ever seen on the screen. The fight inside of the knife shop was insane, it left me with my mouth literally dropping to the floor. It is one of my favorite action sequences in any film. One thing I particularly liked is the sense of desperation and isolation that surrounds our main character. We see John Wick tested to the extremes, pushing the boundaries resulting in creative stunts and tactics to fight off multiple assassins at a time. It was really fantastic. The cinematography was incredible here as well. This film shows that with good choreography and a wide shot, you can create gripping scenes that do not require fifteen different jump cuts. The motorcycle chase has got to be one of the most breathtaking and seamless action sequences I have ever seen.

The acting quality sees a significant increase in quality when compared to the first two entries. Keanu Reeves is still Keanu Reeves, delivering a fairly cheesy and awkward performance, but that is what you come to expect and cherish about this franchise. The addition of Halle Berry and Asia Dillon were fantastic as the both added some...