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By Nathan Hurlbut
Adrenaline junkies rejoice! Keanu Reeves is back in another installment of the hyper-kinetic John Wick series as “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” debuts on movie screens.
The sequel already enjoys the distinction of having knocked the seemingly unstoppable blockbuster juggernaut “Avengers: End Game” from the top box-office spot on its opening weekend. It’s compelling evidence that the stylish intensity of the first two John Wick movies has seduced enough people to build up sufficient anticipation for this third installment.
“Chapter 3” immediately picks up where the cliffhanger ending of “John Wick: Chapter 2” left off. Having broken a sacred code by killing someone on the consecrated grounds of the Continental Hotel, John is generously given one hour by the hotel’s owner Winston (Ian McShane) to make his escape before word is out and every assassin on Earth will be attempting to kill him.
It’s a promising, paranoia-fueled premise that immediately ups the ante on the potential for violent confrontation at every turn. It also allows screenwriter Derek Kolstad to broaden (if not necessarily deepen) the scope of the mythology of the High Table and John is forced to call upon his mysterious past in a desperate attempt to continue to have a future.
Having worked with Keanu Reeves as his stunt double in “The Matrix” movies, director Chad Stehelski clearly was taking notes during that trilogy. He has taken the innovations those films made in the action film genre and intensified them, stripping the science fiction window dressing away in the process. It leaves “John Wick: Chapter 3” a streamlined film as lean and sinewy as Concierge Charon’s (Lance Reddick) wiry frame.
As you might expect from a martial arts guy, the film’s main attraction is its fight scenes, which are choreographed to within an inch of their lives. While the straightforward plot may seem like merely a means to string a number of fight scenes together, there is a thoughtful progression of events here so that no fight scene is without its purpose in the story.
Admittedly, there are scenes in a glass-encased section of the Continental Hotel that come to resemble a jewelry store advertisement as much as an action movie. However, just as often there’s a jaw-dropping set piece, like the astonishing motorcycle chase across a Manhattan bridge that that leaves one scratching your head and wondering, “How on Earth did they film that?”
Also, a few scenes do overstay their welcome. John and Sofia’s (Halle Berry) escape from a Moroccan den of assassins that features a seemingly endless parade of bad guys to dispense with, and eventually creates a certain level of monotony to all the killings. However, it is also enlivened by the presence of Sofia’s pair of attack dogs that bring an added dimension to the scene. It serves reminder of the filmmakers’ ability to enliven each individual fight scene with unique qualities and an unerring attention to its visual style.
Surprisingly, the movie is also occasionally funny. There’re the pauses in the action that allow John’s adversaries to pay him respect, acknowledging the mere honor of fighting with “The John Wick” before resuming their ferocious attack on him. Or there’s a moment like when Winston dismissively hangs up the phone up on a High Table adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) in a welcome moment of levity that breaks up the action enough to prevent a certain level of fight scene exhaustion to creep in.
Of course, John Wick memorably continues to be the most implausibly indestructible movie character since Michael Myers graced the screen in a modified William Shatner mask in 1978’s “Halloween”. There’re times, like when Wick is blindsided by not one, but two speeding cars on the streets of Manhattan, that make you wince at the actual damage the 53-year old actor would sustain in real life.
This also somewhat misses the point, however. In this present age of blockbuster comic book superheroes, John Wick merely takes his place among them, although as one whose superpowers are borne from his deep knowledge of various martial arts skills and inventive fighting techniques. For this reason, “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” manages to be the ultimate adrenaline kick. The bone crushing damage is all the more visceral and immediate here, even as a description like “realistic” needs to be tempered with a certain suspension of disbelief.