Pros: Staging fight scenes; realistic stunts; physical and combat training of Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry and other actors; camera work; frame processing Cons: Rudimentary plot; some questions about the logic of the heroes of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum / “John Wick 3”
Action genre,
Directed by Chad Stahelski
Cast: Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Halle Berry (Sophia), Ian McShane (Winston Lawrence), Fishburne (Bowery King), Mark Dacascos (Zero), Asia Dillon (Adjudicator), Lance Reddick (Charon), Anjelica Huston (Director ) and etc.
Студии Thunder Road Pictures, Summit Entertainment
Year of release 2019
IMDb website
If you want peace, prepare for war
(Who wants peace, let him prepare for war – lat.)
Flavius Vegetius
So, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum starts literally five minutes after the end of John Wick 2. Wick violated the law of a criminal community and a huge reward has been placed on his head. He has an hour to get out of New York.
Actually, at this point you can forget about the plot of the film: John Wick rushes around New York in search of a way out, trying to take advantage of old connections (you will never believe what nationality and what country Wick is actually from, and what his real name sounds like). Finds himself on the other side of the world. Accepts an offer that cannot be refused… And refuses it. In a word, John Wick remains John Wick – he continues to break through walls that do not exist with his forehead, leaving hundreds of corpses in his path.
Wick, as always, is a man of few words: it is unlikely that Keanu Reeves’ character speaks more than a hundred words during the entire film. But you empathize with him more than with the characters in wordy psychological dramas. You worry, but are not afraid for him – it’s clear that Wick will destroy everyone who dares to stand in his way.
John Wick 3 is the quintessential action film. The fight here is interrupted only so that the cameraman and digital frame specialists can also, like actors and stuntmen, demonstrate the level of their skills. If John Wick 2 at one time seemed to us too mechanical, predictable and monotonous, somewhat reminiscent of a level from an average shooter, then in John Wick 3 the fight directors gave out everything they were capable of – ingenuity, versatility, variability, originality. John Wick fights in various fighting styles, uses edged weapons of all types and sizes, uses environmental objects, equipment, animals (not a single horse was harmed during the filming of the film!)… and, of course, shoots a lot and in a variety of ways. His opponents have improved, but John is not far behind. The hotel scene with the riot police in full armor is quite something.
Members of the John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum crew claim that 98% of everything you see in the frame is done by Keanu Reeves himself. We willingly believe them. And although in some hand-to-hand fights slight hesitations between blows are still felt, there are no questions about shooting. And in general, all the stunts in the film look real. It’s probably this obsession and the actor’s involvement in the filming process, as well as Tom Cruise’s similar obsession in the Mission: Impossible series, that makes these two franchises the best action films in Hollywood history.
They say that Halle Berry herself came to Chad Stahelski and asked for any role in John Wick 3, no matter what. So the character and the entire story arc in Morocco were written specifically for her. And you know, it seems like it was a very good investment of the writers’ and crew’s time. Despite the fact that Hallie had to train for almost six months, improving her physical shape (even in Extant it was noticeable that the actress had softened a little), learning martial arts and shooting; despite all the difficulties that arose during the filming of scenes with shepherds because of… Moroccan cats; despite the hours spent practicing the interaction with Keanu in the frame… It was definitely worth it, because at the end we got probably one of the most spectacular and impressive fight scenes in the history of cinema. Bravo, Hallie.
Connoisseurs of classic martial arts films will certainly enjoy the appearance of Mark Dacascos (American Samurai, Double Dragon, Drive) in John Wick 3, and fans of Indonesian action films will enjoy the appearance of Yayan Ruhyan (The Raid and The Raid 2).
John Wick had many imitators who, after the release of the first part, tried to repeat the rather simple, at first glance, formula of the film. Atomic Blonde, Hotel Artemis, Polar… All past. It was missing Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves and a bit of madness. Well, that means we’ll be waiting for John Wick 4, and there’s no doubt that it will definitely appear, because after preparations for war, the war itself inevitably comes.
PS In the middle of the film there is a scene in which John Wick 3 says hello to the spin-off Ballerina, which has been in the works since 2017.
Conclusion:
An action movie elevated to the rank of high art
