John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum: Oh Yeah, He's Back

Let it be known that the summers of 2018 and 2019 are possibly the best two years for blockbuster films. The latter has just started, too! I mean last year had Infinity War, Incredibles 2, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Mission Impossible: Fallout. So far, 2019 has had Endgame, Detective Pikachu, and now, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. Oh boy, we are in for a ride!

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (wow that's a mouthful) is directed by Chad Stahelski and stars Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Asia Kate Dillon, and Mark Dacascos. After John Wick (Reeves) has broken one of the cardinal rules of the Continental (killing someone on hotel grounds) he is excomunicado (exiled). Now, with a $14 million bounty on his head, he is the target of every assassin in New York. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!

I have only seen two entries in the John Wick series: the second one and Parabellum. Having seen them, I can tell you this: these movies are extremely slept-on. I loved this movie. There's so much to like about it. I'll start with Keanu Reeves as John Wick. He's fantastic. It sucks that people don't talk about Reeves like they talk about Tom Cruise. He's committed and seems like a great guy. As Wick, he's the same way. Even though he has been dealt the crappiest hand possible, Wick still finds a way to deal with everything. He's a one-man army. As the hotel manager, Winston (McShane) says, ¨a $14 million bounty on his head, everyone in the city wants a piece of it, I'd say the odds are about even.¨ Reeves isn't the only cast member that shines. McShane is great as Winston. You could tell that he doesn't really want Wick to die and sees him as a friend. Fishburne as the Bowery King is great. He's basically Fishburne in a jacket and doesn't take any crap from anybody. Halle Berry plays Sofia, an assassin who owes Wick a debt. She has great chemistry with Reeves and they bounce off each other very well. What makes it even better is that she has two attack dogs. Everyone loves a good boi, or in this case bois. My only complaint about her character is that she's not in the movie as much as I thought. Some things are hinted at, too that I wanted to hear more about. Maybe they were trying to set up a spin-off for her, which I would gladly watch. Another character I really liked was Zero (Dacascos), an assassin sent by the Adjudicator (Dillon) to kill Wick. What was interesting about his character was that, yes, he wants to kill John, but he also admires him, which leads to some funny moments. The major thing I wanted to talk about was the action. It is absolutely glorious. Everything is perfect about it. There are situations where it looks like John isn't going to make it out, but no surprise he does. It's wonderfully shot. What I really like about the action in the movie is that it's brutal and raw. It isn't stylized and I love it. How many movies have someone killing someone with a book and fighting people on horse-back in the first ten minutes. Every time John landed a hit, I could hear the audience go, ¨Oh Jesus!¨ I loved it! It was a great theater experience. I also loved how the movie is shot. The colors really pop and add another layer to the film. I've always really appreciated the world-building that these movies do and Parabellum adds even more. These aren't just assassins who kill for the hell of it. They have debts to each other. This movie really expands the lore in interesting ways that adds to the movie.

If you couldn't tell, I absolutely loved this movie. However, there were some minor things that I didn't really like. I mentioned how Halle Berry isn't in the movie enough (but when she is, it's fantastic). This is also the case for some other characters too that I don't want to spoil. My main problem with the movie isn't because of the film itself but because of release date. The second John Wick movie came out in 2017. The third one came out two years later. For most movies, this isn't a problem, but Parabellum picks up exactly where the second one left off. Because of this, the movie asks you to remember a lot from the previous installment, which I had only seen once. With that being said, these are very minor gripes.

To wrap everything up, I adored Parabellum. The cast, particularly Reeves and Berry, are great, the action is magnificent, the color-work and cinematography are beautiful, and world-building keeps getting better. My only problems with the movie are that some characters, like Sofia, aren't used as much as I thought they would be and the movie asks you to remember a lot from the previous installment. Like I said before, though, I loved this movie. If I were to rate it, I'd give John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum a 9.5/10. I can't wait to see where this series goes!