John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (1: the name of a type of gun, 2: literally means “to prepare for war”) spins off its plot from something that happens in the second chapter, namely that John Wick is now “excommunicado” by the High Table that controls the world’s leading organization of assassins for killing someone inside the assassin’s “sacred ground” of the Continental Hotel in New York – a big no-no. that sees a huge bounty put on his head. John has very few places he can run, and he’ll eventually run out of safe havens, but he means to keep himself alive long enough to be able to get himself back into the High Tables good graces somehow.  Nevertheless, the assassins after him are skilled and ruthless, especially the calculating woman known as The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon), who is busy dishing out nasty revenge on anyone caught helping out their buddy in defiance of the orders.

I don’t like the first two John Wick films very much, so it should come as very little surprise that I won’t be giving John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum my recommendation either.  Not that anyone needs my blessing, as there are many fans around the world who have enjoyed this brand of action perfectly well, despite my derision. The best thing that I’ll likely say about this third entry is that it continues to up the game in terms of the action choreography and stunt work, which, along with a certain sense of humor about its own ludicrously superficial characters and their situations, are the aspects that keep these movies from being out-and-out unappealing.

The downside, though, it that these movies continue to clock in at longer run times, despite giving us so very little actual story to follow.  That and the fact that it still feels like an adaptation of a video game without the actual game in existence is why I’m less than ecstatic about the franchise. There are coins to collect, weapons to trade out, armor to outfit oneself with, achievements to unlock, and colorful bosses with professional wrestling-worthy monikers to fight in escalating fashion. The only thing missing is a controller in your hands. It takes place in a fantasy world, with fantasy characters, fantasy plot elements, and a fantasy sense of physics. Sure, I can admire the set pieces the same way I might the way they set up jumps and ramp up the absurdity in a Fast and Furious film, but that doesn’t really root me into the story, or what the characters are doing, or care a lick about what their motivations are. Just because the makers of a film push the “titillation button” with wanton abandon throughout doesn’t make it a good film, even if audiences seeking nothing but visceral attraction come away titillated by stabbings, headshots, desensitized killing, and the underlying pornography of weaponry.

So what is there to this movie that keeps people coming back for more? I guess you’d have to ask an actual fan of this series because I’m mostly at a loss. Certainly, Keanu Reeves already delivers his usual hamminess in his approach to acting that makes it seem as silly as intended. He’s actually upstaged in this film by an even hammier performance from Mark Dacascos as Wick’s rival assassin, Zero, a Wick fan-boy who very much wants to be seen on his level in terms of skill and respect. There is a great deal of focus on aesthetics that people find titillating: gun fu, bullet ballets, melee weapons, blood on faces and walls, breaking glass, fiery torches, neon-tinged lighting, hot cars, and sleek motorcycles. Plus a lot of adorable but deadly dogs.

And yet, for all of this, I have to fight my mind from drifting off completely about 80% of the time. If we’re in the middle of a 12-minute action sequence and I’m thinking about what I want to do for dinner once I get out, something’s not working for me. People around me are looking at their phones a lot, but they seem much more forgiving.  Perhaps they are satisfied to have an escapist movie noisy enough to drown out the world awaiting them outside for a few hours without the overhead of requiring their strict attention. They seemed to state that they really enjoyed the movie walking out, despite not really watching the screen for large chunks of it.

Despite the length of the film, which is already excessive for a film that’s only 10% pushing a story point (despite four credited screenwriters!), there isn’t an ending to the film other than a promise to continue the conflict in a sequel. At this point, it’s inevitable they will continue to churn out these films completely based on a formula as long as audiences keep flocking to them. All they have to do is come up with even more over-the-top action set pieces and they have a movie. The only real surprise for the next entry would be if it gives us anything we don’t expect. If they actually bother putting together real characters in a story that’s not just plot-point setups that mean nothing at all, perhaps I might finally be able to get on board for that. Not holding my breath yet, though, since an audience who craves little more than inconsequential killing done in increasingly cool and clever ways is not an audience craving any changes to what’s on the menu.

Qwipster’s rating: C

MPAA Rated: R for pervasive strong violence, and some language
Running Time: 130 min.

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillon, Ian McShane, Mark Dacascos, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Tobias Segal
Small role: Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Jason Mantzoukas
Director: Chad Stahelski
Screenplay: Derek Kolstad, Stay Hatten, Chris Collins, Marc Abrams