John Wick 3: Parabellum

If you want consistency, prepare for disappointment 

If you are (un)lucky enough to know me personally, you'll know that I am a big fan of the John Wick franchise, despite the fact I have never managed to see one in theatres. The first came out just before I left for university and I was too swamped to see it, the second came out in my second year and I was too paranoid about missing lectures to see it, and the third came out whilst I was just starting to work at a cinema, and I was too busy letting people in to see it to see it myself. So when I saw it had finally hit streaming services, I leapt at the chance. But was it personally worth the wait?

John Wick 3: Parabellum is the latest part in the run on sentence that makes up the franchise, still staring Keanu Reeves and still directed by Chad Stahelski, and deals with the fallout of John's actions from the previous film, picking up minutes after the last film ended. He's broken one of the only cardinal rules that the Continental enforces and is saddled with a $14 Million bounty that anyone can claim. No real targets, no revenge plan, no debts to repay, just a desperate struggle to survive. And like always the best defence is to be a better killer than anyone else to get into as many visceral and grizzly fights as possible. Having Wick take the role of hunted, rather than hunter, for a whole movie is a predictable but good choice by the creators to keep things interesting. But is also the first step into the downward spiral that this film may be representing.

Put simply, the stakes feel meaningless and the plot gets lost in its pursuit of world building. A million new little details and elements get introduced that don't serve the plot or are simply forgotten the very next scene. And certain decisions serve no plot purpose, such as transplanting Wick into Morocco for the film's second act. The thing that made John Wick stand out was the balance of style and substance. It was a glorious spectacle that served a compelling story with likeable characters and enough stuff left nebulous to keep the narrative hooks in. Parabellum lacks that, favouring protracted spectacle and a bare bones plot made entirely of references to lore that we don't know.

It's not the film's fights aren't good, in fact they are still stupefying. But it feels like it's just spinning its narrative wheels, and it gets boring. It's like being guided around a museum of violence by an impatient tour guide who only stops for a few seconds at the exhibits before moving on. And when the film deigns to linger on a fight scene or narrative hook for longer, they often over stay their welcome. We know John will win, and its starting to grate on me ever so slightly.

If the franchise is to continue, it would benefit by trimming down a little bit. Make the plot more about characters than organisations and not be afraid to cut a few frames here and there. If they can keep the fight scenes this good whilst doing that, then this train is gonna stay on track nicely, however long the ride lasts.