Prepare for War

All he needs are lots of guns a Matrix reference

Before I go on, let’s back up a little and go over all the bad decisions made in-universe that have brought us to this point. So, Isoef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) is the son of this New York mob boss Viggo (Michael Nyqvist) and a total moron. How much of a moron might you ask? Well, he and his friends seem to be the only people within a hundred-mile radius who don’t realize that the man whose car they just stole and whose dog they killed is legendary bada*s John Wick (Keanu Reeves)(NSFW), which leads to the events of the first movie.

In the world of John Wick, there are two main rules for criminals to follow. Always to honor the blood debt marker and to never conduct “business” on the grounds of the Continental Hotel, which is a haven for various criminals. So, after John finishes killing all of the people from the first movie, this even bigger idiot named Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) comes collecting on this blood debt John owes him. Because the criminals of this world have all these different customs and regulations they need to follow, which leads to the events of the second movie.

How much more of idiot is Santino? Well, not only does he force John back into the life he’s been trying to get out of, but he also double-crosses John, despite being well aware of what he can do. With his best plant to stop John’s wrath being to place a $7 million bounty on his head. A strategy that does almost work, but the keyword in that sentence is almost.

Except the problem is John kills Santino on the grounds of the Continental. Santino also a member of the High Table, which is this Illuminati-type organization that controls the criminal underworld. An organization that places an even larger bounty on John’s head and robs him of the resources the hotel offers typically. Luckily Winston (Ian McShane), the New York Continental’s manager, is kind enough to give him an hour’s head start, which leads to the events of this movie.

John Wick Chapter 3—Parabellum is a very fine action movie in the sense that the fight scenes are well done. Besides that, I don’t have much to say. Does John go through any character development throughout the film? No. Is Keanu Reeves a good actor? Not really. Is this a thinking man’s action movie like Total Recall or RoboCop? Nope. Does it need to be? Most definitely not. Watching a film like this every once in a while makes for a nice break.

Though the movie does do more world-building, which I thought was the right decision. It also increases the violence level of previous films. As we’ve progressed from relatively clean headshots and broken bones to people getting there eye gouged out with knives and their chest exploded by shotguns. I also feel like this movie has increased the level of black comedy compared to previous films, but that might just be me.

Halle Berry also shows up playing this female version of John named Sofia who has not one, but two dogs. Her scenes basically boil down to filler, but at least the action scene is cool. Or, rather, it is cool before going on for five minutes longer than it has too. Though as someone who’s not a Halle Berry fan, I’m just glad she’s not in even more of the movie.

The ending left me disappointed. Because the film ends with John [spoiler] in the exact same position that he started the film in. Him against the High Table and every other assassin in the whole world. Why couldn’t this movie have been him finishing his war against the High Table? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way, I know exactly why.

There’s John Wick Part 4 movie to be made. Of course, they were going to milk this franchise for everything it’s worth after they realized how surprisingly successful the first movie was. Now, this is not unlike the ending of Avengers: Infinity War, but at least with that you could say it’s not just a matter of making more money. After all the buildup, wouldn’t having Thanos lose instead of win be anticlimactic? Sadly, I can come up with no such justification for John Wick Chapter 3—Parabellum. [/spoiler]