YIN/YANG REVIEWS: John Wick 3: Parabellum / The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

By Derek May:

YIN: John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum

What ratio of luck to talent has led Keanu Reeves to star in two franchises, decades apart, which have essentially redefined the action genre? In the wake of the first Matrix film in 1999, films packed their action sequences with slow motion visual spectacle and time-bending rotational shots until it almost become a punchline. Thus by 2014, the world was once again ready for something different, and stuntmen-turned-filmmakers David Leitch and Chad Stahelski were primed to give it to them.

Enter the gritty, hard-edged stylized action of John Wick, the world’s deadliest assassin brought out of retirement to avenge the death of his dog, the loss of his car, and the assault on the memory of his recently deceased wife. The use of hand-to-hand martial arts, including plenty of jiujutsu to please modern MMA fans, intermixed with close-quarters gun battles more faithful to elite military skills than previously put to screen, all framed with Hong-Kong style wideshots so you can really follow the beats, refreshed the genre and inspired a slew of homages and knockoffs. Audiences ate it up, and in turn set Keanu and the directors ablaze throughout Tinseltown.

The 2017 sequel, John Wick: Chapter 2, proved the first was no fluke, as it maintained the same personalized storytelling while vastly expanding John’s sophisticated criminal underworld. Moving between New York and Rome and revealing the consequences of unbreakable obligations showed how intricately detailed and widespread this universe is. The action, too, elevated to ever-loftier heights and pushed John to his limits and beyond. But it was that ending, which saw John on the run with a $14 million bounty on his head and excommunicated from the sanctuary of the High Table that left audiences in breathless anticipation as to how the hell he was going to get out this one.

Now, with John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, we have our answer.

Sort of.

Audiences hoping for a definitive resolution in Chapter 3 may be in for a shock. Though is it really? These movies have proved such a money-maker, it’s little surprise they would try to milk it for all it’s worth and extend it as far as audiences can stand. Thus, Parabellum feels less like the cap of a trilogy and more like the middle chapter of a much longer work.

The film sets off immediately following the events of the last, with John an hour away from having the entire city, nay the world, after his head. The majority of the plot, such as it is, follows John’s attempts to stay alive long enough to find a solution to this predicament of his own making; and as you’d expect, he can’t do it alone. He enlists plenty of help, including franchise newcomers Anjelica Huston and Halle Berry. And while this certainly affords an opportunity to continue expanding the domain around John, it actually ends up overwhelming, even minimizing, him as a character.

Over the course of the past two films, John Wick has been defined not only as a man of uncommon skill in the art of death, but also as a man at war within himself. The love of his wife soothed the savage beast enough that he chose to leave his former life, to live in peace. The actions of others might have temporarily reawakened the beast, but he’s constantly shown trying desperately to return to that quiet life once the necessary blood has been spilt.

John makes his own choices: whether to leave, to come back, or, yes, to break the rules and make himself a target. But always, his greatest desire is inexorably to return to that life of peace. Yet in Parabellum, as John shoots his way toward a resolution, the choices he makes seem counter to that desire. John is left to react more than choose, and even when he does, he is found to be little more than a pawn in a much larger game.

This is where the film departs from its predecessors. Regardless of the formidable forces set against him, the hero should still always be the active instigator of his own destiny, for better or worse. But throughout the film, John has little to no agency as a character. He’s essentially passive, at the whim of others as he fights against everything, rather than toward anything. The choices he’s presented with aren’t really choices at all, and John, as a character, is swallowed up both by the larger world of the High Table and by the supposedly supporting characters who are really calling the shots. While I won’t spoil the ending here, I will say that it does nothing to enhance John as a character (the opposite, in fact), and makes everything John has suffered essentially meaningless. The external stakes for John are clear, but there are little to no internal stakes, because those that are presented don’t really make any sense for the character we’ve followed thus far. John is defined by his circumstances, rather than by his desires.

And it’s not just John that suffers this problem: Ian McShane’s Continental manager Winston makes a major contribution throughout the film . . . that shows a completely contradictory nature to what’s been established thus far. The change, like much within the film, seems to be based on what the storytellers thought would seem “cool” rather than what would be honest and organic development. Or perhaps, it’s all merely setup for the proposed Continental spinoff series. Either way, by the end, John has descended into hell without much hope of resurfacing any time soon. This might work as an interlude in a larger story, but as a standalone film, leaves it a bit hollow.

What’s most frustrating is that it really wouldn’t have taken that much to correct the course. There is a relatively simple path that gives John that much-needed agency, satisfies Winston’s issues while keeping him in character, and keeps the door open for future installments (leave a comment if you want me to reveal this idea!). Alas . . .

But lest you think it’s all negative, there are indeed some truly impressive inclusions within this chapter. In continuity with the previous entries, we see the legitimate consequences of each character’s past actions and decisions. And the penalties are steep. The looming and insurmountable threat of the High Table is cemented not only in their reach, but in their knowledge and punishment of even the smallest infraction. In addition, we get a significant peak into John’s past without outright explaining too much, offering a satiating tidbit while leaving plenty of room for more exploration. We also get to visit with some of the other players within the larger organization, setting the stage for far more interactions in the inevitable future.

But hey, let’s be real here: most audiences aren’t that concerned with nitpicky character development or deconstruction of plot. They go to John Wick for that bone-shattering, blood-splattering action. And here, the film is well within its wheelhouse. With an ever-rising bar, the choreography of the sequences just keeps getting more mind-blowing. Just the thought of listing my favorite fights here finds me going, “Oh, but then there’s that one . . .” As the techniques get more sophisticated, the pace of the fights does occasionally slow slightly. If you’ve studied some of these techniques, you can see openings where people are waiting for cues and places where Keanu is half a beat behind, but it’s almost imperceptible and certainly understandable given that it’s really Keanu doing most of the fighting . . . at freakin’ 54!! I’d say it deserves some leeway. There’s really only one sequence that stands out for it’s obvious CGI and excessive implausibility (and feels a bit tacked on, as if there only to satisfy an action beat), but with so many sequences in one film, there’s bound to be a stinker. Still, it doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the masterful ballet of violence that solo-director Stahelski has crafted.

Despite my issues with the characters, there’s no questioning the performances of the actors behind them. McShane seems to revel in the role, offering that sly sophisticated gravitas he plies so well. Likewise, Lawrence Fishburne returns to chew the scenery as the Bowery King, raising him to near-Shakespearean levels of grandeur and ego. Game of Thrones vet Jerome Flynn makes an appearance that proves his impressive range, and Anjelica Huston is equal parts terrifying and commanding in a role that is sure to be broadened in subsequent films. And of course, Lance Reddick continues to steal every scene as concierge Charon—and this time, he gets to have a little fun himself.

But most impressive to me was Halle Berry as the deadly and uncompromising Sofia. The physical demands of the role are evident, as is Berry’s commitment to meeting them with precision and confidence. The training she went through alongside Keanu pays off, and she looks every bit as badass as her co-star. And speaking of, Mark Dacascos steps out of the Iron