John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum - Review

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

If you have seen John Wick and John Wick 2, then you will already know Actor Keanu Reeves first 2 film installments have little to do with anything profoundly intellectual.  No one is going to be reciting Ernest Hemingway or William Shakespeare at any point. Essentially, John Wick has a single arc where both the character and the  film itself from its 2014 beginning and remains today about a laconic retired global hit man who was living in secluded retirement after the death of his wife. And while he is clearly financially secured from his many successful kills at the behest of many global super wealthy clients, John has removed himself from a life of crime of killing folks better than anyone in the world. Well, that was until some idiotic arrogant Russian mafia’s son decided impulsively to steal John’s antique Green Ford Mustang and in the process of doing so he kills John’s only friend left in the world; a Beagle puppy given to him by his then dying wife.

To say John Wick was pissed off was an understatement as he proceeds to hand gun and shot gun vanquish in the span of two films enough men and women to constitute a military battalion. But in the process of going rogue on his own to exact revenge he also broke “some important rules” in regards to his employers of this secret elite society of wealth clientele operating in their own shadowy international assassin's guild called ‘The High Table”. So at the end of John Wick 2 we see for his misdeeds he has been labeled “excommunicado” now with a global price placed on his head for $14 million for all of the world's most ruthless hit men and women lining up and waiting their turn to attempt to kill him for the fee.

Which brings us up to “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”; with Parabellum meaning “if you want peace then prepare for war”. John Wick chooses to ready himself to go to war.

REVIEW:  Keanu is great with some action sequences (and there are a ton of them) stunningly choreographed to feel and look real in the moment with a host and wide variety of uniquely new skilled assassins to make the dynamic of “killed or be killed” a lively 2 hours effort. And with essentially the same plot points intact of John Wick dispatching his adversaries with the combo flair of a flamenco and ballet dancer with a gun. John Wick basically holds up with its fasten your seat belt experience pace.

But just about the 1:30 minute mark the film starts and feels repetitious. For the first time in this franchise, intended or not, John Wick looked and felt like an old man. And after hearing the same “grunts, oof, ouch and ecch” sounds I heard before, the energetic and testosterone laden effort slows down.

Now there were two surpassing moments. One was Halle Berry who plays a friend of John Wick who owes him a favor. She held her own as a gun shooting, Kung Fu punching and mean ass attitude assassin. And also with her fighting prowess on effective full display we see that she has two loyal 4 lagged companion in the form of actual male brother Belgian Malinois, the same breed of dogs favored by the US Navy SEALs. Never thought I would see the day that I would witness two dogs fight and attack as well as any human in a film but these two highly trained dogs were a delightful addition to the story line. They were so effective dare I say I saw two dogs perform Kung Fu on bad guys or better yet perform ……………”Crouching Tiger Hidden Dog Fu”.

In the end, John Wick entertains but for only 1:30 minutes. The last 30 is…………….”OK already just kill the SOB so I can get home”

John Wick: the character may mean “the master of death”, the word “parabellum” in Lester Latin means “the last 30 minutes were way too long, slow and monotonous”.

3.25 Stars.