Review of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) by Greenisgood — 27 Sep 2019

TL;DR - Though the excellent action choreography, flawless editing and visceral seamless flow of the scenes carry over from the series as a whole; sadly this coupled with probably the worst scattershot of a story in the series and by its own narrative makes John Wick 3 downright pointless to exist. It was a bit disheartening. The story damages the movie quite a bit causing multiple character's progression to be sloppy and make no sense. It can still be enjoyed for the excellence in the action sequences but a bitter-sweet experience is the best this movies gets to be as it is hard to not see through the paper thin veil of 'Stretching For Profits'.

The Good.

Reeves as titular Wick still has his intensity about him, intact thankfully due to the actor's efforts. The amount of training he has been through shows itself in spades making scenes flow naturally during a number of Wick's many action sequences. Halle Berry also plays well as a begrudging ally to Wick due to a believable and previously set up 'Marker' in the Series narrative. The action sequences were a little bit stretched out but keep itself from breaking illusion just enough using location and or setting switching with the opening sequences and Berry/Reeves/Hounds Tag team ones being stand outs. The concept of the 'Adjudicator' was an intriguing one lending an additional air of mystery to the Assassin World.

The Bad.

Now for the most important part of a movie be it any genre which is where Parabellum makes the worst mistake by it's own hands, the Story. I do not know if it was Studio meddling or other reasons that tries to continue Reeve's most successful franchise with literal padding instead of a being a 'Well Written Excellent Action Film'. This entire movie felt like it was supposed to be a part of the Third Act for the Over Arching Series Plot but was stretched just to milk out a Fourth Movie.

Even for padding I do not know why the writer's decided to take Wick on a literal circle ending up right where the movie starts effectively feeling like they were deliberately pranking the audience. They top that with a downright nonsensical and unnecessary explanation to the Mythos of the Franchise by showing us a Member of 'The Table', the supposed Order behind the whole Assassin Universe. This 'Member of The Table' literally deflating any tension, mystery or anticipation behind 'The Table' and it's motives.