John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Keanu Reeves as John Wick was one of the best bits of casting from the last decade and it not only reinvigorated the action genre, but also resurrected Reeves' career. Starting in 2014, the first film was a highly entertaining action film that put a strong focus towards brilliant fight choreography while shot in a way that made the action easy to follow. Hollywood had a tendency to shoot up close with choppy editing so this was a breath of fresh air and arguably changed the way the industry approached such scenes. A sequel wasn't necessary but in 2016 the story expanded in a way that worked surprisingly well and I would go so far as to say it surpassed the original ending on a such a high note that a third was inevitable.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum sees John now on the run now outcasted from his secret society and in search of a way to make amends, without going too far into spoilers. My expectation levels were high going into this as the film picks-up on the same day from where the last ended, and the first fifteen minutes or so were top-notch. The action is fun, creative, sometimes comedic and with that touch of 'eww' as John gets into a knife fight. Once again, the team behind this prove they are masters of what they do and make the spectacle thrilling to watch. However, there is a 'but' coming...

Despite wanting to enjoying this as much as the first two, Chapter 3 loses its way around the midpoint and never quite recovers. It's a fine line between having just the right amount of action and overkill, and unfortunately I would place most of the scenes in Morocco into the latter. Here we get Jerome Flynn putting on a dodgy accent and an overlong shootout with Halle Berry that became monotonous. Until that point, I felt the director was trying to be creative and avoid repeating themselves but this hurt the film for me as what follows later felt silly and out of tone with the previous films. With that said, the third act is a lot of fun and just about makes amends as the story find some focus but Chapter 2 this is not. 

There will be a fourth film, that's no secret, and I hope that it learns from where Chapter 3 went slightly wrong, and what it was also missing. The first two films had their signature moments but this at best has the first fifteen minutes which are fun but nothing special compared to what we've come to expect from the John Wick series. I can still recommend Chapter 3 but with some caution going in and not to have the same high expectations as I did.