John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum Review

The John Wick franchise has come a long way in such a short time period. I remember doing my October 2014 movie review, watching the trailer for this "John Wick" movie and being completely unimpressed. I thought it was just going to be another one of those mindless action movies that comes and goes without anyone realizing it exists. I certainly love myself a good action movie, but there's a lot of small budget action movies from no name directors that just don't know how to action very well. There's bland characters with generic stories that have decently entertaining action sequences, but with the way many of them are shot and edited, there's really a lack of understand of what makes a good action sequence. I thought "John Wick" was going to be another one of those, especially since the two directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leach, had never even directed a movie before. Why are we supposed to trust them? I don't even think I was planning on seeing it until the reviews started telling me otherwise. So I gave it a chance, and yeah. I, along with the rest of the world, was stunned. Not only was it a great movie, but it set the new gold standard as to how to properly make an action film. And it completely rejuvenated Keanu Reeves' career.

Fast forward three years and "John Wick: Chapter 3" is looking at a $60 million opening weekend, which will be on pace with the $61.2 million opening of last year's "Mission: Impossible - Fallout." For context, "John Wick" in October 2014 opened to just $14.4 million. Positive word of mouth helped it hold well as it tripled that opening weekend, earning a domestic total of $43 million. But not just that, it gained a huge followed post-release as word of mouth continued after its theatrical run. That buzz helped "John Wick: Chapter 2" double the first movie's opening by making $30.4 million on its opening weekend in February 2017. It also tripled that opening weekend with its domestic total, making $92 million overall. And now goodwill from those first two movies, as well as good reviews on its own, and "John Wick: Chapter 3" is again looking to double the opening weekend of its predecessor. Time will tell if it will also triple that opening weekend total. If it does, that's a $180 million domestic total, turning this into a powerhouse franchise. Now there's a good chance that this one is more frontloaded than the first two movies, but I'd say at this point that a $150 million total is the floor for this movie. With a $20 million production budget, that's a huge win.

Now enough with the numbers and onto the movie. The movie's subtitle "Parabellum" is actually a rather descriptive subtitle. I had no idea what that meant and the marketing didn't really tell me. So I did a quick Google search, and outside learning that there are a lot of firearms with the name Parabellum (Parabellum MG14 and Pistol Parabellum to name just two), Parabellum is Latin for "prepare for war," which makes a lot of sense and is probably where said firearms got their name. Specifically, there's a Latin phase "si vis pacem, para bellum" that means "if you want peace, prepare for war." I wagered a bet with myself that said phrase is probably where they got this movie's subtitle. And I was dead on because they use that exact phrase in this movie. When they did, I was beaming with excitement. The reason why this is such a descriptive title requires "Chapter 2" spoilers, so if you haven't seen that movie, turn away now. But yeah, "Chapter 2" leaves us off on a cliffhanger. John Wick killed Santino D'Antonio on Continental grounds, causing hotel manager Winston to label John Wick as "excommunicado," meaning he's lost all access to the hotel. The bounty on John Wick has also been doubled to $14 million. But he gives John Wick a one-hour head start to run.

So run John Wick does. That's how the second movie ends and that's also how the third movie starts. He's running in order to formulate a plan on how he's going to get himself out of this predicament and he has to act fast because the whole city is about to turn on him so they can collect the bounty of $14 million. What I really loved about "Chapter 2" was that it took the first movie's basic, simple premise and beautifully expanded on it. Don't get me wrong, I love the first movie. In fact, I don't know which one I love more. but "Chapter 2" is where they created the universe. We learn that there's this huge underground network that expands worldwide. One of my friends told me that it felt like the world of Harry Potter, but with assassins instead of witches and wizards. I think that's pretty accurate. And I love it. This is much more than John Wick getting revenge on some moron that murdered his dog, which was the one remaining memory from his wife who has recently passed away. This goes a whole lot deeper. John Wick was a part of this huge organization of assassins and all he wanted to do was get out and live in peace. But said organization didn't let him. Now John Wick has found himself stuck in a deep hole that he can't get out of.

The things I love about "Chapter 2" immediately spill over into "Chapter 3" because this is essentially the same movie. It's almost as if Chad Stahelski shot both movies back to back. That's not what happened, of course, because they needed to make sure that the second movie made money before they jumped into the third one. But after the first one became a resounding success in terms of people's reaction to it, I'm sure Stahelski immediately immersed himself into this universe along with his writing team in order to create this universe and come up with an arc of movies that will go who knows how long. Given that this is set to be the highest opening weekend for any Lionsgate-distributed film not a part of "The Hunger Games" franchise, I'm guessing that Lionsgate will give them the green light to take this as long as they want. And with this universe that has been set up in "Chapter 2," there's an endless amount of possibilities here. As long as a talented, committed team continues to be on board with this franchise, I'm totally down for it because I have not been disappointed yet. All three movies have been fantastic. The endless, high-octane, stylistic action sequences will cause any fan of action films to salivate at this masterwork that's presented.

I think the term "committed" is really what makes this work. After the first movie was co-directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, Leitch stepped aside and let Stahelski man the ship on his own. I don't think there was any disagreement or ill will there. I just think it's a situation where Leitch recognized that this is Stahelski's baby and is giving him complete creative control over the franchise. Leitch has then gone on to direct "Atomic Blonde" and "Deadpool 2," while also having "Hobbs and Shaw" later this summer. So Hollywood has definitely recognized the strength and power of "John Wick" and thus have completely trusted these two men. But while "Leitch" has already been a part of a couple of different franchises, Stahelski has not budged from the world of John Wick. He's been rumored to be attached to several upcoming movies, but so far the three John Wick movies are the only movies he's worked on in the last five years and I'm sure that has nothing to do with the lack of opportunities, but rather his commitment to this specific franchise. Both sequels aren't just lazily thrown together sequels to feed off the first movie's success. They're deliberately planned, carefully constructed films where you can tell that there was a lot of work put into.

I don't want to get too deep into the specifics of "Chapter 3" in terms of plot or the action sequences that take place. Part of the surprise with this is the fun of finding out where this journey takes you and what action sequences Stahelski has up his sleeve next. But the biggest difference here as compared to the first two movies is that there is no need for a plot to be set up. Not that said idea is a bad thing. But the finale of "Chapter 2" was the set up for "Chapter 3." Thus we start the movie on the edge of our seats. John Wick is running somewhere and has one hour to accomplish whatever plans he wants to before the whole city jumps on him. And you can see everyone around him nervously anticipating the start time here so that they can have their chance at the $14 million. Thus the movie throws you right into the fire, causing you in turn to be extremely nervous. Then the clock strikes 6 and all Hell breaks loose. Strap yourselves in, boys and girls, because we're about to go for a wild ride. It's like one of those roller coasters where, instead of letting you slowly climb the hill, you go around a quick turn, stop, then get launched into the air. Everyone who is a fan of the first two films is certain to feel like they're in Heaven as this movie does not miss a beat in regards to the stylistic action.

I will say, though, that the pacing of the movie is slightly different than the second film. I noticed in rewatching "Chapter 2" the other night that the spacing between major action sequences is pretty equal. You'll get a big action sequences, followed by some down time that allows you to breathe, then you get launched into another big action sequence. The action sequences and the downtime are all about even in terms of the length of time, making it a perfectly balanced action film that gives you plenty of action sequences to salivate over, but enough down time to help you catch your breath while also building the world of the movie and helping the characters progress. "Chapter 3" is not quite as balanced, which is why I would put it a hair below "Chapter 2" in terms of quality, but not by a whole. After that initial launch, there's a rather lengthy period of downtime with John Wick going from place to place as we get introduced to various side characters that he tries to get him to help him out. And it gets a bit long and not all of the side characters are all that interesting. But then we finally get thrown into another action sequence and said action sequence is almost exhausting. I was fully captivated as it was extremely entertaining, but I will admit that I could've benefited slightly from an earlier break from this.

But still, that slight unbalance is really the only thing I have in form of a complaint and even that is more of a minor critique if I'm trying to properly rank these movies. I like "Chapter 2" slightly more than "Chapter 3." And I don't know how the first movie fits in because I didn't rewatch it this week. I bought "Chapter 2" on Black Friday last year, thinking that I had already owned the first movie. I got home and realized that I didn't, which was a bit upsetting. I've been meaning to buy the first movie, but I haven't gotten around to it yet, which is why it didn't get a rewatch. So I won't comment on it at the moment in terms of how it fits into the series. But they're all extremely close. And all three are boosted by some of the best action that you'll see in any action movie. A lot of action movies try to cheat with a whole lot of cuts or shaky camera that will disguise the actors' inability to perform the stunts written on the screenplay. But not these movies. And like in the first two movies, Keanu Reeves owns this film and you can just see that he put a lot of work into this film because there is no cheating in regards to the camerawork and editing. Just a whole lot of awe-inspiring sequences with quite a bit of creativity thrown into it in order to spice things up and keep things fresh.

If these John Wick films are not your cup of tea, then this is not the sequel that's going to convert you. But if you're a fan of intense, well-made, well-directed, perfectly-crafted action films, then you better give John Wick a chance. Chances are if you do fit into this category, you have already seen the first two movies and I'm essentially preaching to the choir here. You were already planning on seeing the third movie and you're going to love it, just like you did the first two. Based on what the movie is doing right now at the box office, there's also a good chance that you already did see it. So there's no need for me to do any persuading here. Instead, let's talk and geek out about John Wick. Let me know what your favorite action sequences were in this movie. Who were your favorite characters and what were your favorite moments? But obviously make sure to have some respect and talk to me in person or send me a message if you want to get super specific. I mean, this is not a situation like "Avengers: Endgame" where spoilers might ruin the experience, but still. Other John Wick fans who haven't yet gotten around to seeing this will be benefited by the element of surprise because there's plenty of them. My grade for "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" is a 9/10.