Amph John Wick: Chapters 1-4, The Continental & Ballerina

Parabellum? Pretty fun. Lots of great action, especially some cameos, and while there are some nitpicks, fairly satisfying. More detailed thoughts in my blog: https://reelnatterings.blogspot.com/2019/05/review-john-wick-chapter-3-parabellum.html

 

It made 93 million global.

 

I enjoyed the final act more than the previous two, so I guess it's different strokes for different folks.

I thought the movie was a good time, and there is no sign of the Wick franchise running out of steam. Keanu is still good, and Halle Berry and Mark Dacascos have some great sequences (and the latter is unexpectedly funny at times), though I think returning regulars Ian McShane and Lance Reddick have the highest charisma per screen time rating of anyone in the movie - their characters are a lot of fun in themselves, but when you've got two actors with such great screen presence bringing them to life, it's almost unfair.

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Laurence Fishburne drew the short straw this film, but from the looks of it the next one will give him more to do.

There seemed to me to be a number of shout-outs to other films in the action genre, presumably the writer & director's favourites:

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The Matrix "guns, lots of guns" line is the most obvious, but there were a few others that I caught. The scene where he disassembles and reassembles the 19th century pistol seems like a nod to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The finale being in a glass room seemed like another variation on the Enter the Dragon mirror finale (more literally referenced in JW2). In the street where Mark Dacascos was recruited there was a big neon sign saying "MacLeod" or McCloud, or some variation, and I immediately thought of Highlander, partly because the Continental as sanctuary always reminded me of the way Highlander used holy ground. I could be totally off about that one though, especially if there is a store called "McCloud" or some variation, but being a big Highlander fan it jumped out at me. Zero at the end of his fight really reminded me of the Black Knight for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, though that's probably not intentional.

I'm sure there will be other references to other action movies that I missed

Anyway, top-notch action movie with a first-rate cast.

 

Just saw Parabellum last night. I have to say, I think it was the best of the three films so far. It had some really interesting plot points and character turns. But obviously the focus is the action, and I thought that was FAR more inventive here than in the second film (where it was honestly mostly just gun play alone). Highly enjoyable.

 

People applauded at the ends of the action sequences. they also did slow build up laughs as they noticed something extra horrible was about to happen such as after the knife throwing scene Wick picks up the axe and hurls it.

 

Oh by the way, in the middle of the film I found myself thinking, "This movie is why we need a best stunt coordination Oscar."

 

Spoiler: JW3 thoughts

I really liked this one. I can't take anything anyway from the action choreography, which is universally stellar. The scenes with the dogs, the knife fight, the horse chase, the Raid guys getting in on the action(this scene was particularly good because Keanu and the guys obviously had it all down, very little cutting during that fight) and Mark Dacascos is such a fun nemesis for John to go up against, his Shinobi are so much fun. While a lot of the shading we get about John's backstory is great, I thought some of the Continental stuff which is usually the standout a bit of a drag here. The plot seems to be going in circles to give John Wick more people to shoot but I think it's killed some of the momentum of the series. Besides Winston switching against Wick in the film I can't really think of much that's changed within the story of the movie and that's pretty disappointing. Obviously the Continental is deconsecrated and the High Table may come out against them (though Winston betraying Wick might undo that, I just don't know) but it just doesn't seem like enough has changed. John meets with the Elder and loses his finger and falls back into the world, but it's instantly undone. I can feel the story starting to drag and kind of wish this had at least closed out the High Table chapter, I'm game for more movies no matter what I just kind of hope that this story ends with chapter 4.

 

I think it's pretty clear that Chapter 4 will be

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John and The Bowery King taking down the High Table. Which seems like it could be the end.

 

That's certainly what I hope, but if they wanted to make more they could just keep delaying that standoff and have him go up against more crazy henchmen. I liked what the actor(edited because they're NB) brought to the role but was the Adjudicator really necessary for this story?

 

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I think they were necessary because they forced a change in the relationship between Winston and the High Table, and eventually John and Winston. They worked as a catalyst. Or at least that's the impression I got from watching it once.

 

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The way it’s set up gives them the option of making four about John getting revenge on Winston and then another movie about him taking on the High Table proper.

Though I thought that was the film’s one mistake; I think it would be more fun and more credible for them to have John, Winston, and the Bowery King (and maybe Sophia) against the High Table, which is what the whole movie seemed to be setting up, rather than John and the Bowery King against Winston and the High Table. The High Table doesn’t need any help; John does. John’s ability to compel loyalty within the cold world of the High Table’s rules has been a running theme of the movies, and it seems like a shame to undercut that just for the sake of a twist when you could be building on the ideas the movie already had going instead.

Also it doesn’t really make sense that the Adjudicator just takes Winston back like that.

 

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I suspect that it was a plotting decision driven by the idea that conflict between former friends Winston and Wick would be more exciting than any new villain they could think up, plus it would allow the Bowery King to take the role of John's closest confidant/ally now that position has been left vacant by Winston's heel-turn; I agree that purely in terms of story and character it seems unlikely the Adjudicator would take Winston back.

Anyway, in this new situation Lance Reddick's character could become a hands-on protagonist for Wick, this film having shown he has some formidable skills in that area. I think they're looking to give their regulars a little more to do.

 

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I wonder if they might dismantle The High table and then become The High table

 

So far it's earned $119 million. It had a production cost of $55 million.



A spin off called ballerina?

 

Halle Berry and the german shepherds is the single greatest segment in all the John Wick movies. Everything else just sort of blends together into an amalgamated homogeneous mass of close combat. But that scene is a standout classic for the ages.

 

I liked this one best because it didn't just all blend together. Dogs. Horses. Knives. Guns. Swords. All of these felt unique. I loved that.

 

Just saw it today, probably the best action yet, between the knives, horses, motorcycles and everything else John uses. I'm a bit unsure about the ending and where things will go from here.

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I've seen some speculation that Winston avoided John's head, but then considering how many things John smashed into on his way to the ground, I think he probably did sell John out.

I don't mind the action shifting from the Continental a bit, as I hope John can get some rest after all this and then really go to war against everyone else. He was running ragged for pretty much the whole film. And while the Bowery King isn't exactly a reliable ally, I think he can be trusted in that they're both really pissed off at the High Table. Otherwise, John's burned all his bridges or probably used up all his favors.

While the second to last big action sequence was mostly more gunplay, the extra tough armor added an extra interesting challenge I thought. And then it was time for the really cool knife fight.

The film ran a bit long and wandered a bit, I think the first and second had a bit of a tighter focus, but still really good third film. I look forward to the fourth (and whether that concludes things or not) in a few years.

 

Honestly I found that section the least interesting, has one original idea but its repeated rather too much and ends up mostly just shooting a lot of people.

It felt very like classic Chan to me with the best action at the start and the end of he film.