‘John Wick : Chapter 3 — Parabellum’ or — Overthinking Mindless Entertainment?
I really liked ‘John Wick’ (2014) and I REALLY liked ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ (2017) finding their unapologetically brutal mix of nihilism and cartoon violence a refreshing jolt. They’re films concocted from a limited set of ingredients — in-camera action, close quarters fighting, shooting people in the head, excessive visual style, revenge, shooting people in the head — that helps keep them streamlined and focused. So what’s missing from ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum’ (2019) that made it such a disappointment for me? Or was it a case not so much of anything missing but of extraneous elements being unnecessarily added… like putting the word ‘parabellum’ in your fucking movie title?
The first two installments were driven by revenge, first for his dog and then for his car. They were simple and effective with clear motivations whilst, in the background, there were glimpses of a cool world of secret societies of assassins and killers giving just the right amount of texture to Wick’s environment, as well as adding rules and regulations. I think the problem with ‘Chapter 3’ is that the revenge angle is dropped and the world-building thrust too far into the center of proceedings. So we get endlessly caught up with interminable conversations about being “excommunicado” or “markers” and “tickets” and there’s Adjudicators and High Tables and talk of “parleys” and “deconsecrations” and hey, remember when these movies use to just be about Keanu Reeves shooting people in the head? For the first time in this series it seems as though the filmmakers have forgotten what made these movies work and have fallen in love a bit too much with their own world they’ve created.
And it’s an oddly lifeless world that’s too removed from reality, much like playing a computer game populated by unresponsive NPCs. The first two films felt like they were taking place in a hidden world just outside of our normal life but one that always ran the risk of potentially intruding or spilling over into ours. Here it’s a reality that’s so removed it feels like its taking place in a simulation, as though Keanu’s back in the Matrix. This means there’s not much sense of danger or tension, something not helped by the baddie looking like ‘Blake’s 7’s Servalan wandering around a Terry Gilliam-lite production design and asking stupid questions.
Yes, there’s all the action and yes, there’s the eye-popping sets breaking up and splitting space and allowing for cool fight sequences. But it feels like ‘Chapter 3’ is pulling its punches, almost as though it is too aware that shooting people in the head isn’t a good thing so bends over backwards to justify reasons for Keanu to do so. Not only that but there’s also a surprising amount of CGI work massaging and tweaking events, especially during the horse-chase, which is sad to see in a franchise that always seemed to be about keeping it real combat wise.
‘John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum’ is not a bad or unenjoyable movie but it gets too caught up in its own needlessly convoluted universe to really fly the way the first two did. These are films that genuinely work best as mindless entertainment and I think ‘Chapter 3’ might be guilty of a little too much overthinking.
