John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019)

Directed by Chad Stalhenski, and starring Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is a classy, ultraviolent spectacle.

Immediately following the events of the second film, John Wick is on the run in a rain-soaked Manhattan. Having gained a $14 million bounty on his head after becoming “excommunicado”, John is forced to seek help from his clandestine past which he abandoned, all while defending himself from numerous assailants looking to cash in on John’s life.

John Wick 3 knows exactly what it excels at glorious gun fu destruction within luxurious setpieces. With this clearly in mind, Stalhenski all but relegates the dramatic plot which drove the events of the first two series, replacing it instead with John causing chaos in stylish location after location; the high-society backdrop and Keanu Reeves’ emotionless one-liners tell much of the story. (It just doesn’t matter that there is virtually no plot… when the action is this good.) New to the series, however, are its most melee-intensive action sequences yet. While martial arts like aikido and judo were iconically utilized by John himself in the previous two films, John Wick 3 has the boogeyman toe-to-toe with masters of Pencak silat and kenjutsu – without his signature firearms at all. These make for some of the most intense combat scenes to grace the screen in recent years, as neither John nor his opponents prove to be pushovers. Interesting characters and absurd moments of professionalism between the assassins also lend John Wick 3 an endearing sense of humor despite its exorbitant violence. Ultimately, John Wick’s dogged determination to survive, combined with brilliant and impressively creative choreography proves to be an unbeatable formula once again. He’s certainly back.