When the first John Wick movie came out in 2014, it captured lightning in a bottle. It is the cinematic equivalent of a country song. John loses his wife, his car and his dog… Only in this case, the protagonist of the song gets revenge on those who cross him with his signature double taps. While that movie didn’t require the need of an Oscar-winning performance or a timely plot, it still caught everyone by surprise and made the titular character a household name. The sequel surprised everyone by not being terrible. Not only that, it recaptured the lightning of the first (with a few less sparks) and made a silly, yet awesome idea into a possible franchise.
Now, John Wick returns in the oddly titled Parabellum. FYI, it’s a Latin phrase meaning “If you want peace, prepare for war.” Conveniently for the movie, it’s also the name of a semi-automatic pistol.
Just one hour has passed since the events of John Wick 2. Mr Wick has broken one of the cardinal rules that hitmen live by and a hit has now been put on his head to the tune of $14M+. He cannot seem to find a safe place, as the assassin underworld is bigger than anyone imagines.
It’s insane that this series has managed to make a silly idea of a hotel safe-haven for hitmen and a high table organization that directs this union of assassins into a world-building mythology. Each movie has built on the original simple concepts of the first movie and expanded them to a concept I could continue watching on the big or small screen.
With Parabellum, the action and real hardcore violence is still top-notch. One could argue that the violence just masks this series having very little story, but this is John Wick. The violence is part of his world. Every battle is character progression and shows us hidden talents of this retired assassin. These fights are thrilling to watch. The environment changes enough to give us a new arena for each skirmish. Also, all credit goes to stunt-guy turned director Chad Stahelski. His vision for each fight is unique, harrowing and somehow hilarious at times. The choreography of each fight is clearly shown without the need of quick cuts. Each actor and stuntman gives it their all here and it’s clearly displayed. Fans of the Raid movies (out of Indonesia) will be gleeful to see some alumni show up in this movie and present a great challenge to John Wick.
Outside of the returning cast (Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick), we get the addition of Halle Berry. She is a very welcome addition and, without spoiling too much, she and her dogs pack quite the punch. Asia Kate Dillon joins the cast as The Adjudicator, a very ominous representative of The High Table. Also, Mark Dacascos (Brotherhood of the Wolf) joins the fray as Zero, the greatest threat John has met so far.
The fight scenes are so amazing that when they don’t happen for a solid 20 minutes, you can’t help but want to rush the movie past cliche dialogue and a once-again simple story. What works for this movie though, is that while everyone wants to kill John Wick for the money, they all know, respect and fear him.
Hats off to Keanu Reeves and the crew behind these movies. They have managed to take the standard vigilante revenge genre and create one of the best action trilogies out there. If you’re a fan of this series, you’ve already bought your ticket. If you have yet to be sold by Mr. Wick, it’s high time for a marathon. B+
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