Review of the film “John Wick 3: Parabellum” from Ravenside

30.08.2019Ravenside

If anyone read my past reviews, I must remember (or maybe not) that I am not a fan of this franchise, and I think that talking about a revolution in the genre is an exaggeration, but I pay tribute to the work done Stahelski comrades, I understand that John Wick’s popularity is deserved, especially against the backdrop of the stagnation of combat cinema, and current filmmakers clearly have a lot to learn from him. At the same time, the creators of Wick also have room to grow, because on one Reeves and it won’t be possible to go out endlessly in an all-out massacre with shootings. It is not surprising that John Wick appeared as a character in a computer game after the release of the first part, since the presentation of the material, mythology and Wick’s universe are designed in such a way that game developers do not need to invent anything, but only need to transfer a ready-made template. And while working on the third film, Stahelski and Kolstad decided to grab all the strings of wealth and signed a contract for a full-fledged game, since “John Wick 3: Parabellum”

The logic of the development of an action franchise implies progress and increasing degrees with each new film. The Wick trilogy is structured in such a way that all the films are arranged in chronological order and are essentially one film, divided into three parts. And “Parabellum”, in theory, is something like a culmination (it is not known what is expected in the announced fourth part, but, apparently, in it Neo and Morpheus will fight against the system). This was Stahelski's main responsibility: to hold, hold out and make, as it were, Wick to the cubic degree. In addition, even during the release of the first film, the message of the entire team looked like a proud challenge from outsiders: look how we, stuntmen, can shoot action without any major decisions or producer influences. Learn, rotten and sleek Hollywood! It was these two moments that played a cruel joke on the creators. As a result, they hit the same target and there was a clear bias towards concentrated craft and spherical action in a vacuum. As a result, what happened to “Rambo” and “Fast and the Furious” began to happen to Wick. Now this is a hypertrophy of the genre, almost meaningless. I'll gallop through some points to outline the details.

1.   Of course, I understand that it's action. I understand that the heroes need to do something for two hours. But why do all the killers, knowing that John Wick is Superman, whom the devil himself fears, get into hand-to-hand combat with him, although it would be enough to shoot him in the forehead while sitting on the nearest roof? Maybe they have such a tradition, I would like to voice it. And as soon as the enemies are close to Wick, then, apparently, under the influence of the terrible energy of “Baba Yaga,” they begin to respect him and fall on their faces, which is why they immediately die, or in a fit of piety (or sudden dementia) they attack one at a time, losing their ranged skills and close combat, let alone hitting him with a pistol from two steps or accurately throwing a knife is out of the question. Only Wick is handsome, only Monopoly, only his golden hands kill, only his knives reach, only his bullets hit. “The whole world is against Wick” - now, it would seem, it’s time to start worrying about him, here is finally a worthy opponent. But no - the non-names and extras lie down in dead heaps as if on cue. It no longer smells of “Hot Shots” with a parody of “Commando” and “Rambo”, but even of Nevsky, and this is already a sign of a corpse smell.
2. If in the first two films all these bills, coins and other colorful trinkets seemed like a cool idea, then in “Parabellum” this chest with grandmother’s dowry resembles saving plot crutches. The bill is over, there is a cross, there is no cross, there is an oath, there is no oath, there is some secret rule. In short, the hero will still get out, because his pockets are stuffed with all sorts of symbolic tripe and merchandise with the clan logo. Moreover, everyone loves him so much, fears him so much and admires him to the point of orgasm.
3. Giordani Jovonovich? Child of Belarus? Lord, what is this?? When will this all end?? Stop the brain liquefaction, I'll get off! 
4. Please note: at the beginning of the film, on the board in the control room, where they place a sign with the name of Wick as the first in the ranking of Escomuniado, there are mainly Russian surnames. Either we are such lawless people, or these are just another sanctions... In principle, declaring someone excommunicado is also a kind of sanction. In this case, can Zero’s invitation constitute import substitution? Write about it in the comments :)
5. Wick demands loyalty to the word from the heroines Houston and Barry, while he himself breaks all the rules and has not kept a single word of his since the time of the first part: he sent the killer brotherhood to such and such a mother and jumped off, he did not keep his words on a blood promissory note, he violated the rules of the Continental , and the one who initially asked him for a word was nailed. To some elder (who is this, why is he an elder, if he is 40 years old, why is he in the sand and looks like Aladdin?) he also made an oath, and even with his finger, but he also did not keep it, he only wasted his finger and lost the ring, symbolizing the memory of his wife. But about my wife a little later.
6. If we continue to delve into the topic of rules, then in the film they seem to be created in order to break them. Everyone in this trilogy endlessly talks about unbreakable rules, while trampling them every minute, as if inhaling and exhaling. In my opinion, even more follow the user agreement when installing software on a computer. And even the chief judge ultimately breaks his own rules because... he cannot defeat Wick within the walls of the Continental. Yes, they would have already been blown up with a rocket, what’s the problem? The judge is a representative of a global, world network of killers, and not a local housing office, and Continental is a representative of this very network, who spat on the general rule, and not the regional House of Culture, where a drunken Santa Claus danced in a round dance and drunkenly wrapped himself around the Christmas tree son of a deputy.
7. The final dialogue with Winston is muddy, primitive, pretentious, on the level of the Domashny channel series and, in theory, should be the key to the intrigue. It was supposed to expose Wick's inner world, once again emphasizing the relationship between him and Winston, but the fate of this dialogue is to fast forward. “You were sent to kill me, but you won’t kill me, but I will live with the memory of my wife, but you will die as a real man... In general, the primitiveness of the dialogues and the absence of even the slightest aphoristic phrases stretches back from the previous parts. 
8. The mention of Wick's wife and the memory of Wick's wife seems like a mockery. The wife, whom we know only from a bad photograph, a memory that he has already desecrated a hundred and ten times, killing everyone, for the sake of which he is ready to kill a person for whom he has respect and sympathy, whines at every convenient and inconvenient occasion about that he needs to live to kiss the photograph. That is, dramaturgically it’s like a symbol of Wick’s humanity: look people, he’s not a machine, but a person who loved and was loved, he grieves and in fact there’s a little bunny inside.. Oh no, there’s also a beloved dog. Mmm... this is a fiasco, bro. 
9. And the finale? As I understand it, the hero was saved by his miraculous armored suit. Or fake bullets? A very dubious test drive, of course. And the dubiousness of salvation, unless Wick is Wolverine. Can you imagine if you got a defective suit? Oops.
10.  Halle Berry in the film she’s good, she tries, she jumps, she fights in leather pants, but in the dramatic scenes she overacts a little and, by the way, she was also ready to break her promise. The scene with the dogs is interesting, but why are the dogs trained mainly for men's balls? So you get yourself one, ask her to bring you slippers, and she...
11.  The scene with the horses, by the way, is also not bad, and in general the animals and birds in the film are more interesting than the people. But only at the end of the battle the horses began to kick their legs straight into the enemies’ foreheads from just one heroic stroking. His hands seem to be cold. Or maybe the horses remember something...
12.  There are already 4 screenwriters in the film. What did this quartet do if there was no script at all?

The third part exposed not only the problems of Stahelski’s “say no to the script, but yes to the action” approach. She showed that at this stage, Keanu, alas, is not dragging. In the first two films, Reeves' only serious opponent was Daniel Bernhardt, which was also practically merged, and the final battles of the main character were with Nykvist, rapper Common, Ruby Rose and various incomprehensible extras. This time the list of opponents was larger and of a completely different quality. Chechep Arif Rahman, Yayan Ruhian, Tiger Chen, Roger Yuan, Mark Dacascos, finally. With most of this list, Wick has full-on fights rather than small skirmishes. And even the class of nonames has grown noticeably, the same Kan Eidin I only made a couple of 3-pointers in the stables, but we can already see the level. Nobody argues - Reeves is a hard worker and a young fellow, he does almost everything on his own, learns the most complex tricks, combinations and techniques, constantly improves, which is not given to many actors, but to say that he is fast and graceful is “trying to put an elevator in the eye of a needle” (With). The limit in this situation was inevitable, and now Reeves was faced with professionals who were forced to slow down, wait for his reaction, adapt to the hectic dynamics, stepping on the throat of their own song. And Wick, with all his toughness and invincibility, looks like a cow, slow and clumsy. In addition, Stahelski's choreography greatly unifies the characters, making them identical, plus their appearance contributes to this: they are all in black, half of them are bald, most of them are oriental. The only one who is different is Dacascos, but this is due to the long-established and recognizable manner of moving, Stahelski has nothing to do with it.

In addition, tons of constant pathos and bravado makes the choreography look like a farce. What is the main task of killers? Kill Wick. But for some reason the first two players in the glass hall start throwing cheap shots and playing with Wick, instead of killing him after the first two hits, because the chances were presented to them on a silver platter. Having replaced them, Rukhyan and Rahman also constantly kiss Vik’s ass, shower him with compliments, save him, shake hands, bow at his feet and exchange ironic remarks, instead of killing him. As a result, Wick, moving like a drunken and wounded bear, somehow miraculously finishes them off, dully, unconvincingly, almost by accident, with the help of a belt and magical non-falling pants. The idea is clear - rivals consider Wick a legend and an idol and honor him with the honor of fighting him, getting a reverent thrill from every second, but the question of life and death, the instinct of self-preservation, 14 million rewards and common sense have not been canceled.

I am extremely pleased with the return of Dacascos, who has not received major roles in a decent movie for a long time, and even got very dirty in Nevsky. It is clear that he, unlike the others, worked on the role, trying to fill it with volume and internal movement, drama, character and even comedic elements. But, firstly, he did not have enough screen time to fully reveal himself, and, secondly, the plot of the film did not involve pulling the blanket over himself or any acting revelations at all. Because of this, some decisions looked crude and inappropriate, while some, on the contrary, gave a hint of the character’s double bottom, the content of which we can only guess at. I will separately dwell on the comedic component of Dacascos’s role, in particular on his declaration of love for the main character. At first I thought it was unnecessary, ridiculous, and grounding Zero. But then I realized why this happened and why it bothered me. Zero is the only source of any humor in the film, because other than this scene and Halle Berry's line: “Sit,” there is no humor at all in John Wick 3. Dacascos somehow saves these terribly serious cabbage soup. As a result, we have, perhaps, the most striking and unconventional villain of the trilogy. Alas, when it came to the fight, by the end of the film not only the viewer and Wick himself were tired, but the creators’ imagination had finally run out. The fight turned out to be rather sluggish and superficial, there were a lot of unnecessary pauses, cheap effects, such as appearing from the dark, and failed suspense, the choreography lacked integrity, and Wick’s victory was again extremely unconvincing, plus Zero, like other opponents, ignores all chances to kill Wick, leaving him alive at every opportunity, otherwise the film would end after half an hour. Stahelski, what are you doing? You have in your hands Dacascos, who at 55 is still in shape and can create fighting beauty! Or are you afraid that Reeves will be completely lost against his background? So use your brains and let him win with cunning. Or he will give Zero his word that he will not kill him, and then he will not keep it, as he knows how to do.

Similarly with the final shootout in the Continental - I haven’t seen more boring and unimaginative shooting for a long time, and even under Vivaldi, which is no longer a reference to classic action films, but bad manners.

What else to say? A beautiful picture and an enhanced cast in the person of Mark Dacascos, Anjelica Huston, Halle Berry, the Indonesian landing and those already familiar to us Laurence Fishburne и Ian McShane they can't make John Wick 3 more than just an action film shot by stuntmen. You can admire the city at night and the shimmering neon lights, the grandiose architecture in the frame, the richness of the Continental’s interiors and the custom-made expensive costumes of the heroes, but what’s the bottom line? Jordani Jovonovich, child of Belarus? Oh, I beg you...

Home » Reviews » Review of the film “John Wick 3: Parabellum” from Ravenside
Tags: John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, Anjelica Huston, Can Aydin, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Roger Yuan, Tiger Chen, Halle Berry, Chad Stahelski, Chechep Arif Rahman, Yayan Ruhian

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