John Wick 3: Parabellum (2019)

Directed by: Chad Stahelski | 131 minutes | action, crime | Actors: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Tobias Segal, Anjelica Huston, Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Randall Duk Kim, Margaret Daly, Robin Lord Taylor, Susan Blommaert

For those of you who haven’t seen any of the ‘John Wick’ movies (part one came out in 2014, part two in 2017, so work on that!): yes, if you’re into action movies, don’t miss this franchise and no, part three is far from superfluous. ‘John Wick 3: Parabellum’ picks up the storyline immediately after the events of Part 2 and tells what happens to our hero after he is declared excommunicado and half the world wants to kill him.

Half the world, yes, that’s no exaggeration, because the world in ‘John Wick’ is nothing like the world we know. Assume that in our world the number of hitmen is a minimal percentage of the world’s population, in John Wick’s universe he cannot walk down any street without hitting at least four. This alternative version of our world nevertheless looks beautiful: even when it rains there is enough neon light to dispel the greyness.

With fourteen million dollars at stake for his death and, as mentioned, countless armed candidates on the lookout, John Wick’s life is no longer certain. But John has a clear goal: he wants to stay alive to remember his wife. Fortunately, there are still people who want and can help him. That results in nice roles for, for example, Anjelica Huston and Halle Berry. Especially the latter has a substantial contribution to the story as Sofia (with whom John shares his love for dogs). Her background, which is still somewhat obscure, still offers enough starting points for elaborating the history in a later part.

That deepening of the background has already started in part 2 and this has certainly done the franchise well. In ‘John Wick 2’, the crime organization that John is associated with already got a lot of meat on its bones. In part 3, the universe with the specific rules expands even further. The story remains the weakest part of the film, of course, but the makers again easily get away with it. The fights turn out surprisingly well again (one of the first weapons is a book!) – a deserved compliment for the action choreography and the cinematography. It’s also nice that the final takes place on familiar ground and that Ian McShane and Lance Reddick are back as Winston and Charon. And Mark Dacascos plays a worthy opponent with a wrong sense of timing, which results in his statements being very comical.

At 2 hours and 11 minutes, ‘John Wick 3: Parabellum’ might be a tad too long – a slightly shorter stream of stylishly shot and designed violence would have been nice, but this energetic, super-cool film gives fans more than they’re allowed to. to hope. If the makers manage to maintain this line, part 4 can only be a success.