John Wick 3 Review

The likelihood of a trilogy of movies being strong is very slim. Many movie goers have theirs. Mine would be Toy Story and I'm willing to add John Wick 3 to that conversation. While it doesn't do anything new, it has quite a bit of fresher material along with more intense fights and manipulations. It really does feel like Parabellum.

Where it starts, it is immediately following the events of the second, so watching the first two is necessary. Wick is in deep shit. Killing a man on continental grounds made him an excommunicado and now any assassins within an hour will hunt him down. On his own, he must make amends to get everyone off his back, and survive the magnitude of bullets and melee combat to get out of exile. The pacing was about as strong as the second and it didn't feel boring. The writers made points of when to come in guns blazing and when to slow down a bit.

There is less of a stylized approach, but it becomes a lot noticeable towards the later half of it. Regarding the gunplay, it is a lot more frantic due to the way the story is. And they find various ways to keep it from being stale and add in unique ways of Wick to kill and pacify anyone that gets in his way. It's balls to the wall and some of the fights are comical despite the serious nature of the film. I felt like I was watching a combination of Jackie Chan and Die Hard at the very beginning. That being said, the cinematography is top notch and there are still the same lengthy shots. Takes a lot of guts to have a few 30 second shots.

One thing to give credit is developing the characters a bit more. I got a feeling they will develop Laurence Fishburne's Bowery much more if there is a fourth movie. Ian McShane's Winston is still a slick man and we get to see a different side of Lance Reddick's Charon that make him more than just a supporting character. With new characters from this one, something tells me we haven't seen the last of Halle Berry's Sofia, along with the characters that Anjelica Huston and Asia Kate Dillon play. They seem like the perfect setup to finish up a franchise that has gotten better with each release. And it helps that each character has their own purpose and that there are pros and cons to their decisions and whether they help Wick or not. They did not rush this one bit.

Personally, it's going to be hard to top the frantic action and intense moments of John Wick 3. Add in a varied amount of music that compliments the scenes and you got a movie that doesn't overstay its welcome. It plays it smart and knew when to pull the punches. Definitely see it in theaters.

Score: 8.5 out of 10