Hard-hitting third round
IN the first two movies, the baddies killed his dog, stole his car and blew his house up. This resulted in a seemingly mountainous pile of dead bodies. For the third instalment of the John Wick series, it’s another fun ride in an overthe-top action extravaganza as the titular character, a legendary assassin, has now become the hunted. Third time’s a charm as they say and entry No. 3 is hard-hitting brutal.
Undoubtedly a superior B-Grade movie with an A-List cast and production values, Keanu Reeves returns as the amusingly stoic Wick who never misses a shot. The 54-year-old Hollywood star doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon as he demonstrates again in extensive gun battles and fight scenes that were executed by him (Reeves’ preparation and training, including with a Navy Seal no less, has been well documented online).
Former stuntman and stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski returns as well to direct, and delivers the goods through the various kinetic long-take fight sequences that could well be described as gonzo action porn.
But it’s all done ironically in good spirit as the viewers are rooting for Wick to give whatever ignorant bad seed that attempts to take him down the chance to meet their Maker right quick in a whole varied series of fatal endings. The ante is upped here with even horses used to deal out death by Wick’s hand, enough to give any poor viewer with an irrational phobia of the beautiful and elegant equine creatures an outright panic attack.
That said, it’s practically Looney Tunes cartoon violence here done in a wellexecuted neo-noir fashion that entertains for the most part. How many other action movies have you seen so far where the audience actually cheers on and claps after Wick brutally dispatches one of his attackers?
The better action sequences usually involve hand-to-hand combat which gives the audience time to sympathise with Wick as he does get beat up pretty harshly as well and has to endure in order to survive. That’s not saying the gun fights are dull. They’re nicely choreographed with lots of stunt work but it gets a little tiresome since Wick is a crack shot and there’s no
tension to be felt as the bodies just drop hard and fast.
There are also some interesting cameos, especially a duo of Indonesian silat action stars Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman (of The Raid 2 fame), that add to the surprise enjoyment of this chapter. Seriously, wait for their dialogue with Wick!
American martial arts actor Mark Dacascos, who plays the main assassin Zero tasked with taking Wick out, is a little disappointing though, probably due to the action fatigue experienced by the time he dukes it out mano a mano in the finale. His sporadic comedic disposition in contrast to Wick’s serious demeanour might have made him a hammy and less imposing threat as well.
But aside from the barrage of intense and thrilling action scenes that permeates throughout this movie, Chapter 3 provides viewers with more glimpses of the world
in which Wick inhabits. The title is derived from the ancient Roman military saying in Latin, “Si vis pacem, para bellum”, that translates as “If you want peace, prepare for war”.
Following the events of the last movie, Wick, who broke the rules by killing a High Table member (an untouchable high ranking individual in the elite global order of assassins) on the neutral grounds of the Continental Hotel in New York, has a contract with a crazy high bounty put out on his life.
With every top assassin from around the world now on his tail to kill him, Wick has to fight to survive and then proceeds to collect on his debts in order to gain safe passage out of New York and to find a solution to his pressing problem at hand.
These helping hands come in the form of the Director, a member of the High Table (played by Anjelica Huston), who reluctantly helps him to abscond to Casablanca and Sofia (Halle Berry), another assassin and former friend that enables Wick to finally make an audience with an Elder in the desert.
Here Wick has to make the tough decision to choose between death and carrying on which will require a sacrifice.
Basically, there’s danger at every corner and Wick must once more face the challenges head on and make war in order to get the peace he so desires.
Other characters like underground crime lord the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), the Continental concierge Charon (Lance Reddick) and the Continental manager Winston (Ian McShane) return and add to the progression of Wick’s story.
As the movie ends, it’s clear that Wick still has plenty of fight in him left despite his condition and, more importantly, scores to settle.
So get ready for at least another movie of ultra-violence as Reeves’ “Baba Yaga” hitman wades through an even greater pile of bodies with thunderous bare fists and hot zipping bullets.