High octane. Adrenaline pumping. Fast-paced, roller coaster of action and intensity.
These are some of the cliche things you’d see on the cover of an ordinary action movie. But when it comes to John Wick 3: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, you need something more, something new, something different, because that’s what this movie is.
In this two hour action scene starring Keanu Reeves, we see the titular character on the run from the choices he made in the last installment of the series. He fights gangsters and hit men, soldiers and ninjas. He fights on motorcycles and horses and buildings. He fights with guns and knives, and he fights with swords and dogs. Wow, this is starting to sound like a weird Dr. Suess book…that doesn’t rhyme.
Basically, John Wick moves from one fight to another, and while the returning character is amazing and mesmerizing in his brutality and precision, it’s the loyal canines hanging out with Halle Berry’s character, Sofia, that really steal the show. In a scene that made me forget that I had drank a large root beer and was about to explode from a standard mid-movie pee break, we see Sofia take on a legion of mercenaries in her own right, with all the swift and unrelenting savagery that John Wick has brought to the table before. In addition though, her two German Shepherds almost break the fourth wall.
Within the confines of the film, we see that they are loyal and vicious and agile and commanding. But the underlying message we see in this movie, is that when a relationship, like that of guardian and trainer, is taken seriously, then the rewards are astronomical. We see that Berry’s training with the real-life pups, transferred over to a fantastical idea of what it means to protect your own.
I’ve said before that I don’t like dog movies, because they make me cry. I hate them. In John Wick 1, the film played out every man’s fantasy of what would happen if someone hurt our dogs. In John Wick 3, we see the fantasy of what every man wants from their relationship with their dog. So, despite this being a dog movie (’cause it totally is) I still love it.
If you’re looking for a movie with non-stop action, this it it. If you’re looking for blood and guns and swords and horses vs. motorcycles, then this is your film. I can’t say what happened for the five minutes, I was out getting a refill on my drink and taking my mid-show urination, but I can only guess it was something amazing. …Like John Wick using a camel to jump over the Nile River…and shoot Hitler through a wormhole in space and time. Or…he could have cut off his own finger, cause when I came back he was missing one…
Darn it! I knew I shouldn’t have gone to the bathroom!
Photo courtesy Lionsgate.
