[Review] John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum (7.5/10)

Title - John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
Studio - Lionsgate
Starring - Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Halle Berry, Angelica Huston, Mark Dacascos, Jason Mantzoukas, Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman, Lance Reddick, Asia Kate Dillon, Laurence Fishburn, Jerome Flynn, Said Taghmaoui
Writer - Derek Kolstad
Director - Chad Stahelski
Release - 17 May 2019

I believe the first 15 minutes of this movie is the best out of the trilogy so far. The action sequences between Keanu Reeveswere so brilliantly choreographed that not only do they look intense but they look very realistic. Especially the effects when they were throwing knives and how they made it stick.

I liked how we got into more characters in the lore; like Halle Berry, Angelica Huston, Jerome Flynn and Laurence Fishburn all had smaller roles but they had enough to do to make an impact. Only Said Taghmaoui and Jason Mantzoukas were forgettable.

Berry's action sequences, which were in the second big piece, were not as impressive and could not follow the first one. It really showed as she was never trained in martial arts and it became obvious when Chad Stahelski did all the long sequences. Plus the dogs became a little bit distracting in certain scenes because it looked too choreographed when Berry's character had to send her dogs in mid-shooting when she could just finish the bad guys off.

I also really liked how this movie finally gave Indonesian action superstars Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman the much deserved spotlight. Their fight scenes with John Wick were the second best in my opinion. Their appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a joke.

But then again, in the credits, the duo were credited with the names Shinobi #1 and #2. I'm no expert in Japanese martial arts and fight techniques, but they did not look like they were ninjas.

And the final fight with the big bad of the movie, Mark Dacascos, looked tired and aged because this fight followed the one with the Indonesians, who are at their prime. And Dacascos's characterization was very weird, very inconsistent. He tried to inject humour and it did not work. He wanted to be the one to kill John Wick but then it didn't really look like it. And it's strange because the casting seemed perfect, but then the execution was just off.

Finally, after all the good this movie had done, Stahelski just pulled the rug under our feet with that ridiculous last five minutes. It's very unnecessary and very confusing now, as if John Wick is now with superpowers. Crazy. And disappointing.