John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

The unlikely hit of a franchise is back, picking up the lead from the last chapter. John must shake off a hit out on his life, as it begins to feel like the whole of New York is bearing down on him.

Chapter 3 smacks you in the face with a riveting first 45 minutes, but it fails to keep up the pace for the rest of its quite bloated two-hour run. Wick resides in an interesting, dark, sexy world but the appeal of this mythology is starting to run out.

With that obvious point out of the way: when the action is this good, who cares? Yes they could have dropped 20 minutes, probably Halle Berry altogether, but Stahelski’s brand of lean, meticulous yet visceral action is something you simply don’t see elsewhere.

The sheer artfulness and ingenuity of the film makes it worth your time alone, just like the others. It’s just a shame that it gives you a little too much time to catch your breath, and tries too hard to build to a sequel.

Parabellum may be showing some chinks in John Wick’s armour, but it’s still one hell of a ride and a successful endeavour. If they stopped now they’d be leaving us on a bit of cliffhanger, but they’d also have a claim to one of the greatest trilogies ever made.

Let’s see what the future holds, but I hope they don’t dive too quickly into Chapter 4.