There’s something inescapably endearing about the ‘John Wick’ franchise despite bodies getting shot, hacked, tossed off high-rises and gruesomely disposed of in many assorted ways throughout its 2 hour plus running time. Maybe it’s that star Keanu Reeves is THAT good, to sit high up in the driver’s seat of a hyper-violent concept and still add a blend of cool and charm. Perhaps the mind boggling choreography in every battle sequence trumps the gratuitous bloodshed. It could be that the overdose of one liners and winks-n’-nods win the day for even the most faint-of-heart viewer.
But most likely? The guy really, really loves dogs. Thus, we love him.
Whatever it is, since the rough and tumble John Wick made his first screen appearance in 2014, there’s been a special spark to this series that transcends the action movie crowd simply seeking out all kinds of ambitious bad-assery. Mashing together a combo of dark violence with the absurd….from the plot to the motions, this whole concept is silly…has worked wonders, even with film goers who don’t usually embrace such bullet riddled stuff. But ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’ is the biggest challenge yet, for this is the most reckless edition yet. I don’t know the final body count of this thing, but it’s gotta be a hefty number.
In ‘Chapter 3’, Wick (Reeves) finds himself with an hour’s head-start before excommunication from the High Table. Translated, that means every card-carrying assassin in New York and beyond is ready to cash in on a $14 million bounty if they’re the first to deliver John Wick’s head on a platter. So once our hero (anti-hero?….shoot, I don’t even know anymore) gets his dog to a safe place (yup, he’s a hero), he takes on all comers. And I do mean ALL – there are at least a dozen visually impressive sequences in ‘Parabellum’, most of which involve numerous thugs ganging up on Wick, and he does indeed take a bloody beating. But you should see the other guys.
Oh, and Halle Berry makes her debut in the series as…..wait for it…..a dog loving assassin. And while she’s good with a gun, her weapon of choice is to let her canine duo chomp down on the assorted crotches of bad guys.
Outlandish? Nope. Just par for the course here.
