Sound Off! John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, arm yourself and discuss John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, which premiered in the United States on Friday, May 17, 2019.

Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all, while we are all individuals, even mutual love of something (or hate) can come from different places: you may find everything from critique to fangirling to maybe even hate-watching.

Now, join Shara White and J.L. Gribble as they talk about John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum! [Note: Minor spoilers that shouldn’t impede enjoyment of the film.]

Shara: The John Wick franchise is an enjoyable one, and for my household, Chapter 3: Parabellum was a must-see on opening weekend. To prepare, we re-watched the first two movies so that everything would be fresh on our minds. To that end, I’ll start with quibbles:

1. Chapter 3 picks up where John Wick: Chapter 2 left off. Chapter 2 left off with him on the run, with only an hour before the bounty starts, and it’s daylight. When Chapter 3 begins, he’s still running, the bounty hasn’t yet started (in fact, the countdown drives the tension at the beginning of the film), but it’s somehow night.
2. Chapter 2 reminded me that by and large, Keanu Reeves is a wooden actor. Chapter 3 reinforced this. It’s not his action scenes: I have the upmost respect for what he’s put into the role, but some of his line readings are just so flat to the ear, even if (especially if) they’re meant to convey emotion. I didn’t have these issues with the first movie.
3. There’s a climatic fight scene towards the end that honestly felt like watching someone play a video game. The hero fights a bunch of lackeys, moves up a level to get to the boss but has to fight even harder lackeys, then gets to fight the boss…and these fights take FOREVER. I know we’re watching this franchise in part because there’s something fun about the creative ways John Wick can kick someone’s ass, but my biggest complaint about Chapter 3 is that the fight scenes just took too long.

That said, did I enjoy this chapter? Absolutely. Was I surprised by the turn of events? You bet. Am I looking forward to yet another John Wick sequel? Sure thing! Yet the power that drove the first film, where we slowly learn more and more about who and what we’re dealing with, is gone. The tightness of plot has gotten a little more fuzzy, because while you can still easily trace cause and effect throughout the three films… I don’t feel that same righteous connection to the events in the latter two films as I did in the first. I did love that Chapter 3 kept reminding us that all of this started because of a puppy and a car, and it’s funny to think back to all the hell that’s been wrought simply because some punk-ass kid couldn’t take no for an answer and had to be a douche about it.

But as much as I adore the world-building of the John Wick universe, I’m less invested in the cost and effect from Chapter 2 onward, and while I feel like Chapter 4 may make things a little more personal again, the story keeps raising the stakes and giving the viewers someone bigger and badder to fight. I can’t say I’m losing interest in a way that makes me stop watching, but the stories are getting a little too unwieldy, and it seems the movie hopes to distract us from that fact by getting more creative with how John Wick kills people (not a bad thing) and extending those fight scenes (which is becoming a bad thing).

But I liked it, and if you’re a fan of the franchise, I’m sure you’ll have fun. The first film remains the best and strongest in my opinion, but I’ll give Chapter 3 kudos for a few kills: death by book, death by horse, and death by dog.

J.L.: Despite my undying love for Keanu Reeves since my early high school years, I was late to the John Wick train. My husband and I decided to watch both movies one evening a year or so ago, and I have a confession to make: I slept through most of the first film. There was lots of violence, and something about a puppy? Whatever.

But when we started Chapter 2, I was all in. I loved the concept of the larger assassin organization, the nebulous system of their coinage, and pretty much everything about the Continental Hotel. This was worldbuilding done right, with just enough information to get by without unnecessary info-dump.

I know this bothered a lot of people, but luckily Ser Bronn of the Blackwater was here to explain how the coins represented a social contract in Chapter 3. This is one of the few “down” moments in a film packed to the brim with extended action sequences. Each of these occasional conversations, only about half of which included John Wick, pieced more elements of the world together. These tidbits were fascinating, including the briefest glimpse into John’s past and origins as an assassin.

Since I read Shara’s reaction above before seeing the movie last night, I was anxiously awaiting the deaths she mentioned (book, horse, and dog). None of them disappointed, and they don’t even begin to cover the breadth of violence in this film, which also included blades of different length and armor-piercing bullets. These movies are not for the faint-hearted, but they’re a ton of fun for viewers who enjoy fabulous fight choreography and a glimpse into an intriguing underworld.

I keep seeing teases about a small-screen series featuring the Continental Hotel. If that ever happens, I definitely won’t be late for that.