John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum review by Bobby Blakey
In 2014 audiences were kicked in the side of the head with the badass action flick John Wick starring Keanu Reeves. That film alone holds up as a pretty awesome action flick, but they unleashed the fan favorite assassin once again in 2017 with John Wick: Chapter 2 that upped the action and body count. The ending left fans waiting for the next outing and the time is now with John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. This latest chapter features both old and new members of the cast including Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Halle Berry, Mark Dacascos, Laurence Fishburne and Anjelica Huston, but could it live up to the previous two films or will it fail to hit the target?
John Wick 3 follows super-assassin John Wick who returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin's guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world's most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn. Sequels are a hard thing to pull off and rarely to do they fully live up to the originals, but this franchise is different. This latest outing not only brings everything to the table it smashes through the table with aggressive violence that is a thing of beauty. Its insanely impressive how much this film takes it to the next level in every aspect making it the best of the franchise so far.
Reeves steps back into the role offering up the best turn of the character so far. He is John Wick in not only character, but in every aspect of the action and emotion. The amount of passion he and the filmmakers have for this franchise shines through right down the last bullet. Both Ian McShane and Lance Reddick are given a lot more to do further expanding the world they have been a part of from the beginning. The new additions to the cast are all great with martial arts action star Mark Dacascos bringing a fun new twist to the assassin with his badass team. Billions star Asia Kate Dillon is great in a role expanding more from the counsel that makes things a bit more interesting for everyone. The real scene stealer though is Halle Berry who not
only brings a great character from Wick’s past into the mix she brings the action right with her. One of the big omissions for me though was the lack of John Leguizamo's character fromt he first two films. Not sure why they didn't include him, but was hoping to get to see him do more this time around.
There are a ton of actions sequences here with each better than the next, but the one featuring Reeves, Berry and the dogs that you see clips of in the trailer is one of the best. With very assassin in the world out to get you that means you know there is going to be a variety of kick ass moments and they do not disappoint. Right out of the gate the first fight shows it is not pulling any punches and you better get ready. For martial arts fans there are a variety of cool additions to the fights including appearances from Triple Threat star Tiger Chen and The Raid star Yayan Ruhian among others. The action sequences are aplenty and will keep you on the edge of your seat right up until the very end.
Whether this is the end of the world of John Wick or just the beginning of more to come, it serves up the perfect addition to this franchise as the best and taking the series to one of the best action series of all time. Let’s hope that not only we get more Wick, but maybe a spin-off focusing on Halle Berry’s character because there just wasn’t enough of her.
This release not only includes the badass film but also a barrage of bonus content including trailers, game trailer and a ton of featurettes behind bringing this action masterpiece to life. Join the fight with John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum available now on digital, 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
