John Wick Chapter 3

The story of John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum ("if you seek peace, prepare for war" says the film's character Winston) picks up where 2 left off .  Wick is seen running in his ever slightly bowed gait with his nameless pit bull in tow, seeking refuge in the evening Big Apple while rain is pelting down making his artfully unkempt hair and unshaved face even more alluring.  The opening scene is as beautiful as it's dizzily kaleidoscopic.

Wick proves a book is mightier than a knife.  But then not everyone can stomach the virtue and wisdom that comes with a big book.  The first fight was launched inside the reference section of the New York Public Library.  When Wick force-feeds Alexander Afanasyev's Russian fable on Ernest, another assassin who can't wait to collect the 14 million bounty on Wick, the book proves too much for Ernest to devour.  There is a little continuity problem as Wick is seen using his both hands grappling and hence sans book but then immediately after with the book in hand.  Of course, I can see this only with the benefit of replay and freeze frame.  Using a big book or a pencil as a lethal weapon is not new, as I recall both La Femme Nikita and Jason Bourne use them way before Wick.  The movie is in essence a platform for setting up Wick to fight with horses, motorbikes, daggers, a pencil and a book and of course many guns, in the most mundane and extreme situations.

Wick always fights in a suit with a properly knotted tie no less.  The first two I think because he has to go to a high end nightclub or a gala so he has to dress the part or else what I don't actually know.  Given that he does a lot of running and kicking, I wonder if he sticks to the more dressy but slippery leather soles or the rubber ones that provide better grip but look less dressy.  Wick as a professional contract killer reminds me of Vincent, a role played by Tom Cruise in a movie called Collateral.  Vincent is very business like in his attire and demeanor.  Both have memorable fight scenes in a club as well as on a train.  Cruise' Vincent unfortunately got killed off in his first and also last only movie appearance.  It's such an underrated movie.  Who knows, maybe Vincent was part of the High Table universe.

As John Wick progresses onto this third instalment, it becomes more elaborate in its world building, i.e. more ridiculous it becomes.  It demands a high level of suspension of belief.  It's like the whole New York City is run by the High Table.  More troublesome is the fact that the film becomes self aware of how cool the Wick character is.  Even the villains are head over heels John Wick so much so that they aren't going to kill him given the chance.  It makes the movie less believable even in its own world.  I think the supporting cast like the Bowery King and Winston could just dial down their coolness a tad bit.  The Adjudicator as a villain is insufferable as what skill set does she possess anyway.  The most down to earth character is still Reeves' Wick.  There is no self awareness the way Reeves plays the character.  If anything I think he always plays the character as is and nobody can deliver dialogues like him.  His last word uttered, when asked by the Bowery King, "You pissed, John?  Are you?" was "Yeah." Reeves' deliverance is always a bit flat, a bit monotone, a bit peculiar with a straight face.

The story of John Wick is like a triptych, the second one is the most balanced and prominence one in action, story and mythology without overdoing them.  With John Wick being pissed and alive, I am sure there is a fourth one in the work.