I really enjoyed the first two of the franchise , yes they were over-the-top in terms of violence but I always felt there was an undercurrent of humour too ; not in this case though ,sadly ,no humour at all just the violence in all its repetitive , tedious forms.
The first two films were brilliant and I really enjoyed watching them, but I've read some very negative reviews of this third film in the series, as a fan of Keanu thought I'd give it a shot! Sadly there is no actual plot or real storyline of any depth in this film, the script is really basic and dire and they resort to using irrelevant and inappropriate swearing to prop up the lack of script! There is no actual plot, storyline or explanation as to why, but the entire film is literally fight sequences and people trying to bump him off. The script appears to think it's being deep and meaningful, when it's not, it's just very shallow, cheap and lazy! What makes a good action movie is knowing where and when not to use the action, sadly this film is all action, with continual fight scenes throughout and not a moment to pause or take a breath. The fight scenes are very badly choreographed and constructed, hammy, predictable and way too long and drawn out. The bad guys literally stand there waiting to be punched and why the womans dogs keep biting on mens crutches, when this simply would not happen to a woman is highly inappropriate, lots of inverse sexism throughout! This comes across more as a Jackie Chan comedy film and would have suited Jackie far more than it does Keanu. This reminded me of all the other films of this genre such as Underworld, Resident Evil, or a Liam Neeson film, where the plot is secondary to the action and fighting. However the film does appear to have a penchant for promoting gratuitous and senseless violence and comes across as more of a computer game than anything else! Which leads me on to the rather annoying and silly pc pandering to feminism which has become so apparent in so many recent films. In the past the woman would have simply been strong and good at kicking ass, but nowadays almost every action woman has to promote a feminist agenda and put down the man, for no apparent reason and it's getting really yawn some! I can see the woman in the movie, becoming the new female John Wick, just to appeal to feminists. And of course we also have the nowadays obligatory set up at the end for the next instalment in the series. If you like watching films which are nothing more than extended fight sequences from a computer game, then this is for you and I did get the impression that this film is aimed at the teenage market more than the adult market! However if you like well crafted, thoughtful action thrillers, then this is one to give a miss!
If all you look for in a film is a selection of well choreographed action set pieces then this might be right up your street. However if you feel there should be more to a movie than a bunch of vacuous action violence with a mindless excuse for a story stringing the whole thing together, then steer well clear because that is exactly what you get with John Wick 3.
It's a classic case of Hollywood having an an accidental hit, then the movie making committee and accountants take over more and more as the sequels go on. It was the same with Pirates of the Caribbean. The problem with movies made by committee like John Wick 3, is they have no soul or passion. The committee tries to assess what made the movie popular in the first place and invariably simplifies it to one thing, then they double down on their assessment for the next one.
With John Wick they thought the action sequences made the movie, unfortunately they ignored all the other great parts that made the movie a surprise hit, and sequel 3 this is what you get, a soulless empty action movie where even the action is boring because there is nothing that makes you care about why it's happening other than your memory of how cool the first movie was.
Now in its third chapter, the John Wick saga is fully aware of where its strengths lie. It isn’t in the story, despite being simplistically sweet in intentions and rather intriguing in its underground politics. It isn’t in the writing, where motives and emotions are made in base and bold declarations. No, the wonder of Wick lies in its many stylish and violent action sequences that never fail to impress. John Wick: Chapter 3 keeps this tradition alive.
In the last Chapter, Wick (Keanu Reeves) found himself on the run from what seemed like hundreds of hitmen out to get him for breaking the rules of the underground society of assassins. You can probably up that thousands now, given the rising body count of these pictures trying to outdo themselves one after another. But Wick is somewhat prepared for this all-out-attack on him and calls in a number of favors to slowly seek safety and a means of getting back at the High Table, the very top of the criminal underworld that he once worked for. And, of course, Wick has plenty of fighting techniques ready to engage everyone who stops him along the way.
Not as prepared for the retaliation of the High Table are the many criminal sects that didn’t kill Wick when they had the chance, a choice that is going to cost them all dearly. The High Table’s The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) comes to inform the many factions that they’re going to either by carved or killed depending on how they pledge themselves. This includes the high-class Continental manager Winston (Ian McShane), the filthy underground Bowery King (Laurence Fishbourne), and the Russian mafia/ballet instructor The Director (Anjelica Huston). Most take their medicine of getting their hands literally slashed but they’re not happy about it. In particular, Winston is willing to go to war considering his armed-to-the-teeth Continental hotel and his trusty right-hand man Charon (Lance Reddick).
But there’s not a whole more to the story than that and that’s just fine. The fight scenes are some of the most gorgeous in design and clever in choreography that I’ve seen this entire decade. It all comes down to how clever the film becomes with using every scene as a battleground and every weapon within sight. One of Wick’s first encounters with a killer is at a public library, being cornered in the stacks by a giant assassin. Nothing like a good book to break a jaw. He’ll later dash through a horse stable. Killing goons has never been more fun when a horse is doing the slaughtering with lethal kicks to the chest. And in perhaps one of the most brilliant sequences, Wick will find himself in a room with all manner of knives, using nearly single one in the room to become the world’s best/worst knife-thrower, depending on how you look at it.
No, wait, by far the best centerpiece is when Reeves briefly teams up with Halle Berry, another ex-hitman, to lay waste to a middle-eastern villa. It’s not just because Berry can keep up with Reeves or that the kills in this scene are extraordinarily high; it’s because Berry’s character has two dogs that bite back hard. If Wick weren’t running for his life, something tells me he’d be falling hard for such a woman.
The only thing more brilliant than the choreography of these scenes are their construction. The film has such decadent lighting and throws logical sets out the window to make them shine in most spots. This is most evident in the climax where Wick does battle in a two-storie complex of class, distorting his perceptions with reflections and gleaming light bouncing all around him. And, of course, since it’s a room of glass, much will be shattered.
I can already hear the furious typing in the comments that this film was all action and no story. But let’s be honest; who really came into John Wick for a layered story of a haunted past and underground criminal politics? By now you should know the saga exists for little more than action setpieces and is more than worthy of every sequence presented. We don’t need the most elegant dialogue to make these scenes shines; the film has more than enough gravitas to widdle down Wick’s one-liner for going into combat being a simple demand; “Guns. Lots of guns.”