The rage of the sky plagues New York. The thunder echoes, while an exquisitely noir rain rages. The acid colors of the neon lights draw the neighborhoods of the city, while a panting figure runs at breakneck speed from the end of the street. He is tired, limping, but shows no signs of stopping. In John Wick 3 - Parabellum the protagonist runs away from his own people: all the hitmen in the city want him dead. But Baba Yaga is hard to kill. "If you want peace, prepare for war" is the Latin phrase referring to Parabellum, that is the epithet used to identify specific bullets produced by a German company. And it is precisely the war that John is preparing to make, embarking on a journey as an outcast, now excommunicated by his own coven. We had left ours like this: in the second chapter he had killed the boss Santino D'antonio (Scamarcio away from America) violating the rules of the coven of hit men who do not tolerate bloodshed in a neutral territory like that of the Continental hotel.
Following the excommunication and the huge price on his head, the whole city wants him dead. The legacy that a name like “John” brings is not easy, as Rambo or McClane teach us: bad pasts that come back, disillusionment, broken families, a slight inclination to the killer instinct; but if your surname is also “Wick”, then you leave behind you the usual “predictable” sequence of killed (badly) dead, trying to find some peace. But we all know that the writers don't intend to make him enjoy that blessed retirement. As was the case with "Taken" with Liam Neeson, John Wick was also an unexpected restart for a Hollywood star who had seen better days. And so here it is again Keanu Reeves hug her John again. A charismatic role, which has restored luster to that career which, a few years ago, risked being tarnished, probably, due to lackluster artistic choices. The continuation of the saga of this hitman who finds no peace therefore brings us to the third chapter, with new and increasingly difficult pretexts to make him interact in his mythology - now with two chapters behind him - quite evolved and which has further expanded the discourse of his lifestyle and its aspirations.
John Wick 3 - Parabellum immediately proves what he's made of, freeing himself from the classic "third chapter curse" that wants him to be dull and weakened compared to the previous ones. Parabellum is not inferior to its precursors: leaner than the articulated subplots of the second and, for this reason, more enjoyable and disengaged but probably pays the pledge of the repeated formula that for some, in the long run, could be cloying. A varied cast, made up of high-sounding names and many character actors from the "cinema di menare". All this makes us understand how we cannot exempt ourselves from making a similar film without fielding faces and bodies devolved - by vocation - to a certain type of cinema. Starting from the main nemesis of this last chapter, entrusted to an action cinema veteran like Mark Dacascos (another fifty year old like Reeves) with assets above all the series on "The Crow", or films like "Crying Freeman" and "The Pact of Wolves", passing through some Indonesian martial cinema stars. We are talking about Mad Dog e Cecep Arif Rahman, already seen in the seminals "The Raid" 1 and 2 by Gareth Evans, and now spread a little everywhere in American productions (even in Star Wars). He could not miss the appeal Tiger Chen (former assistant choreographer in The Matrix) after having played the main role in "Man of Tai Chi" directed by Reeves himself. The other roles are entrusted, in addition to the characters already known in the previous chapters, to new faces with a big name: Anjelica huston at the head of yet another criminal tribe linked to John's past, e Halle Berry (yet fifty years old), an old acquaintance with whom he has an unfinished business.
Fabric to sell and barrel without a tomorrow
A stuntman who changed his point of view by passing behind the camera: Chad Stahelski is reconfirmed again at the helm of direction for John Wick 3 - Parabellum. From the first chapter, assisted (only for the first) by David Leitch (then passed for "Deadpool 2" and now with the Fast and Furios spin-off coming out: "Hobbs and Shaw") does not miss an appointment with the favorite killer, confirming himself as a stoic proponent of the title that most managed to mark a groove of contemporary American action cinema. Turning his gaze to the panorama of Asian productions, he not only took the action to another level, but through excellent ideas (the undergrowth of the underworld with its regulations, its own currency, free zones and rules of conduct between colleagues) created a very specific mythology around the character. A world that, later on, will go beyond the mild family revenge of the first film. Stahelski, also in this chapter, demonstrates all the affection he has for a certain type of cinema that pioneered the modern action film: The Western. In the film he occasionally sows some winks or clear evocative quotes: like John assembling a Colt with the same movements and the same care as the character of Eli Wallach in “The Good, The Ugly and the Bad” in an armory.
John Wick - Parabellum is an orgasm of action and continuous violence, without ever a moment's respite. Stahelski moves with ease, creating and fine-tuning action scenes of great impact, however with some limitations that we will point out later. The approach is the typical Yankee one: Bigger and bigger and more spectacular. Stahelski stuffs this third chapter with continuous fights and shootings up to sublimation in three well-timed acts. A half-hour start, where John flees at breakneck speed through the city, meeting on his way more or less congenial places where he can get weapons in a continuous cycle: the living personification of a boy in his favorite toy shop. An old armory where you can make a gun, a library, a dagger shop where, together with the enemies, they break the windows and throw a trillion knives at each other. Continue to a riding school, where he invites the horses to hit the unfortunate ones on duty with their hind legs (idea taken from Martin Campbell's Zorro). He flees on horseback through the streets of New York, while striking and firing on it as if he were in the desert of Almeria so dear to Sergio Leone. He'll end up run over twice and get up badly just to declare through his subdued gaze: "And that was just the first part huh." In between we have: a motorcycle fight with swords and guns (stolen from "The Villainess", Korean action of 2017) and away to Casablanca, together with his old acquaintance Halle Berry they will defeat yet another gang of thugs, but this time with the unprecedented approach of two ferocious dogs that pulverize testicles on command. Is that enough for you? no? because the very long final Show Down will slaughter your corneas: taking up the scaffolding of the film "The Game of Death" with Bruce Lee, Stahelski enjoys dividing the Continental into three levels like Lee's pagoda, where each floor corresponds to an increasingly difficult enemy to beat. Having fun with John Wick is undeniable, and there is an unbridled desire to raise the bar by exasperating the action more and more. But often this exasperation undermines the care and attention - not always abundant - in scenes soiled by the invasive CGI or by choreographies with endlessly repeated mechanisms. Systematic slaughter meat formed by minions who remain impaled for 1-2 seconds, waiting for Reeves to take the blow with his renowned stiffness (especially poor in legs, he will throw two kicks in number throughout the film) assisting him humanly as if they were a sort of veiled "caregivers". Because let's face it openly: Reeves is getting more and more awkward and clumsy (to be honest he was never disbanded even in the time of the Matrix). Compared to him, "everyone" moves at a higher speed. The choreographies, often memorized over and over (with hands remaining in the air a few moments waiting for that blow to come right there, or slow repetitive blows while the type of turn waits - as if frozen - not reacting realistically between a blow and the other) are tried and tested ballets that take away realism and plasticity from the struggle. It was a bit the sore point of the two previous chapters, but it turned a blind eye because - as in this chapter - it compensated for certain weaknesses with the intrinsic sagacity of the character to disengage from an action that was too over the top. Above all in Parabellum we find a greater irony and mockery regarding the weakening or, we would say, the rigidity of the protagonist. His opponents are aware of the legend that cloaks him (some are even his fans) but they wisely alternate physical blows with verbal jabs to further destabilize him and to emphasize his shortcomings even more: “You're slow John“. In the end, this physical slowness of the actor fits perfectly with the characterization inherent in the character of John Wick who, tired and unwilling, defeats anyone who stands in front of him. Those who have continuous visions of films on martial arts and famous action, will find some aspects quite repetitive and disappointing, while others (most of the average John Wick target) will have even more fun because, in John Wick 3 - Parabellum, there is everything Stahelski and Reeves have accustomed us to, but in an even more immense guise.
