'John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum' Makes up for an Average Story with the Best Action Sequences of the Franchise

The newest installment in one of the best action franchises ever made (if I say so myself) has just been released, and I had the pleasure of watching this movie in 4DX, complete with moving seats and wind and rain effects.

Just to get this out of the way before the review, watching a movie in 4DX is something you should only really experience once. In my opinion, it's not worth paying extra for 4DX every time you watch a movie. But overall, I had some fun with it.

But anyways, here's my review!

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is an action thriller written by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams and directed by Chad Stahelski.

The film takes place where John Wick: Chapter 2 left off, with hitman John Wick (portrayed by Keanu Reeves) being declared "excommunicado," and he must now fight for his life with a $14 million bounty on his head.

And I can definitely say that this is one of the best action films of the year. Just like its predecessors, Parabellum delivers everything it can in the action department, from extremely well-choreographed fight scenes and some incredibly exciting chase sequences.

In terms of action, this film may have my favorite of the entire series. The action wasn't disappointing at all, and there were a good amount of long takes in the action, where the camera wouldn't cut for about 30 seconds and it just allowed us to see the action clearly and comprehensibly.

The entire first act of this movie is John Wick in New York City only a few minutes after the end of Chapter 2, and it's just him inventing so many different ways to kill all of the assassins that are after him.

At times, this movie really does feel like the action sequences were written before the script was, and they built the story around the action set pieces. And I don't quite mind that, since I've written some action film scripts using that very strategy, but this is gonna lead me to my problem with the movie.

Because, while I think everyone can agree that the action in the John Wick franchise has been some of the best the genre has to offer, they've never been known for their fantastic, intricate stories.

And in terms of a story, I think this is the weakest of the three. In the original John Wick, he is getting revenge on the people who killed his dog. In Chapter 2, he is forced back into the action and must hunt down the man who is after his life.

However, in this movie, his goal seems to jump around a bit. First, he's trying to survive, and then, it evolves and becomes more complex, and I won't spoil the story, but it just wasn't very interesting in terms of the actual story.

We aren't given too many emotional scenes with Wick, unlike the first one, where we can truly understand his motivation to kill the bad guys. As a result, his character is a bit bland in this film, and the story really only works as a driving force to have a lot of fight scenes.

This movie has a lot that's better than the first two, but also has a few elements that are weaker, with the story only being one of them. This film doesn't have a specific menacing villain that Wick needs to kill.

I mean, there's Mark Dacascos's character, but his character had a comedic aspect that didn't make him as good as the villains of the first two. Asia Kate Dillon's character is definitely the main antagonist, but she doesn't pose as a physical threat to Wick.

While this movie has a lot going for it in terms of action, the story and villains are definitely the most forgettable in the franchise.

But here's the thing: this movie was really entertaining. It was exhilarating to watch and there were a ton of scenes where my mouth was open and I had the stupidest grin on my face from how amazing the action sequences were.

I think the biggest surprise in this movie was Halle Berry. In the trailers, I was a bit concerned about her role in this movie, because I thought she might end up being Wick's partner or something, and I didn't think her performance looked that good.

MAN, I was wrong. Berry was definitely one of the strongest aspects of the film. She gives a good performance, and there are a ton of incredible things she does in the fight scenes, and you can tell that Berry trained for a while to perform the stunts in this film herself.

She also isn't in the film that much. She becomes a lead for a 30-minute section of the film where she shares an incredible fight scene with Reeves, and I really like how her character was used, even if she may have felt a bit out of place from the rest of the story.

The film not only has some incredible directing from Stahelski, but it also contains some amazing cinematography. Not enough people talk about this, but the neo-noir lighting of the John Wick franchise complements every scene perfectly, and it's a very beautiful-looking movie.

I think this film has some incredible stunt work, and the fights in this movie are brutal and effortlessly entertaining. How does it compare to the first two films?

Now, in my opinion, despite being a great film, I do think this is the weakest in the franchise because of the story, and there were also certain aspects of the other films that I liked better.

For example, even though the climax of the movie contains some INCREDIBLE fights (with an actor that I recognized immediately from another action favorite of mine, but won't spoil), I never saw the incredible amount of work in this film that the climax of Chapter 2 had.

Despite the action in this film being generally better than its predecessors, I don't think anything was able to beat the Reflections of the Soul fight scene in Chapter 2.

And this movie also doesn't come to a satisfying conclusion the way the first two do. The ending of Chapter 2 is one of my favorite film endings, but this movie doesn't tie up the storylines the way I wanted it to.

It's a bit messy in terms of its overall execution, but I can't say that I was disappointed with what I saw. We watch John Wick movies for the action, and this movie has some great action. But the story just stops it from being as fantastic as the first two.

Overall, this film delivers on what I wanted it to be. There are just several aspects of the movie that I wish could have been better, and I don't see how John Wick: Chapter 4 would be able to top this movie without going full-on Mission: Impossible.

But I have faith in the writers and directors, and time will tell where this franchise goes.

I'm gonna give 'John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum' a 9/10.

This movie is exciting and exhilarating but it isn't flawless. Thank you guys so much for reading and let me know on Twitter (@TheJonathanSim) what you thought of this film.