'John Wick: Chapter 3' - Trailer 2: A Fanboy Reacts

So a second trailer has dropped for John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and straight away this film is winning an award for the longest title of the year. Who else needs a colon and a dash just to make a title?

More Action

There's always been an element of childhood glee when it comes to the action in John Wick, and the third instalment doesn't seem to be changing that fact, with more than one moment of cathartic violence, including but not limited to: receiving multiple knives to the chest, flipping motorcycles, and horseback swordplay. With any other film, I'd say that's a recipe for derailing a film into absurdity, but this film works it into its charm. Each subsequent film has displayed different elements of action. The original John Wick was much more brutal, acting more of an homage to action films. Chapter 2 took it into a more stylised environment, giving us a famous recreation of the pencil sequence only hinted at prior, and Parabellum seems to be going even further, but blending the two into something that can only be described as "John Wick."

More World Building

Everyone is out to get John Wick, and it definitely seems like the entire world is gunning for him, so I'm sure that we'll get plenty of fights and shootouts. I hope, however, they don't go too far. Some of the most interesting aspects of Chapter 2 was the effort taken to expand the world and some of its characters, and I hope Parabellum keeps this up. Halle Berry appears to be hiding out in the desert in this film, so I hope we see a more diverse array of locations from around the globe, and how they factor into this undercover assassin army, rather than just going to Asia for a sword fight with a katana.

On the subject of Berry, there definitely seems to be some history between the two, and whilst this is still very much Wick's film, I hope to see their relationship develop a bit, to give the film a slight buddy-cop edge to it.

An Underdog Story

The ultimate moment in this trailer, however, has to be awarded to the dogs. The death of a dog started this franchise, so it seems only fair that the canines have a chance to get their own back, and they do. One shot shows a dog chewing on a man's balls, and in an oh-so-satisfying panning shot, we get to see a pair of dogs take down two armed men. It was something I didn't even know I needed from this film, so I hope they haven't shown everything. I really want to see these dogs get revenge for their fallen Beagle friend.

'Mission: Impossible'

The whole enjoyment of John Wick comes from Keanu Reeves' commitment to doing everything himself, to the point of rivalling Tom Cruise's insane ideas for the Mission: Impossible franchise. The man is approaching 60, and he's still throwing men off motorcycles whilst ducking under swords.

My final comment is on the camera-work. I love the cinematography in two, with its vibrant neon colours and commitment to single take action sequences, and it's good to see that this style is carrying over. Some shots from this trailer are perhaps a little too-saturated, particularly in the glass skyscraper segments, but I love this comic-book aesthetic.

So with a little over a month until the arrival of this film, it's safe to say I'm excited. The John Wick Trilogy, if this movie pays off, will be one of the stronger and more consistent trilogies in recent memory, and a love letter to how action films should be made.