John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
29/05/19 Filed in: Cinema
The third instalment of the John Wick saga, which starts where the previous film left off, namely with John Wick on the run, having been given an hour's grace before every hitman in the world will be after his skin. If you haven't seen the previous two instalments, then briefly John killed one Santino D'Antonio in the New York City Continental Hotel, otherwise known as a meeting place for the members of the High Table. D'Antonio had it coming, but that doesn't cut any ice with the High Table enforcers. In fact, Winston, the owner and manager of the Continental, will find himself in trouble from an Adjudicator for giving John his hour's grace.
With a $14 million bounty on his head it isn't long before his first encounter, in a public library where he is recovering some artefacts that may help him escape. But one hitman doesn't want to wait an hour, and the first fight ensues. Victorious, but injured, John seeks medical help from a clandestine medic who serves the High Table but who, to protect himself, must finish stitching John's wound before the hour is up. And the hour is indeed now up, so cue a succession of brutal encounters as John seeks out The Director, a woman from his past, who accepts one of the artefacts, a crucifix, as a ticket to give John safe passage to Casablanca.
Meanwhile back in New York, both Winston and the Bowery King, the leader of a network of street assassins, are both doled out punishments by the Adjudicator and her band of enforcers.
In Casablanca John seeks out Sofia, a former friend and the manager of the Casablanca Continental. Reluctantly she agrees to honour a marker he holds, and to take him to Berrada, an assassin who can help John find The Elder, the one person who John believes can release him from the $14 million bounty. The meeting with Berrada doesn't go well, where once again a dog is the catalyst for mayhem, and the body count increases substantially. In fact by this point I doubt you will have been able to keep count of the number of bodies that are left in John's wake.
Things now get a bit bizarre, with John trudging over the Sahara until exhaustion, this apparently being the way one gets to meet The Elder, or not, as the case may be. But in the interests of keeping the plot on the move, John does meet the Elder, who sets him a task as a way of releasing himself from the High Table's assassination contract.
So we're back in New York, where Zero, a martial arts master, with his 'students', have been recruited by the Adjudicator. They are soon on John's trail. Zero's team treat us to some impressive martial arts. In fact both Zero and some of his men are in awe of John, to the extent that they regard it as a privilege to fight him. The fight sequences throughout this film are quite amazing, with some effects leaving one asking oneself, "How on earth did they do that?" Knives, swords and hatchets that appear really to penetrate the victims. CGI or what, the result is very convincing.
Everything comes to a head back in the New York City Continental, which has been deconsecrated by the Adjudicator, meaning that the previous restriction on killing within its walls has been lifted. Suffice it to say mayhem once again ensues. In the end it comes down to Zero and John, in a sequence that reminded me of the room of mirrors scene at the end of Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.
If you've seen the earlier John Wick films then everything will seem very familiar, although the fight sequences and other special effects this time are arguably more impressive. The ending tends to suggest Chapter 4 will be in your cinemas some time in the future.
And if you're wondering why 'Parabellum', it is Latin for "prepare for war" and is often used within the context of the phrase Si vis pacem, para bellum, meaning "If you want peace, prepare for war." It's also the name of a type of pistol and handgun cartridges.