Keanu Reeves is back in the role that placed him back into the Hollywood A-list five years ago. The first "John Wick" (MY REVIEW) has since spawned its own franchise, coming up with a sequel last 2016 and now this third installment comes along to continue the story of his fight against the High Table. Fans are expecting that all the fantastically violent stunts and fights that had us breathless in the first two films will still be there and then some more.
Following the events in Chapter 2 where John Wick is on the run after killing High Table member within the "safe space" of the Continental Hotel in New York City. The High Table declared Wick excommunicado and leveled a $14M bounty on his head which had all the assassins around the world very excited. While the Adjudicator (on behalf of the High Table) visited and threatened gang leaders who helped Wick escape, Wick sought the assistance of the Director, the ballet-loving leader of the Russian mob, for safe passage out of New York to Casablanca.
Even the most sedate places are not safe in the John Wick universe, every place could be fight arena. The first fight scene was set inside the New York Public Library against the assassin played by 7'3" Philadelphia 76er Boban Marjanovic, and that already confirmed that there would be no holding back in the ruthlessness of the fights in this film. It would be hard to unsee that scene where a book was used to bash someone's teeth in.
This film really upped the ante on the imaginativeness of the fight scenes, giving all of them a distinctive gimmick we never saw before. The fight inside a weapons museum rapidly escalated into a major bloodbath in the most spectacular fashion, especially with all those knife exhibits at their disposal to hurl at their opponents. Even animals were used to amp up the pain factor in other fights, with kicking horses in the carriage stables scene, and those two vicious Belgian malinois dogs in the Casablanca scene.
Various types of knives and swords were also used in the fights as the film went on. A most amazing scene was that of the motorcycle chase and fight scenes featuring Wick against ten or so armored assassins each wielding a samurai sword. There were two Indonesian-looking assassins who were being played as comic relief during their fight with Wick as they were very thrilled to be fighting their idol. Sword was also the weapon of choice of the bald assassin Zero (campily played by Mark Dacascos) during his climactic fight to the death with Wick set within a museum made of glass.
Acting is not really expected to be the strong suit of a film like this, what with Keanu Reeves in the lead. All the supporting actors played their parts over-the-top, as if they were characters of a comic book or graphic novel come alive. Returning cast members include Lawrence Fishburne (as the Bowery King), Ian McShane (as Continental head honcho Winston) and Lance Reddick (as Charon, the Continental's efficient concierge).
It was interesting to see a couple of past Oscar award winners in the cast. Halle Berry (as Sofia, Wick former friend based in Casablanca) scintillatingly pulled off her fight scenes with an endless horde of warriors with the valuable assistance of her pets. Anjelica Huston was memorable as the Director, a member of the High Table and a perfectionist ballet teacher, who knew Wick when he was starting out in the assassin trade.
This definitely succeeds to satisfy the bloodthirst of John Wick fans. Every fight sequence here looked and felt really more intense and more graphic than how I remembered the previous two films. John Wick was practically invincible here (as always). The director and fight choreographer Chad Stahelski will really have his hands full coming up with more extraordinary fights in more extraordinary settings and situations should this cinematic saga continue on to a fourth sequel. 8/10.
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