Formula:
John Wick: Chapter 2 + Hotel Artemis
I'm not sure if anyone actually says that line in
the latest John Wick installment, but it's a question that hangs over
both the story and the franchise as a whole. No one thought it would get this
far. When John Wick came out in 2014, it was an afterthought. It carried
a modest budget. Lionsgate gave it a quiet October release. The one review of
it I stumbled across beforehand wasn't effusive with praise. Mostly, the
reviewer was surprised it was good at all. At that point, Keanu Reeves wasn't a
box office draw. One of his movies hadn't made $100 million in the box office
since he had 3 movies do it in 2003*. He wasn't working much at that point.
Some people probably thought he went into a quiet retirement, Cameron
Diaz-style**. John Wick did OK at the box office. It doubled its
production cost. Then the whispers started. -- "This John Wick movie is
kind of awesome". -- The positive word of mouth spread a lot like word
of John Wick's un-retirement did in the criminal underworld in the movie. John
Wick was back, and so was Keanu Reeves. The rental and streaming success of John
Wick led to a sequel that got the now coveted counter-programming
Valentine's Day weekend slot. Still not prime real estate on the calendar, but
definitely an indicator that Lionsgate had faith in it. It turns out, John
Wick had real momentum. That movie more than double the box office returns
of the first. Meanwhile. Keanu Reeves starts showing up in all sorts of movies,
mostly small genre or indie movies, in oddball supporting roles that endeared
him to a lot of the same people who used to hate his wooden acting. Now, here
we are in 2019. For the last week, my Twitter feed has been filled with stories
about how Keanu Reeves is the nicest guys in Hollywood. I'm listening to
podcasts praising Keanu's 35 years film career. John Wick: Chapter 3 -
Parabellum has a cushy mid-May release date. Its opening weekend nearly
doubled that of Chapter 2 and made more than John Wick's entire
run. The series is a genuine hit. Keanu Reeves is an A-list movie star again.
And I'm not sure anyone knows how it happened.
*Surprisingly, 2003's Something's Gotta Give, at the time that I'm writing
this, is still the last movie he had to make $100 million. John Wick: Chapter
2 ended with $92 million. Chapter 3 will be his first movie to cross
that threshold in 16 years!
**Diaz hasn't made a movie since 2014 and has
described herself in interviews as "actually retired".
What's perfect is how much the whirlwind success matches
how wildly the story in the movie has spun out of control. Parabellum
picks up exactly where Chapter 2 left off. John Wick is excommunicado
with a bounty on his head and a community of assassins out to kill him. Like
most sequels, it's the same but bigger. Everything John does gets him into
deeper trouble, requiring an even more Herculean effort to survive. Parabellum
globe trots all the way to Morocco. It adds Oscar winners like Halle Berry and
Anjelica Huston to the now deep roster of supporting characters. The movie
openly invites self-parody at this point, even including a villain who is an
open John Wick fanboy. I won't pretend that I followed much of the story
details. John collects coins and amulets like they are keys to unlocking levels
on a video game. I don't know what any of them mean. A lot of the writing comes
down to cryptic references to things John Wick did in the past. Eventually,
John is going to run out of places to get branded, fingers to give, and blood
oaths to call on. His backstory is getting very convoluted very quickly. So,
yeah, the story of Parabellum is a mess. When they wrote the first
movie, they didn't plan for any of this success and it shows.
However, judging a John Wick movie by the
writing misses the point entirely. The reason this series is a success is it
has cool fight scenes that are tightly choreographed and inventive. Parabellum
drops the ball somewhat in that regard. In order to up the stakes, it
sacrifices the efficiency that originally set it apart. It's less interesting
to see John Wick clear out a room by firing a gun than by punching and kicking
his way out. And, when John Wick is punching and kicking in this movie, I'm not
sure he should've won some of those fights. In a pair of climactic fights, the
only reason John Wick survives is because his opponents are more concern about
showing off than killing him. They clearly pull punches. That undermines the
whole series. The idea behind John Wick is that he's the Baba Yaga. If you are
in a room with him, all you hope to do is survive. He always has the advantage.
As a fan, I'm not interested in if he can win a fight. I'm interested in
how he does it. It's boring if a guy proves that he could've won but
instead keeps the fight going for fun. That reeks of "plot armor".
Hubris never makes a fight scene better.
Parabellum
still gets more right than it gets wrong though. The audacity of some of the
sequences is impressive. Several times, I found myself laughing at deaths just
because I couldn't believe they really went there. John Wick fighting a 7'3
guy* in the library and killing him with a book is ridiculous and fun. There's
an inspired fight in an antique weapons shop early on that I loved. Halle Berry
is an ally of John Wick's who has a pair of attack dogs that add a new
dimension to those fights. The motorcycle fight in all the trailers is
impressive. Most of the fight scenes are great, so the few bad ones stick out.
*Played by NBA Center Boban Marjanovic.
It all started with a dog. There's something
beautiful about that. The way this series is going, by Chapter 6, John
Wick could end up toppling world governments, deposing tyrants, and throwing
the international economy into disarray. All because some crime boss' son
robbed the wrong guy and made the mistake of killing his dog too. Everyone
involved in this franchise appears to be keenly aware of the opportunity
they've been gifted here. This shows up all over the movie. Assassins can't
believe they get to meet John Wick. Higher ups in the organization are
incredulous that a dead dog started it all. Neither the story nor the franchise
should've ever gotten this far, but here we are. And I'm excited to see where
it goes next.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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