The Good, The Bad and The Impossible

by Alya Aqilah

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Just when you thought John Wick is done for, he goes ahead and did the impossible.

Director Chad Stahelski brings again to the table another action packed film in this third instalment of the John Wick franchise, John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum. Chapter 3 follows John Wick’s persecution after he violated Continental rules by murdering Santino D’Antonio, a newly elected member of the High Table on Continental grounds. Fans of the franchise will be eager to see how John Wick, a man of focus and determination as described in the first film is going to escape inevitable death at being hunted by all members of this secret underground crime organisation.

With Andy Williams' rendition of "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" playing over the film’s trailer, most audiences will be hooked to see what other tricks or option has John Wick have up his sleeve to survive this murder hunt. Will he be able to ‘beat the unbeatable foe’ as the song suggests? The plot does not disappoint. Being cut of all help from the organisation really leaves him with limited options but he still conveniently has a plan to get his way out of the situation. A classic move, when the main character is in trouble that he would conveniently have ‘back-up plans’ to face unforeseen problems. However, truth be told, if logic is what audiences are looking for, John Wick would have been dead since the first film.

Nevertheless, the plot keeps it real and John Wick is put in an impossible situation, be it during fights where he faces more formidable opponents or during his quest to escape his persecution. Most fans go to see the film for its fight scenes that are over-the-top. One man against countless murderers, the fight scenes are bound to be epic. And they were. What sets this film apart from other film of this genre is the more frequent use of hand-to-hand combat and other murder weapons like knives rather than just relying on firearms. Even though the fight sequence in Parabellum is perfectly orchestrated, many of them are done in one take.

One take fight scenes make the fight look and feel more realistic because the actors will show real exhaustion. Fights in the film are non-stop until every opponent is killed so the filmmakers have to show this on the actors’ face. However, in the film, actor Keanu Reeve, who plays John Wick, looked a little too tired and his enemy seemed to have to wait for him to get up on his feet before attacking. Audiences can clearly spot this. However, the filmmakers make up for this by putting Wick against Zero who is just as good a fighter as him because he showed great fighting skills that would actually be a match for Wick thus spicing up the fight.

Besides that, an ongoing fight scene with firearms for almost 6 minutes is not necessarily good because it gets boring. Nothing against phenomenal actress Halle Berry, but the fight scene seems to be another attempt to please feminist like what filmmakers did with Captain Marvel and a brief scene in Avengers Endgame earlier this year. However, credit still goes to the good acting and over-the-top fight scene. Stahelski does not hold back from showing violence in his fight scenes. He does not shy away from showing brief accounts of throat-slicing and heads blown off by guns but he keeps it minimal. He shows violence and blood, but not Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained violence and blood, because then it would just lose all its sophistication if not done properly.

Moving on to the acting, all cast members delivered a great performance in the film. Asia Kate Dillon who plays the Adjudicator delivers an especially great portrayal of her character, lethal with no mercy and very committed to order and rules. Fun fact about the film’s name that many fans will be pleased with is that it is foreshadowing the base plot for the fourth instalment of the franchise. Parabellum in Latin meaning ‘Prepare for War’ insinuates a full blown war against the High Table followed by the reassurance of the Bowery King’s and Wick’s seek for vengeance against them. However, no official reports on a fourth instalment has been made but fans are already on the edge of their seats waiting to see what will happen next.