Film Review: John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum

Two great things came out of this movie experience with John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. The first one was when my son turned to me in the middle of the film and declared, "Papa, you know, this movie is made for combat fans. And you know what? We are combat fans." He was spot on....if you've ever wanted to watch a movie with just enough fill between the amazing action sequences to justify the next action sequence, John Wick (all the movies) fit this description perfectly.

The second was the moment I realized that John Wick's charm comes about from the fact that this is basically Male Romance in film format. The John Wick trilogy (soon to be a four parter) is about Keannu Reaves as the embodiment of the middle-aged man who had found his purpose, had it stripped away from him, then rekindles that purpose in the only way he knows how: by some serious murderation. It's unabashed in its revelry of the violent form as the medium of expression. It does not question its own universe, which appears to be one dominated by a heirarchy of assassin cabals who run the world. It sprinkles just enough world building in to make you feel like there is some structure and purpose to the universe, but not enough to trigger the weird fans who must have answers to all questions. It's not about that. It likes to entertain a bit of mystery....but once again, only enough to get you to the next major combat scene. 

So yeah, this has been my favorite film of the year so far. A+++!