Warning: This review contains spoilers!
The John Wick franchise has easily become my favorite in the past five years.
With the original feeling like a standard action movie, and the second more like a graphic novel adaptation, (because of the increased world-building with the introduction of the High Table), the two films are almost incomparable to each other.
It was very clear to me from the “HBO First Look” interviews that the producers and Reeves himself are extremely passionate about the franchise and their contributions to the genre. It made sense to me that the Wick team don’t want the fun to stop, and that is why Chapter 3 was merely a set-up for another sequel set for release in May 2021.
The film was incredibly fun, don’t get me wrong. I still highly recommend you watch it in theaters, as the most gruesome of the fight scenes elicit great responses from the audience. However, one response I did overhear at the film’s end was “I wanted it to be the last one!”
I agree. This review will also offer my treatments to the story to argue how Chapter 3 could have been the conclusion to the series.
Part One: Cutting Sophia, and staying in New York.
This is a tough call, as the attack dogs were so much fun to watch, and a fresh take from the stunt team to spice up the violence. However, John’s entire interaction with Sophia is so out of place when we compare her with John’s other relationships.
- The Blood Oath: John expected Sophia to honor her Marker, even though John himself initially refused Santino D’Antonio’s collection on his debt, which kicked off the events that eventually led to Wick’s excommunication.
- She’s rude: All of the other characters in the film absolutely adore John. Even his killers show him due respect. Winston, the Bowery King, and the Director all suffered heavy consequences for helping him escape. We were simply not given enough time in the film to see why Sophia was allowed to treat John with such disdain, especially since she owes him already.
Staying in New York
In John Wick: Chapter 2, I felt there were way more assassins preying on Wick after his High Table contract was doubled alongside the “excommunicado” order. I would have preferred we cut out the whole desert adventure and have John stay in New York City to face off against more interesting, quirky but obviously short-lived characters.
Instead of going above the table, we could have gone deeper into the seedy assassin underworld of New York City.
Of course, after so many failed attempts on John’s life, the High Table then hires Zero and his assassin school to take him out.
Part Two: The Bowery King Pigeon Hole
Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King character was underused in Parabellum. In fact, I thought the “seven cuts” killed him at first!
Although Winston prefers tailored suits, and the Bowery King prefers rags and a pigeon coop, the two should be highly connected or at least cognizant of each other due to their powerful positions in the city, and would have heard about their respective visits from The Adjudicator.
Just imagine that first meeting between them:
BOWERY KING: (laughs) “As above, so below.”
Winston pushed back against The Adjudicator as well during their parley when she said (paraphrase) “We are The High Table” and he replies “And we are New York City!”. The Bowery King and Winston hooking up much earlier would have shown how powerful the city actually is to resist the High Table and close out the series in three movies.
Part Three: A Seat at The “Table”
In Parabellum, John tells The Elder, the man above the High Table that he wants to live to remember his wife. But do you buy that?
“John. You know what I think? I think you are addicted to it. To the vengeance! No wife. No life. No home. Vengeance. It’s all you have.” — Santino D’Antonio in John Wick: Chapter Two
And to that quote, John replies:
“You wanted me back? I’m back!”
Santino told John he could have ran away after the marker was complete; his contract was not international yet. John could have sat down with Santino and forced him to call off the contract in The Continental.
But no. John decided to be an absolute stone-cold badass and capped Santino over his steak dinner.
John was ready to become something else at the end of Chapter 2. He was ready to kill everyone who came after him.
I know he wants out, but it never seems to end for John Wick. So here’s my proposal: He joins the High Table.
Sample Scripts
[John Wick and Winston successfully defend themselves at The Continental, and are at the parley with The Adjudicator]
ADJUDICATOR: “So what can be done about John Wick?”
JOHN: “With Santino gone, there is an open seat at the high table.”
ADJUDICATOR: “I can’t let you do that John, without rules…(looks at Winston)
WINSTON: “…what separates us from the animals?”
JOHN: “But I’m not an animal, I’m John Wick. I am the Baba Yaga. ”
I think this is far better than what actually happened at the parley in Parabellum; Winston betraying John. The High Table was willing to excuse Winston’s behavior because he was only “showing strength”, whatever that means, but that strength was only present due to John.
ADJUDICATOR: So, John, what is your first order of business, having a seat at the high table?
JOHN: Nothing. If you want to stop doing all the heavy lifting, you move up to management.
WINSTON: Well said!
JOHN: Oh, and I’d just add one simple rule. When a man says he’s retired, he’s fucking retired.
Boom.
The End.
Other Comments
- Yayan Ruhian, one of Zero’s students that stalked John throughout the movie, is an absolute monster if you ever saw The Raid: Redemption. However, he was tossed around like a little kid in this movie, and I would have definitely preferred more respect on his name.
- Parabellum did not disappoint by offering us another Matrix reference (“Guns. Lots of guns.”) A Carrie Anne Moss or Hugo Weaving cameo could have been great fan service as well to really make the conclusion of the series that much sweeter.
- The Dog! The Dog still doesn’t have a name!
Final Thoughts
Although I still recommend Parabellum to be watched in theaters, I have to admit that that its quality suffered being relegated to a filler/springboard for Chapter 4.
Breaking Bad wanted to tell a good story, and they ended their show in five seasons (and are still producing a very enjoyable spin-off!). However, so many other series have been ruined by prioritizing money and pushing it past the expiration date: Lost, Dexter, and The Walking Dead to name a few.
I know the John Wick crew had fun producing this series, but it’s also hard not to speculate that milking this series for a fourth film wasn’t motivated by the millions that could be made with it, as Parabellum was the movie to knock out Avengers: Endgame’s three-week #1 streak.
The producers should have taken the advice of their character Sophia:
“Sometimes, you have to kill what you love.”
John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum
8/10 for the theater
7/10 at home
6/10 if you are a fan and going to re-watch it at home.
Thanks for reading. ❤
