Super-assassin John Wick is on the run after killing a member of the international assassin’s guild, and with a $14 million price tag on his head – he is the target of hit men and women everywhere.
As the title suggests, this is the third but apparently not the last in the John Wick series and as the Book God and I had really enjoyed the previous entries there was no way we were was going to miss this.
The film starts exactly at the point Chapter 2 ends, with John Wick on the run. All of the facilities that had been available to him as an assassin have been withdrawn so he starts calling in favours from various contacts who owe him, including a magnificent Angelica Huston as an (I think) Belarussian matriarch and Halle Berry in North Africa. There are wheels within wheels and double-double crosses and an ending that clearly sets up the next film.
The plot is fairly simple but what makes the film is the choreography of the many and various fight scenes which are absolutely epic in scope and delivery.
Favourite things:
- the dogs – Wick’s faithful companion and Halle Berry’s attack dogs, all Very Good Boys
- the Adjudicator – I loved her quietly menacing authority
- the implication that everywhere in the world is absolutely crawling with killers for hire – I shall be paying close attention to this possibility the next time I’m in central London
- Keanu himself – which is not something I thought I would say as I can take (The Matrix) or leave (47 Ronin) him as an actor, but he is ideally cast here.
If you want to know more about what I thought about the first two, you can find them here and here.
If watching lots of people fighting in a bewildering variety of ways while exchanging ‘witty’ comments isn’t your thing then I would avoid. For everyone else, this is a blast.
Dazzling details – directed by Chad Stahelski, 2h 10m long, rated 15 for strong bloody violence, language
Bride of the Book God 2 