There was more here. It’s gone now.
(Note: this post contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum)
It’s usually the ones you love that hurt you the most.
Alright, that’s an over-dramatic way to begin. Especially since I didn’t hate John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum by any means.
I was, however, disappointed.
(I’m miserable when it comes to movies, aren’t I?)
That said, I can’t bring myself to blame the movie too much for my disappointment, because I think it comes down to my expectations and how I managed them.
And I suppose I should have known the franchise was going towards the ‘violence for fun’ route when the marketing for this film included Keanu Reeves answering fan questions while playing with puppies:
Nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves. Nothing wrong with puppies. Nothing wrong with Keanu Reeves playing with puppies.
But everything’s wrong with having any marketing material have this tone leading up to the movie.
You see, my disappointment stems from this: I brought up the phrase ‘violence for fun’ earlier – and that, as a concept, is totally fine. Mortal Kombat has gone on for as long as it has with that as its main shtick.
The problem is, John Wick wasn’t about that when it started. It was about a man on a mission, doing only what was needed to get to his goal. The means didn’t matter, only the end. The first movie was so breathtaking and refreshing because it didn’t mess around with fun and games.
I’ll offer an example:
He’s been chasing Iosef the whole time, finally gets to the son of a bitch who took everything from him – and he just shoots him in the gut and finishes him off with a head shot. No torture, no sadistic glee, no triumphant monologue. Doesn’t even allow him to finish his last sentence.
That’s what John Wick used to be about.
Instead of ‘violence for fun’, the first movie was ‘violence as art’.
You might argue that this statement doesn’t jive with what I just mentioned about John being all about the results, but this art I speak of had more to do with how the fight scenes were filmed, and not what actually happened during the fights.
During the fights, John just did what he had to to get out of there alive and work towards his goal. It just so happened that the most effective way of going about things involved fancy judo flips and realistically-beautiful (beautifully-realistic?) gun kata.
I felt a slight deviation from this formula in the second movie, but I based that more on a weaker motivation driving his actions. It wasn’t as good as the first, but I was still good with it.
This third one however… let me just quickly list the few ways (that I can remember off the top of my head) in which it went off the rails and tipped the scales too much in the fan service, ‘violence for fun’ direction:
1. Zero
This is the Japanese assassin guy played by Mark Dacascos. He jokes around way too much. Even though he’s obviously very proficient at his craft, the fact that every other sentence he utters is some kind of wisecrack just ruins him. Even his dying words were used to make jokes.
Ninjas are very, very serious people, not Deadpool wannabes. Have some pride.
2. Action movie one-liners
Speaking of Zero’s death, it was played for laughs, with John Wick himself providing the punchline:
Zero: “I’ll catch up to you.”
Wick: “… No, you won’t.”
Let me just state that I LOVE stupid action movie one-liners. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando is one of my favourite movies exactly because of its stupid one-liners.
But, once again, this isn’t what John Wick is supposed to be about. What makes this point even sadder is that his one-liners weren’t even all that funny. *Price is Right sad horn sound*
3. Guest stars from The Raid
In case you didn’t know, the two Indonesian assassins John fights near the end are played by actors from The Raid and The Raid 2. I didn’t watch the second movie, but the first The Raid was an intense AF action movie with some amazing (and brutal!) fight scenes.
They’re popular movies, famous for their fight choreography. Well worth a gander.
Sadly, the fight scene in Parabellum with the two Indonesian assassins was fan service at its worst: at the expense of the integrity of the John Wick character and world. The fight featured two points where John got knocked down and should have been killed. Instead, the two assassins let him stand up in his own time, laughing and joking the whole way.
This was a friendly spar, not a life and death battle. And John didn’t even kill them in the end! What happened to shooting everyone in the head to make sure?
Parabellum is still a really great film. The realistic gun usage and fight scenes are all still peerless, and although I have some minor gripes with the story, there’s nothing I really mind that much.
And despite all my criticisms, I am still looking forward to the next sequel (although I do hope it’s the last one – the story is ripe for ending, and dragging it out further would reek of desperation).
What makes me so sad is that by taking this turn towards fan service and just having fun, the franchise has thrown its heart and soul out the window.
I can have lots of fun with movies – they don’t all have to be some deep, life-changing thing to me. I’ll enjoy a fun Home Alone or Back to the Future romp any time. But John Wick – the first one specifically – inspired me and made me fall in love.
I went into the theater looking for fun, and left with art.
Unfortunately, this third installment took me on the return journey.