Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum

September 2, 2019

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The John Wick franchise has experienced phenomenal growth. The second film earned more domestically than the first film earned worldwide. Meanwhile, John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum earned more worldwide than the first two films combined. Is the franchise also experiencing high quality? Or should fans of these movies be worried about the upcoming fourth film?

The Movie

This is going to be a short plot summary, because there’s not a lot of plot, just lore building and fight scenes. This is not a bad thing. John Wick killed a man on Continental grounds, which is against the rules, so Winston had no choice but to excommunicate him. He does give John Wick an hour to get away to safety. John immediately heads to get a rosary and goes to a Romani crime organization, headed by The Director, because apparently he’s Romani and he has a ticket he can turn in for one last favor. That favor is to get him out of New York City and to Casablanca so he can meet with Sofia, who owes him a marker. He cashes in that marker for a meeting with Berrada, the man who is in charge of creating the gold coins and the markets used in this world. There, John Wick asks for a meeting with The Elder, the only man above the High Table, who can overturn his excommunication.

Meanwhile, The Adjudicator comes to Winston for a meeting over the John Wick incident. At first, Winston assumes it is about confirming Wick’s excommunication, but he’s the one under investigation. Giving John Wick an hour to escape was against the rules, so Winston is going to be stripped of his powers and forced to “retire”. Likewise, the Bowery King is being punished for giving Wick a gun and seven bullets, even though he knew Wick was going up against the High Table. Afterward, The Adjudicator meets with Zero and instructs him that he and his students are to work with her and hand out the punishment as the High Table sees fit.

I asked in the intro whether or not John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum was as good as its box office numbers, or if the franchise was showing its age. It’s a little of both. There are a number of elements in the movie that are absolutely positive additions to the film, including a lot of the supporting cast. Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillon, Anjelica Huston, and Mark Dacascos are all great in this film. I’m not saying the other two new actors are bad, but their characters don’t do as much in the movie, so they are not as impactful. I especially liked Zero fanboying over John Wick and how excited he got being able to fight him. It’s a funny character bit.

On the downside, the film is starting to strain under its own lore. As more and more layers are revealed, the explanations of how the world works takes away from the coolness and mystery from before. Don’t get me wrong. I really liked Asia Kate Dillon as The Adjudicator, but overly explaining the world is a real problem. For example, did we really need to see the man in charge of minting the coins and markers? Is adding a level above the High Table adding to the story, or just a cheap way to up the stakes? We don’t see enough of The Elder here to judge, but I am concerned it will turn out of be the latter. We’ll have to wait till the fourth movie to find out for sure, but I have faith that the franchise will continue to balance this aspect of the films well and not add too many layers and not over-explain the lore.

One last note, I never mentioned the fight scenes in the review, because it goes without saying that they are impeccable. I do have one point that needs to be mentioned. Whoever choreographed the fights hates testicles. If you had a drinking game where you took a shot every time someone was hit, shot, or bitten in the junk, you would be dead before the end of the second act.

The Extras

Extras begin with Parabellum: Legacy of the High Table, an eleven-minute long featurette on the lore of the movie. Excommunicado runs ten minutes long and talks about the aftereffects of John Wick’s excommunication and actors brought in to deal with John Wick. Check Your Sights is a ten-minute featurette on the action and stunts. Saddle Up Wick is a five-minute long featurette on the horse scene in the movie. Bikes, Blades, Bridges, and Bits runs seven minutes long and is about the motorcycle action scene on the bridge. The “bits” in the title refers to computer bits, as there was no bridge for much of the action scenes and it was filmed entirely on a green screen set. It’s wild to watch the filming of this scene and all of the green men involved. Continental in the Desert is a ten-minute long featurette on the world of The Elder and the history of the High Table. Dog Fu is eight minutes long and it is about the dogs in the movie and how they were trained for the movie. House of Transparency runs seven minutes long and looks at one of the sets in the movie. Finally, there’s Shot By Shot, a nine-minute look at the editing.

There’s no audio commentary track, but the total running time of the featurettes is more than 75 minutes, which is a lot.

The Verdict

John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum is an amazing movie and there are some elements that are the best in the franchise so far. This includes some of the biggest action scenes and some of the best supporting characters. On the other hand, I am a little worried that the film’s lore is going to collapse under its own weight if the filmmakers are not careful. As for the DVD / Blu-ray / 4K releases, they have enough extras to be worth picking up and are a contender for Pick of the Week.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Video Review, John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, John Wick, Halle Berry, Keanu Reeves, Mark Dacascos, Laurence Fishburne, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane, Said Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Asia Kate Dillon