The Keanu Reeves Project - John Wick: Parabellum

 JOHN WICK: PARABELLUM (2018) - John Wick

Well, we're here, the penultimate entry into the Keanu Reeves Project.  And yes that's correct, the penultimate episode because I will NOT be watching "Always be my Maybe" (brief cameo that while hilarious doesn't justify me watching the entire movie), "The Spongebob Movie" (brief cameo), "Toy Story 4" (voiceover only and I honestly have no idea how much his character is in the movie," or "Between Two Ferns" (brief cameo).  Wow, that's a lot of cameo work for Keanu in a single year but sorry, I will not be posting on these movies.  That means we're really coming to the end here with what might just end up being my top ranked movie in this entire project: "John Wick: Parabellum."

In my post about the first movie in this series I mentioned that I was hoping to use this project as a way to definitively rank this trilogy although I'm sure this will all be thrown off in a few years after the final (?) two (!) and I think I've finally settled on an order which is still really difficult because ALL of these movies are fucking awesome.  

But, having just watched "Parabellum" for the fourth time I think it's safe to say that this one stands above the others, making my final order: "Parabellum," "John Wick," and lastly "John Wick Chapter 2."  But let me reiterate, all three of these movies represent not only some of my favorite movies in this project but some of my favorite movies period, and also represent some of Keanu's best work.

Just like "Chapter 2," I saw "Parabellum" twice in the theater, first on opening night and then again the very next day.  We lost one of my closest friends to cancer the year prior to the release of this movie and he was the person I would have watched this with on opening night just as we did with "Chapter 2," so rather than go with anyone else I chose to go alone.  I was also incredibly high, so much so that I couldn't entirely follow the plot of this movie.  And we're not exactly talking about "Primer" here, we're talking about a John Wick movie, which while totally awesome, aren't exactly the most complicated of movies.

So I went and saw it again the next night as well (which I probably would have done anyway) just so I could actually comprehend the plot details.  Neither viewing was really better than the others but one mildly interesting thing happened both times: when John Wick travels to Morocco and meets Berrada, the keeper of the gold coins, audiences cheered because Berrada is played by Jerome Flynn, AKA Bronn from "Game of Thrones."  And you have to understand, this was before GOT completely shot itself in the face in the last season and so there was still a lot of love for the show and especially for Bronn apparently.  And yeah, I might have also cheered a little bit the first time too.

Yay, Bronn/BOO Game of Thrones!

Okay, unlike many previous posts I'm just not going to go beat by beat on this movie but I do want to write a little bit about why I think this movie is the best of the series.

First of all, "Parabellum's" opening 25ish minutes are fucking exhilarating.  We are treated to all of the following sequences at the film's start: John Wick fights the wonderfully delightful NBA player Boban Marjanovic in the New York Public Library, beating him to death with a book; John Wick has his first fight against a gang of assassins in the antique gun store and knife museum (or whatever it is); and John Wick annihilates a second gang of assassins in a horse stable with the brutal horse bucking kills; and to top it all off Keanu escapes on horseback, killing another handful of would-be killers on motorcycles as he rides through the city.

Yee-Hah!

And that's just the first 20 minutes.  I COULD write 1,000 words on each of these scenes but I won't.  I do however just want to touch on the knife museum as this is my favorite action sequence in the movie as I think it embodies everything that makes these movies, and Keanu specifically, spectacular.  This single scene lets Keanu (and the stunt performers alongside him) show off all of the judo and close combat fighting he trained extensively for specifically for these movies.  But the best part of this entire scene is when John Wick and one of his assailants, after fighting hand-to-hand for a few seconds, simultaneously realize that they are literally surrounded by edged weapons and bust open display cases to arm themselves.  It's somehow both really funny and intense and this entire fight sequence is downright awesome.

Best scene of any John Wick movie?

"Parabellum" also continues to further the backstory of both John Wick as well as the universe in which he lives, something that has been masterfully done throughout all three movies.  In the previous movie, John Wick owed a marker and in this one he calls his own in after he travels to Morocco to visit Halle Berry.  We learn both more about where he came from when he visits Angelica Huston's ballet company/assassin training facility and we even get a bit more understanding about the high table and the hierarchy in which it works.  

Although, there is one part of this movie that I still find completely stupid.  John Wick travels to Morocco specifically to meet with Berrata in order to gain access to the Elder, the one dude who sits above the High Table.  When they meet, Berrata gives Keanu this story about how to track down the Elder - you need to walk through the desert and walk and walk and walk.  And when you feel like you can't walk any further, just keep on walking and the Elder will find you.

Beautiful AND stupid

The first time I watched this movie I thought Berrata was just being metaphorical.  But not, that's actually exactly what John Wick had to do.  And while the scenes of Keanu walking through gigantic sand dunes certainly LOOK COOL, this whole sequence is just really fucking dumb.

But speaking of looking cool, this movie is beautiful.  This is something that I think is a trend throughout the movies but some of the shots of "Parabellum" are just amazing to look at.  Whether it's the glow of the Continental during the final battle there, the shots of the desert in Morocco or the amazing design of the interior of the Continental as Keanu battles Zero and his students.

Impossible for me to find a singular photo to show the beauty of this movie, so let's just go with this one

Oh, speaking of Zero, this movie introduces us to a few new characters that really stand out with really excellent performances.  I think Mark Dacascos kills his role as Zero, the High Table's personal assassin.  He's both menacing and funny and essentially plays a stand-in for the audience in his interactions with John Wick.  Asia Kate Dillon is also really great as the Adjudicator and unlike Zero, is always very stoic and serious.  And I'd be remiss to not mention the introduction of the always hilarious Jason Mantzoukas as Tick Tock Man, who had expressed interest in appearing in a Wick movie in the "Johnny Mnemonic" episode of everyone's favorite podcast, "How Did This Get Made."

Tick tock, Mr. Wick

We've also got a few returning folks as well, which gets harder and harder as these movies continue since, you know, lots of people die.  Lawrence Fishburne is back as the Bowery King and while he annoyed me with his....overacting in the previous movie is much better in this, as well as Ian McShane as Winston.  And I fucking love that Lance Reddick, as Charon the hotel concierge is finally given a much more active role in this, holding his own in the Battle of the Continental.

And one more thing to mention that I don't think I've talked about in ANY POST to this point - the sound mixing in "Parabellum" is amazing.  Every punch, gunshot, kick or anything else just sounds great.  It's part of why I loved seeing this in the theater that I can't replicate at home.  When John Wick and Charon arm themselves with giant shotguns towards the end of the movie, the blasts that emit from them are both booming and terrifying and the sound in this really adds so much to the already intense visuals throughout.

BOOM goes the dynamite

Fuck I love this movie.

Okay, some side notes: 

*Wow, I didn't even mention the two dudes from "The Raid" who Keanu fights in the second to last fight sequence.  I've only seen "The Raid" once and am yet to see the sequel, but fuck those guys are amazing.  This is also a spectacular fight sequence with multiple beats and even a little comedy thrown in.  As far as I can remember, they're also the only two people that John Wick willingly spares in the trilogy, ostensibly because of how much John Wick respects their skill.  I really hope we see them again in John Wick 4, maybe even on his side this time.  

Note to self: rewatch "The Raid"

*By my count, this movie features the 4th dead dog in this project.  

*Speaking of dead dogs, the fight sequence with them and Halle Berry is also really fun.  I don't know how they trained the dogs to do some of this shit but wow is it impressive.

*I only have four bones to pick with this movie.  I already mentioned the first one as walking through the Sahara to find the Elder is just stupid.  But here are the only other two: First, why is the security at the Continental so completely outgunned by the High Table's trucks of trained killers with heavy weapons?  They roll out of a security room armed with little more than handguns and suits, going up against dudes in full body armor and automatic weapons, when we have unquestionable knowledge of a gigantic armory inside the Continental?  I suppose you could argue that since no business is allowed to be conducted on Continental grounds under normal circumstances, these guys would have little use to be heavily armed, but this is a bit of a different situation and again, they HAVE ACCESS TO MUCH MORE POWERFUL WEAPONS.  It makes no sense.  

Third - near the start of the movie John Wick jumps into a cab and ends up giving the driver a coin with the instruction to take his dog back to the Continental.  Thousands of cabs in NYC and John Wick happens to find one with a driver who is part of the system?  Is anyone in New York NOT part of the assassin underground?  

Thank God I got in the right cab

And finally, there's no way John Wick survives that fall at the end of the movie.

*I haven't even mentioned the motorcycle chase/fight over the bridge!  I found a Youtube clip of all the work it took to make that scene come to life and it's simply amazing what they were able to do from a blend of actual footage mixed with visual effects.  It's awesome what the filmmakers were able to accomplish with a much larger budget than the previous two movies.

VROOM!

*Going into this movie I had assumed they'd wrap this one up with a nice little bow and that'd be the end of it, so I was really surprised when "Parabellum" once again directly sets up for another movie, which unfortunately has been delayed by a full year due to COVID.  Lame.

Box Office Information: $171 Million Domestic/$154 Million international for a total of $325 Million worldwide.  It also made another $53 million in the home market (VOD, etc) on a budget of $40 Million.  It's also currently the 31st highest grossing R rated movie of all time.  For the record, the trilogy has made nearly $600 Million in worldwide box office, which is something like less than HALF of the "Matrix" trilogy despite being infinitely better.  I guess it's these R ratings.

Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Critic/86% Audience.  How does this not have 100?  Who DIDN'T like this?  I can't even bother to parse through the reviews to find the handful of idiots in here.

IMDB: 7.4.  IMDB ratings are totally fucking useless.

My Movie Rating: Am I gonna do it?  Fuck it, yes.  11/10.  That's right, this movie takes it up to 11.

Keanu Rating: 10/10.  Perfect.

Up Next: Wow, it's my last movie which I already previously reviewed but am circling back to, "Bill and Ted Face the Music."  But have no fear blog readers, I am already planning an excessively long recap post (or posts) full of total rankings and awards!