Movies

John Wick 3

Action movies are one of my favourite genres of film. And the "pure" action films, where there are fewer cuts, more personal close quarters fights, are my favourite within in that genre. Rumble in the Bronx is one of my favourite films of all time, and some of the other films that came out in the decade around 1995 in that similar style are also just a blast to watch.

However, it feels like we get a lot less movies like that these days, and TV shows really have picked up the slack on that. I've loved the fight scenes in things like Daredevil, Game of Thrones, and loads more. It has become the currency that (slightly) lower budget TV shows can trade in when comparing themselves to big budget films; close quarters fight scenes which feel relevant to the plot, with characters you care about.

That's not to also say films have been slacking. The Raid, Dredd, Kingsman, Baby Driver etc all have amazingly choreographed, engaging scenes. Larger budget productions like Mad Max, Mission Impossibles, MCU, Transformers and Fast & Furious' of the world are also a whole bundle of fun (that new F9 trailer looks amazing). But I think one movie series has stood above the rest, and that is John Wick.

By making an action movie where the main character has little motivation by design (rip the dog), and amazingly choregraphed scenes shot beautifully. The John Wick films stand up above a lot of films in the last decade as something absolutely worth watching even if you're not an action film fan.

This week was the first time I watched John Wick 3. I unfortunately missed it at the cinema, and only recently found out it was on Netflix. My initial response at the start was holy heck this is a longer film. It stands at 2h 10m, 10 minutes or so longer than John Wick 2. This can be felt in the back third of the film, but I think that breathing room allows those last couple of fights and scenes time to really get into the nitty gritty.

There's also quite a few new characters here who are going to be getting involved with the "cinematic universe" they're trying to build here. In previous John Wick films, the recurring characters were generally restricted to the Continental. Now suddenly we have Halle Berry hanging out in Casablanca, some random Elder guy chilling out in the desert, and someone from the High Table meddling around with the Continentals affairs in person. I don't know what we're going to get in the future beyond John Wick 4, but they're really trying here to make a universe. I don't know if this is the right move, if we never get to that point then these movies in retrospect will feel bloated. But for now, its a little intriguing!

Fight scenes don't disappoint either. The first 20 minutes of this film just fucking goes. Picking up right from the ending of John Wick 2 (literally minutes after), Mr Wick is on the run from literally everyone. It just makes you short on breath, its awesome. Although that whole sequence of him putting together the gun just for a western revolver gun sound gag felt like a bit of weird pacing, this is the strongest opening to any action film I can think of off the top of my head.

Aesthetically, I think this is a large improvement over John Wick 2, but I don't think it quite reaches John Wick 1 levels of nice to look at. That club scene in John Wick 1 is just an experience from both the audio and visuals, and while this movie looks amazing, the club scene has stuck with me for the long term with how it looks. This is probably the biggest disappointment for me with this film, because the marketing makes it aesthetically looks like something which it doesn't deliver on. If anything, the marketing matches way more up with the original John Wick. It looks kind of clean and bland.

The glass box area I think highlights this the most. It is a stunning looking set, a technical masterpiece, and I love the way they use it from a practical sense (also just a shoutout for my favourite foreshadowing in 2019, shooting the underneath of some glass for someone to fall through it 10 minutes later). But it doesn't pop in the same way. It made a fight scene with some really cool ideas of them all being fans of John Wick himself, just that little less memorable.

There are a lot of things I can say about this film. But I think in the end all that needs saying is this; while action films get grander and larger, films like John Wick are getting better and more focused on their niche and getting a lot better at it. They are fun to watch, make me breathless from how tense stuff gets and I really look forward to the next one.

Also John Wick Hex is a pretty good game.