![]() ![]() ![]() An imposing antagonist introduced as a longtime contemporary of Wick’s, the blind assassin’s reluctance to enforce The Marquis’ orders without question echoes John’s rejection of his own call to “serve and be of service.” That parallel adds a surprising amount of empathy to their encounters, but it doesn’t keep Caine from going after John with everything he has. Of all the excellent new additions to the cast, Donnie Yen’s Caine stands apart. Read the full John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum review The action is bloody and over-the-top and the emotional throughline remains solid as we follow John Wick on his journey to either save his skin or die trying. What We Said About John Wick Chapter 3: ParabellumĬhock full of inventive set-pieces and brutal kills, while also providing new facets to the intricate underworld lore fans of the franchise have come to enjoy, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum pushes its title character to his breaking point and back while offering fresh information about his backstory. ![]() ![]() Despite having shot John off the roof of the Continental at the end of Chapter 3 (something no one’s got any hard feelings over that’s like accidentally tripping someone in this world) Winston continues in his role as a surrogate father to John, and McShane’s characteristic confidence both bolsters the myth of John Wick and maintains the Continental manager’s reputation of being the smoothest operator in the game. Winston, Charon (Lance Reddick), and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) serve as John’s counsel, and while Reddick and Fishburne’s presence is limited to only a few scenes, their impact is maximized thanks to those performers’ signature gravitas and command of their characters. That investment fully blossoms with Chapter 4’s Murderer’s Row of John Wick characters. John Wick may be the namesake of the franchise, but his journey has increasingly emphasized the importance of social contracts and shared history. Of all the excellent additions to the cast, Donnie Yen's Caine stands apart. The pure thrill of seeing John Wick’s continuing battle to reclaim his soul work so well is doubly gratifying when you consider it as the labor of love it clearly is for Reeves. Reeves’ (not to mention Stahelski’s) contributions to The Matrix’s success can’t be overstated, but the Wick films have always felt like more personal celebrations of the actor’s dedication to the craft of highly choreographed action. Reeves conveys these qualities with practiced restraint, so complete here that the occasional one-liners or subtly raised eyebrow come off as authentic to the character and not beholden to representing any cliches of the genre… sometimes if you bake your cake well enough, you get to eat it, too. The raw-nerved rage of the freshly widowed Wick that wowed in the original movie has progressed into something even more deadly: resolve and focus. The High Table bureaucracy has long hidden behind intermediaries like Winston (Ian McShane) and The Adjudicator, and Skarsgard does a great job of embodying the decadence and rot that permeates the organization with increasing severity the higher up the ladder you go.Ĭhapter 4 firmly cements John Wick as standing shoulder to shoulder with The Matrix’s Neo as part of Keanu Reeves’ nearly unparalleled action hero lineup. In contrast to Chapter 2’s Santino D’Antonio, whose primary leverage over John was personal (an unpaid blood debt), the sadist Marquis wields the authority of the High Table like a dandy Darth Vader, and the cruelties in which he indulges go a long way towards making him an ideal foil to John and his cohorts. As the High Table’s emissary, he drips entitlement and hypocrisy with each very French-accented word he purrs. With Skarsgård, the John Wick universe gets its first supervillain. An early maneuver on John’s part forces the High Table past the point of no return: Wick must be made an example of, and that task falls to Bill Skarsgård’s very willing Marquis de Gramont. ![]()
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