Đánh Giá John Wick 3 : Parabellum": Hành Động Mãn Nhãn Nhất Trong 3 Phần

Like both of its predecessors, “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” features quite a lot of people being shot in the head. It would be difficult khổng lồ estimate the total number of people who are shot in the head in this film – likely somewhere in the range of 30 or 40 – and it’s possible that “John Wick: Chapter 2” might have contained just as many. But it certainly feels like more here. Each headshot has its own slight variations: it might be preceded by a bout of judo-style grappling, or a kick khổng lồ the crotch, or a punch, or a shot to the chest. One headshot is delivered underwater. But the basic sequence is the same: John Wick (Keanu Reeves) gets into close range, shoots an anonymous henchman in the head, a demure half-pint of blood spritzes outward like briskly exhaled smoke, & he moves on lớn the next one. After a certain point, watching John Wick shoot people in the head starts lớn weirdly resemble a gardener misting orchids with a spray bottle.

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Action filmmaking is one of the purest forms of cinema that exists, & fight choreography can be as graceful, intricate, & demanding as ballet. On a màn chơi of pure craft, then, “John Wick 3” is unquestionably great kích hoạt filmmaking — certainly the most technically accomplished of the series thus far, with a good dozen scenes that could only have been pulled off by a director, a stunt team, an editor, & a cast working at the absolute highest level. But as masterfully executed as the action is, watching two-plus hours of mayhem without any palpable dramatic stakes, or nuance, or any emotion at all save bloodlust offers undeniably diminishing returns. There are only so many times you can see a bullet pass through a skull before it gets deadening, & then almost dull.

Directed once again by stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski, “Chapter 3” begins precisely where “Chapter 2” left off. John Wick, the once-retired assassin spurred back into kích hoạt by the death of his puppy, has been declared “excommunicado” by the High Table — the leadership of the shadowy secret society of killers to which he once belonged — as punishment for committing a killing in the Continental Hotel, the assassin world’s designated safe space. This means that he has a $14 million bounty on his head, & hundreds of his fellow contract killers are eager to lớn claim the prize.

The opening fight sequence is by far the best & most frenetic the film has to offer, as Wick scrambles for safety across Manhattan while countless gangs of assassins spill out of the woodwork in pursuit; it’s like watching a hyper-caffeinated version of “The Warriors” played at triple speed. As always, Reeves is a joy lớn watch, và he flings himself into a series of improvised battles armed with, among other things, a horse, a belt, and a public library book that he thoughtfully returns to the shelf afterward. (As a general rule, watching Wick kill people with anything other than a gun is always more interesting than watching him kill people with a gun.)

He escapes the madness long enough to find sanctuary with a high ranking High Table figure (Anjelica Huston, reimagining Morticia Addams as an angry ballet director) who was once his mentor. Wick calls in a favor, securing safe passage lớn Morocco, where he hopes to lớn find the mysterious leader of the High Table and offer lớn atone for his crime. There he has a rendezvous with another character from his past, Sofia (Halle Berry), who is reluctantly convinced lớn accompany Wick into battle.

Meanwhile, a ruthlessly by-the-book bureaucrat known as the Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) arrives at the Continental to dispense further punishments related to the Wick affair, which includes some intense jousting – verbally, for once – with Wick-sympathizers Winston (Ian Mc
Shane) and Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne). & to track Wick himself, the Adjudicator dispatches a wisecracking sushi-chef/contract killer called Zero (Mark Dacascos).

Every single one of the abovementioned actors are allowed to do interestingly idiosyncratic work with their roles, but as usual the film is all about Reeves. Perhaps one of the most misunderstood actors of his generation, Reeves is fanatically committed to lớn nailing his action scenes here, và all the while glimmers of his inherent soulfulness, as hard as he tries to lớn tamp them down, give Wick a strange sort of warmth that allows the character to remain likable despite doing little here lớn deserve that likability.

And truly, it’s important to ức chế just how well-made this film is. Since making his debut on the first “John Wick,” Stahelski’s technical ambition & ability has grown substantially each time out, and it’s hard to lớn think of too many filmmakers outside of Asia who are willing to invest the sort of care và detail-work into combat scenes that Stahelski provides over và over again. (Alongside DP Dan Laustsen & production designer Kevin Kavanaugh, he even takes the time to lớn make some of these scenes actually beautiful, especially a fluorescent-lit, glass-walled battleground that brings to mind “Enter the Dragon’s” famous hall of mirrors.) But it’s tough not to lớn wish he’d start applying these obvious talents to scenes that have actual emotional weight, or that strive for a reaction beyond “whoa, that was cool.”

As it stretches beyond the two-hour mark the film becomes, to use a loaded term, desensitizing. That’s a word that’s usually thrown around by politicians trying khổng lồ blame gangsta rap, or heavy metal, or first-person-shooters, or who knows what else for real-world violence, and their arguments have never been particularly convincing. But watching “John Wick 3” is an exercise of pure aesthetic desensitization – the violence we see here is entirely removed from the reality of pain, or suffering, or fear, or desire, or triumph, or loss. It means nothing to lớn any of the characters, its consequences are never felt, & it fills almost every inch of the frame for huge uninterrupted stretches. Và when that disassociation is so complete, you start to lớn ask yourself questions that you normally wouldn’t. Namely, why am I watching this?

One thing “John Wick 3” has in its favor is that it is phối in a completely amoral world; everyone here to lớn whom violence is inflicted or by whom it is committed is a hardened killer, và there are no innocent bystanders. (Compare that to, say, any number of PG-13 superhero films where the implicit deaths of thousands of civilians occur offscreen.) But even this is a hard premise khổng lồ sustain forever. Midway through the film, Wick và his primary antagonist Zero finally come face-to-face in the middle of Penn Station, and rush toward each other with weapons at the ready. But just as they’re about khổng lồ begin battle, they come lớn a sudden halt – a class of elementary school kids, all holding hands, are being lead through the station in single file by their teacher. The film plays this for a gag, as the two combatants are forced lớn make small talk until the kids pass by. But if you’ve watched the news at all over the last several years, it’s tough lớn reconcile the way the film wants us khổng lồ feel about ceaseless, graphic gun violence, with the associations that come from watching schoolchildren in a line being lead past a heavily-armed mass killer.

Not too long after this scene, Wick returns khổng lồ the Continental and makes a request for “guns, lots of guns.” He’s lead into the hotel’s armory, và he spends some quality time inspecting a whole smorgasbord of firearms và ammunition, gazing with particular admiration at gold-plated, armor-piercing shotgun shells. Then he goes out and shoots those bullets into people’s heads for the next 15 minutes.

Film Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’

Reviewed at AMC Century City, Los Angeles, May 9, 2019. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 131 MIN.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum reloads for another hard-hitting round of the brilliantly choreographed, over-the-top kích hoạt that fans of the franchise demand. Read critic đánh giá