I was an absolute fool, and you can quote me on that, not taking the opportunity to do an In Retrospect of John Wick 3 because I am always on the level here and I speak plainly. I did not remember jack shit about the last 3 movies, I mean nothing. Nada. Zip. And...it's kinda friggin' pertinent information to have so it almost legitimately was like I walked into this movie without watching previous installments. Hell I re-read my old reviews to try to jog my memory and it didn't ring a bell, ding a bell, or ting a bell in my head. So I apologize profusely in advance, if I sound like I don't know what I'm talking about...yeah. So we pick up some time after Parabellum, John is still excommunicated, Winston and Charon are in hot water with the higher ups, and some bitch boy lieutenant apparently thinks he has John Wick's number. I don't remember if that guy was in the last movie, I think he was, but fuck that guy in this movie! He just irked me the right way that few villains can do, so props for that completely! Seeing Ian and Lance again in these roles was simultaneously joyous and bittersweet, I mean nobody could have foresaw Lance Reddick's unfortunate and very sudden passing and it just sucked man. Cause I greatly enjoyed his bits in these movies and now that's it. And of course Keanu back in the suit again (and I will talk about that suit I assure you), it's another fine outing for him and once more he relies on almost silent acting with few lines and lets his body language do the talking. And I gotta say, for an almost 3 hour film which didn't feel it's length, I greatly appreciate the not necessarily lack of action scenes but more the balance between action and quiet moments, I think I counted 5 action sequences total. Granted they are very lavishly choreographed, wonderfully even ingeniously shot at long stretches of time but never feeling dull. Yet the shining pieces of the movie are the beautiful, and I do truly mean beautiful, quiet, peaceful interludes that just worked wonders for me. Pay attention to that shit! But I also give my thanks for them just going all out and giving us an eastern sword duel with Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Sanada and a western gun duel with Keanu, briefly settling into the rhythm and filmmaking of those genres as nothing but loving homage. However! Yell at me if you wish but was the bulletproof clothing in the last movie? I don't mean the fully decked out head to toe, nary an opening, straight up special forces armor. Oh no, I mean the fucking jump the shark, tailored, nice ass suits which are bulletproof. What. The fuck? I think I would recall something like that previously and shout bullshit! It makes zero goddamn sense both in universe and from a filmmaking perspective other than they needed an excuse to make the fight scenes longer. Well shit, how do we do that? What if we made our characters impervious like the last son of Krypton? My God, Johnson's done it again! And motherfuck, I said what I meant and I meant what I said, you do not fall 3 storeys onto a van and just walk that shit off. Bulletproof suit or not. It really kept taking me out of it. Now one scene that did not and if anything got my nerves skyrocketing is the staircase segment, where it's like the fucking Exorcist Steps × 100, just because of a ticking clock implemented. Well done on that! And even that ain't got shit on the Zelda shootout, you'll understand that reference when you see it classic gamers out there. I mean sweet Jesus that was a feat! I did actually expect the movie to end on an ambiguous note because I heard something about the director wanting to take a break before the next John Wick movie but it ends on a solid definitive note which thank you for that as well. So I don't know man, I'm stumped. Did I like it? A good deal yeah! But booooy howdy do I need to have me a little movie marathon once this hits video and re-evaluate my stance. But all in all I give it 3.5 stars, 8/10! And tomorrow is nothing but the beginning of the end or perhaps the end of the beginning.
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