John Wick: 3. felvonás - Parabellum

A legjobb két jelenet nyitja a hármast, és inkább kettesnek a befejezése. Aztán egy új, kicsit más film kezdődik. A jelzett filmes univerzum kibontakozik, és találkozunk annak legmagasabb szürke eminenciásokkal. A hozzájuk vezető utazás azonban mind a helyszínt, mind az akciót tekintve nem éri el a második film Rómájának drámai varázsát és vizuális látványosságát diszkóval, katakombákkal és Camorra-főnökasszonnyal. És az előző rész stílusos eleganciája, amely 100%-ban Wick-re koncentrál, egy kiszámíthatatlan fantáziavilággá változik, amelyben több logikai hiba van, illetve több karakter irányítja a Wick sorsát mással, mint egy halálos kézi fegyverrel. A műfajon belül azonban még mindig szolid képviselője a referenciasorozatának. (2019.07.05)

I wasn't entirely happy with the second film, but the third one made up for it. John Wick is moving forward, not in the sense that he's killing more people (although he might be doing that too), but director Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have figured out an awful lot of unorthodox ways to do the killing on screen. Whereas last time it was mostly shoot-outs, this time around it relies more on contact fights, sharp weapons, and what I'd call a "four-legged arsenal." And it's great! Each action scene is different than the last. There's a shootout, then there's a motorcycle chase, a big vs. small or small vs. much smaller fight, and they manage to squeeze the absolute most out of all the action moments. Within the first half hour, the John Wick 3 does so many things that would last most action movie directors their entire careers. A big plus this time around is the presence of really strong supporting characters, whether they're on Wick's side or at his throat. While Stahelski continues to expand the world and mythology and I continue to feel that it's not entirely necessary, at the same time, it doesn't feel as forced as last time and given the qualitative and indeed quantitative shift in the action, I'm happy to forgive him for that. I'm glad that the people responsible for this franchise clearly haven't run out of ideas yet. (2019.05.15)

Third time's the charm for John Wick, and he’s back with a vengeance. The action is as over-the-top as ever, with neon lighting up even the bathroom stalls. It's pure style from start to finish, packed with relentless action and an incredibly pissed-off John who's managed to anger literally everyone. Sure, the story might be doing a triple axel in terms of complexity, but who cares? It's all about the fun — especially when there are dogs involved. (2021.12.15)

A polished diamond. Sure, it's a filmmaking exhibition by genre fans, but it reaches its peak in this third film. In those aesthetically refined backdrops (neon and rain always work), a festival of creative imagination takes place, which refuses to ease up and sprinkles one highlight after another from its sleeve. The uncompromisingly long, clear, and unrelentingly physical action scenes are in many ways borderline trance-like, and it doesn't matter if there’s shooting, flipping through a book, or ordering dogs around. The story is a phantasmagoria, and every other line is a declamation, but it springs from it quite a few ironic dialogues and comedy performances. It can't be pushed any further. And if it can, then let’s have a Reeves vs. Iko Uwais matchup in the fourth film, please. (2019.09.01)

For me, two things are central to a film: the ideas and the atmosphere. And John Wick 3 has both to spare. During the New York scenes, I felt like Blade Runner had spawned a baby with frenetic Hard Boiled-type action. I really haven't seen such a beautifully lit, atmospheric, visually rich action set-pieces in a long time, so brimming with ideas in the contact fight scenes, and yet so fantastically scored that you can feel every punch and hear the difference when Jonathan fires the Magnum and then switches to the shotgun with its typical hollow sounds. And once again I must repeat the key word – ideas!! Nowhere else, in any other film, have I seen such inventive use of horse power, in no other film have I seen such a good knife fight scene (perhaps only the kitchen scene in Evans's The Raid 2 could compete with this) and at the same time I congratulate the dog trainers, the ones who performed there are to be applauded at length. And you know, I was expecting the plot to be an weak tea, but even in that respect it made sense and the mythology, with its laws and rules that can't be broken, has something to it and I enjoy it. And Keanu Reeves? I admire his shape at 55 years old, I prefer to take the elevator when I need to get to the 2nd floor, and here he is doing physically demanding moves like on a treadmill, and he's 8 years older :o) I'm looking forward to #4, here with him! (2019.05.24)