Plot
John Wick is now Ex-communicado, and seeks passage to Casablanca – in order to persuade ‘The Elder’ the one who stands above the high table for forgiveness.
Meanwhile, an agent of the High Table – known simply as ‘The Adjudicator’ is in town, seeking justice for those who aided and abetted John.
Direction
Once again directed by Chad Stahelski.
It is fast paced, colourful, with improved stunt work (and great use of CGI that make it look like Reeves himself is being hit by cars and falling off buildings).
The violence is up a notch too that feels more graphic that its predecessors. I loved the choreography of the fight sequences.
Cast/Characters
Returning cast are of course Keanu Reeves as John Wick (who has the strongest plot armor of any character in cinema history by this stage), who once again is just magnificent in the action sequences, his gun handling etc. I loved the Matrix reference
but also also Laurence Fishburn (as The Bowery King), Ian McShane (as Winston), Lance Reddick (as Charon). The late great Mr Reddick gets plenty to do this time, having lots of fun in the battle sequence, and of course looking after Wicks Dog. All his scenes make you miss him even more now he’s gone.
New cast members include Halle Berry (as Sophia – the manager of The Continental in Casablanca), Asia Kate Dillon (as The Adjudicator), Mark Dacascos (as Zero, an assassin for the high table, who in my opinion is the best ‘secondary’ antagonist so far), Anjelica Huston (as a Director for a Russian Crime Syndicate), Jerome Flynn (as a High Table partner) and Saïd Taghmaoui as The Elder.
Breakdown
Starting immediately where #2 left off, John Wick is now on the way to being ex communicado. This has both tense and comedic as the clock ticks down and his time with the industry runs out with the doctor (who swiftly begs John to shoot him straight after, “to make it look real” .
His travels and fights include some more brutal scenes that seen before – and the choreography is off the charts with how they put some of these scenes together (the knife store fight scene, the Casablanca shoot out and the attack on the Continental etc).
The sets are simply stunning, with more of the Continental seen than before, as well as sets in Casablanca and other places like the knife store.
There is more of the mythology than before, and more backstory of John – with the revelation he used to be part of a Russian mafia (run by Angelica Huston – who is severely underused), and his birth name of Jardani Jovonovich is revealed too.
You really can’t take your eyes off the screen for a second there is so much going on at times – and you don’t want to either with how pretty it is with all the colouring being so bold and accentuated. I loved the attack on the Continental with all the greens.
Once again the film ends on a cliffhanger, with this time around Wick seemingly going into the fourth (and final?) film up against the High Table following the events of the film.
Looking forward to it!
Overall
Oh what fun! A step up from the second, and on par with the first film. Some great new characters like Sophia, The Adjudicator, Zero etc.
Great colouring, soundtrack, score and choreography. Man I love this franchise.
4/5
Please also check out my Podcast on Youtube, where we review a new movie every week! Please subscribe!
Ryan's Movie Reviews 