Title: John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum 2019
Directors: Chad Stahelski
Writer: Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane
It’s hard to imagine it all working without Keanu Reeves. There’s a fascinating dichotomy between the John Wick that the villains all whisper about — a man so remorselessly lethal he gives ninjas nightmares — and the mellow insouciance of Reeves, a star with a gentle amble and kindly face. As he strolls nonchalantly from corpse pile-up to corpse pile-up, it’s impossible to take your eyes off him — after decades of films like these starring hulking glowerers such as Steven Seagal or Jason Statham, somehow his zen mien makes it all seem fresh. It’s all part of the Wick films’ bone-dry wit: they are utterly po-faced even when, as is the case within the first ten minutes of Parabellum, the hero is deploying book-fu to eliminate an attacker in the New York Public Library. This is a comedy in which the characters rarely crack a smile. The sheer self-seriousness is exactly what makes it so much fun.