John Wick: Capítulo 3 - Parabellum

Las dos mejores escenas abren la tercera entrega o y son más bien el final de la segunda. Luego empieza una película nueva, algo distinta. El universo cinematográfico insinuado se desarrolla, nos encontramos con sus más altas eminencias grises. Sin embargo, el viaje para verlos, tanto en el escenario como en la acción, no alcanza el embrujo dramático ni la espectacularidad visual de la Roma de la segunda película, con su discoteca, sus catacumbas y su jefe de la Camorra. Y la elegancia estilizada de la entrega anterior, centrada al 100% en Wick, se convierte en una fantasía imprevisible con más fallos lógicos y más personajes que controlan el destino de Wick con cualquier cosa que no sea una pistola letal. Sin embargo, dentro del género, sigue siendo un sólido representante de su serie de referencia. (05.07.2019)

8. Fin de semana de cine ČSFD, Boskovice, 9 de agosto de 2019. Conclusión de la trilogía, aunque podemos esperar más secuelas. John Wick con Hale Berry, tres perros y el apoyo de los gitanos bielorrusos encabezados por Anjelica Huston ofrece tradicionalmente un espectáculo visual excelente, una coreografía perfecta de escenas de lucha y la actuación enfadada de Keanu Reeves. Desde mi punto de vista, sin embargo, no superó la segunda parte y tuvo momentos sordos e innecesarios en la tercera parte. Aun así, fue una experiencia muy agradable en el cine de verano en el tradicional evento de ČSFD. (11.08.2019)

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. (01.09.2019)

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. (15.05.2019)

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! (24.05.2019)