John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – 2019 Stahelski
An impressive blend of Hong Kong-like action choreography and a Skyfall-like focus on set-piece background visuals
There’s a stunner of a teal stain-glass window
The entire glass house section towards the end of the film (the glass skull room) is spectacular. The showdown with Ian McShane is like the squid fight scene in Skyfall
Why not have a knife fight in a chandelier factory? Haha—again- love the dedication to the background—there’s another standout later with the green-lit blackout fight sequence at the Continental
It’s world-building. The strict assassin rules, the Continental mythology, it’s raining constantly, a neon-infused not too distant future a la Blade Runner
@M*A*S*H- I have seen them, but only once and didn’t archive them when I did. They are very watchable. I’ve been meaning to see the whole trilogy again
I can’t wait for you to see John Wick: Chapter 4. I think it’s the best of the series and one of the greatest pure action films ever, even though I don’t care to play the whole genre game. There are some incredible visuals and set pieces. One gunfight switches to an overhead extended tracking shot, and I think my jaw was on the floor for the entire sequence.
@Ian- Thank you very much for sharing. I have my ticket in hand to see it myself this week – very excited. Just rewatched the three previous films this past week.
Enjoy, Drake. I would honestly say what is done in 4 is reminiscent to what Mendes and Deakins do with with Bond; except here it is Chad Stahelski improving his own franchise by leaps and bounds (I do not know where this newfound ambition came from, just out of nowhere), and not Mendes/Deakins improving over franchise films from other directors. I would honestly also say that the gap between Wick 4 and the previous 3 is a larger gap than Skyfall is to say Casino Royale, or Spectre. I plan on doing a Skyfall rewatch soon, so perhaps my mind will change on that, but regardless, I think it’s close either way
It is SHOCKING just how much of an improvement 4 is. The set pieces and lighting simply levitate
Awesome, my OCD tells me I can’t collect blurays of movies that arent archivable here, I had a spreadsheet where I collect grades from you, TSPDT and IMDB for each one.
I just came out of watching John Wick 4 and I am absolutely flabbergasted. I have to ask: did I miss something with the previous installments? Because, even though I liked them quite a bit, I don’t think they came close to what Stahelski has pulled off in the new one, so either my judgment has radically changed or JW4 is an almost unprecedented improvement for a fourth entry in a film franchise. Spectacular action set pieces aside, the lightning and the overall attention to detail in its mise-en-scène (especially in the non-action sequences) is really something to behold. This has to be one of the biggest surprises I’ve had in a movie theatre in a while.
@David O.- Happy to hear it. I have seen all four in the last two weeks. Prior to this rewatch, I was underrating each one a little (1 and 2 were not in the archives and should be, and 3 was the best of the trio and I bumped it up a little) – but 4 is a different animal altogether. There were some artistic moments in 1, 2 and especially 3— but 4 is, often, breathtaking.
@David O. – I still have parts of the film running through my head a week later. I had the previous three as R before a rewatch. I kept the first two as R and bumped the third to a low HR. As much as I enjoyed the first three, the new one blew me away and was on an entirely different level. As @Drake said, it’s often breathtaking. I never thought I’d say this about a John Wick film, but I gave it an MS grade yesterday after sitting on it for a week. There is just too much to marvel at visually. It’s only April, but I think this will be my biggest surprise of the year.
You don’t have it’s first and second parts in archievs. Are they watchable?
@M*A*S*H- I have seen them, but only once and didn’t archive them when I did. They are very watchable. I’ve been meaning to see the whole trilogy again
[…] John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – Stahelski […]
I can’t wait for you to see John Wick: Chapter 4. I think it’s the best of the series and one of the greatest pure action films ever, even though I don’t care to play the whole genre game. There are some incredible visuals and set pieces. One gunfight switches to an overhead extended tracking shot, and I think my jaw was on the floor for the entire sequence.
@Ian- Thank you very much for sharing. I have my ticket in hand to see it myself this week – very excited. Just rewatched the three previous films this past week.
Enjoy, Drake. I would honestly say what is done in 4 is reminiscent to what Mendes and Deakins do with with Bond; except here it is Chad Stahelski improving his own franchise by leaps and bounds (I do not know where this newfound ambition came from, just out of nowhere), and not Mendes/Deakins improving over franchise films from other directors. I would honestly also say that the gap between Wick 4 and the previous 3 is a larger gap than Skyfall is to say Casino Royale, or Spectre. I plan on doing a Skyfall rewatch soon, so perhaps my mind will change on that, but regardless, I think it’s close either way
It is SHOCKING just how much of an improvement 4 is. The set pieces and lighting simply levitate
@Matthew- Well done- I saw it- and this is spot on. High artistic ambition
Watched the trilogy for the first time in preparement for the fourth one, enjoyed all of them, are the first two archivable after your rewatch Drake?
@Oliver – Yes, all three are in now
Awesome, my OCD tells me I can’t collect blurays of movies that arent archivable here, I had a spreadsheet where I collect grades from you, TSPDT and IMDB for each one.
I just came out of watching John Wick 4 and I am absolutely flabbergasted. I have to ask: did I miss something with the previous installments? Because, even though I liked them quite a bit, I don’t think they came close to what Stahelski has pulled off in the new one, so either my judgment has radically changed or JW4 is an almost unprecedented improvement for a fourth entry in a film franchise. Spectacular action set pieces aside, the lightning and the overall attention to detail in its mise-en-scène (especially in the non-action sequences) is really something to behold. This has to be one of the biggest surprises I’ve had in a movie theatre in a while.
@David O.- Happy to hear it. I have seen all four in the last two weeks. Prior to this rewatch, I was underrating each one a little (1 and 2 were not in the archives and should be, and 3 was the best of the trio and I bumped it up a little) – but 4 is a different animal altogether. There were some artistic moments in 1, 2 and especially 3— but 4 is, often, breathtaking.
@David O. – I still have parts of the film running through my head a week later. I had the previous three as R before a rewatch. I kept the first two as R and bumped the third to a low HR. As much as I enjoyed the first three, the new one blew me away and was on an entirely different level. As @Drake said, it’s often breathtaking. I never thought I’d say this about a John Wick film, but I gave it an MS grade yesterday after sitting on it for a week. There is just too much to marvel at visually. It’s only April, but I think this will be my biggest surprise of the year.
Just watched John Wick 4. Amazing film. Am I crazy for thinking that this might be a MS?
@Chris- Thanks for the comment and for visiting the site. That doesn’t seem crazy at all.
I tentatively put it down as a HR/MS after a single viewing, so I wouldn’t say it’s crazy. Need another viewing to be sure though