Starring Keanu Reeves, Angelica Houston, Halle Berry, Mark Dacascos, Lance Reddick, Laurence Fishburne

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Summit Entertainment, in cinemas now

 

Rogue assassin John Wick now has a 14 million dollar bounty on his head and the underground network of killers wish to cash this bounty in.

The third instalment in Keanu Reeves’ gloriously over-the-top action series picks up precisely from the end of 2017’s Chapter 2 and assumes you’re either already up to speed or prepared to pick things up as you go along. Luckily it’s a very simple premise: everybody is out to get Wick – and he’s going to have to cash in various chips and pull in certain favours to survive.

One of the greatest joys in this universe is the construction of a whole sub-strata of society, a guild of assassins who work on honour, blood oaths and gold tokens to transact their business. New players are Angelica Huston as a Russian mob boss and Halle Berry as a kickass assassin with two killer dogs, each commanding their own fiefdoms and compelled to help Wick even though he is now incommunicado. Martial arts star Mark Dacascos also makes a great impact as baddie Zero who fanboys over Wick as much as wanting to kill him.

Ian McShane returns as laconic Winston, manager of the Continental Hotel, while Lance Reddick gets more action than normal as concierge Charon. Reeves’ Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne also is back as the Bowery King, and there’s a wonderful moment where John Wicks repeats an immortal line form The Matrix.

Director Chad Stahelski returns after 2017’s Chapter 2 and 2014’s original, with writer Derek Kolstad also here for a third time, though he shares screenplay with three others in this instalment. But the action… wow. Just when you thought you’d seen every conceivable form of on-screen death we get to experience death by hardback book, leg kicks by horses, dogs going for soft tissue, eye gouging, exploding heads. It’s relentless, and yet because it’s so ridiculously unbelievable that it registers purely as exciting fantasy entertainment rather than questionable gun fetishism. Oh, and Parabellum is Latin for ‘prepare for war’ – very apt!

Verdict: Relentless, breath-taking and visceral, this series shows no sign of slowing down, and continues to deliver high quality stunt work and action that you’d struggle to fin anywhere else. It’s a blast. No, it’s a double-barrelled blast, followed by knives, swords and anything else in reach. 9/10

Nick Joy