The series has followed two different trajectories: the quality and creativity of the action choreography, and the quality of the storytelling. In this third entry, I think we can generally say that the first trajectory has been upwards. While all of the films suffer a bit from monotony that comes from watching at least a hundred people get shot in the head in one way or another, this one at least mixes things up quite a bit with more hand-to-hand combat, knife throwing, attack dogs, horse riding, motorcycle combat, etc. It felt overall more refreshing than what we came to expect from the first two films.
Unfortunately the second trajectory has been steadily downwards. The first film rightfully hinted at a larger mythology about a global network of assassins. I think history has generally taught us that mythologies like this are better hinted at than expounded upon, and the John Wick series commits the mistake of ignoring that historical lesson. By the second film we already had scenes like where an entire public park is revealed to be populated by people who are part of this network, and everyone from street buskers and cab drivers are likewise assassins in waiting. In the third film this just gets turned up to 11. The extent of this network along with the convoluted and ridiculous rules that govern what is and is not acceptable in this world they've created actually reach cringe-worthy proportions.
The dialog is mostly terrible. Having silly dialog is a well-established feature of a lot of action films, but it works best when the overall tone of the film backs that up. Here it feels like it's at odds with the attempts at gravitas. The supposedly most dramatic moments are mostly rather difficult to take seriously.
To the film's credit, aside from the greater variety of action staging, there are some good character moments here. Fishburn is a welcome carry-over from the previous film, and it was nice to see Lance Reddick actually join in the action rather than merely playing concierge/dog babysitter. It was also a pleasure to see the very underrated Mark Dacascos in a big movie again.
For some mindless action, there are far worse ways you could spend 2 hours. I would like to see much less focus on all the High Table nonsense in the next film, but I won't get my hopes up.
Unfortunately the second trajectory has been steadily downwards. The first film rightfully hinted at a larger mythology about a global network of assassins. I think history has generally taught us that mythologies like this are better hinted at than expounded upon, and the John Wick series commits the mistake of ignoring that historical lesson. By the second film we already had scenes like where an entire public park is revealed to be populated by people who are part of this network, and everyone from street buskers and cab drivers are likewise assassins in waiting. In the third film this just gets turned up to 11. The extent of this network along with the convoluted and ridiculous rules that govern what is and is not acceptable in this world they've created actually reach cringe-worthy proportions.
The dialog is mostly terrible. Having silly dialog is a well-established feature of a lot of action films, but it works best when the overall tone of the film backs that up. Here it feels like it's at odds with the attempts at gravitas. The supposedly most dramatic moments are mostly rather difficult to take seriously.
To the film's credit, aside from the greater variety of action staging, there are some good character moments here. Fishburn is a welcome carry-over from the previous film, and it was nice to see Lance Reddick actually join in the action rather than merely playing concierge/dog babysitter. It was also a pleasure to see the very underrated Mark Dacascos in a big movie again.
For some mindless action, there are far worse ways you could spend 2 hours. I would like to see much less focus on all the High Table nonsense in the next film, but I won't get my hopes up.