Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 11 May 2019
In ‘Parabellum,’ John Wick is on

the run again

By JAKE COYLE “excommunicado.” For ev- “John Wick” films for the
Associated Press ery other bounty hunter, it’s hyperkinetic videogame
Movies can be blessedly open-season on John Wick. action sequences. With a
simple. As the first “John And in these films, one lurks seamless mix of CGI and
Wick” showed, all you re- down every alley; the ratio stunt work, Stahelski fluidly
ally need is a car, a gun, of regular person to hitman choreographs ballets of
a dead dog and Keanu is, like, 2 to 1. bullets and endless violent
Reeves. Who needs “kiss From the get-go, the visual encounters across a grim
kiss” when you’ve got plen- landscape of “Parabel- cityscape. In some se-
ty of “bang bang”? lum” — a nighttime New quences, the action is clev-
This image released by Lionsgate shows Keanu Reeves in a Alas, nothing in today’s York downpour with dash- er, stylish and syncopated
scene from “John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum.” movie-land stays minor- es of neon all around — is with the camera in motion.
Associated Press key. Chad Stahelski’s “John vivid, nearly turning Time’s There are sleek showdowns
Wick” has quickly spouted Square into Hong Kong. surrounded by reflective
into a three-and-counting With little time to go, Wick glass; inventive weapon
series, the latest of which heads to where all hitmen selections, when assail-
is “John Wick: Chapter 3 go in times of need: the li- ants corner Wick in a cor-
— Parabellum.” What was brary. ridor of antique knives; and
once a taut, minimalist ac- Beginning with the Rose chases on horse, under an
tion movie with an appeal Main Reading Room at elevated subway, and by
predicated on low-expec- the New York Public Li- motorcycle, in a blur across
tations and leanness has brary (where Wick, wield- a bridge. In one moment, a
grown into a franchise with ing a tome pulled from tussle plunges underwater
a typically overcooked the stacks, fights a giant and the action takes on a
subtitle and de-rigueur played by 76ers backup slow-motion beauty.
world-building (the film’s center Boban Marjanovic), There is no doubt that these
press notes reference “the “Parabellum” excels in its sequences are quite easily,
Wickian universe”). New York locations. Cin- in form and execution, a
“Parabellum” finds Sta- ematography Dan Laust- cut above what most any
helski, Reeves’ former stunt sen (“The Shape of Water”) other action film is currently
double who has directed and production designer doing. But “Parabellum” of-
all three films, moving fur- Kevin Kavanaugh (“The ten squanders its finesse by
ther beyond Wick’s hard- Dark Knight Rises”) are the resorting, countless times,
boiled origins and into a movie’s most potent weap- to execution-like killings.
more extravagant action ons. As the body count swells,
thriller. In its ever-expand- With pursuers all around, the relentless sound of gun
ing fictional realm, “Para- Wick stealthily seeks out old blasts, and the occasional
bellum” isn’t so dissimilar associates for help, includ- knife stuck in a skull, begins
from a superhero movie, ing Anjelica Huston, as a to pulverize. Fans will surely
only one with way more kind of ballet-and-wrestling eat it all up, but the “John
blood, a much higher body instructor, and Halle Berry, Wick” films have nothing
count and, yes, righteously who has a fiefdom in Cas- to say about gun violence
better action scenes. ablanca and a few lethal despite its absurd abun-
It starts right where we dogs that severely test the dance.
left off with Reeves’ uber- bounds of “good boy.” He As laudable as the film-
hitman. He’s on the run in appeals to them on the making is here, it’s an ab-
New York having violated basis of old bonds that, he dication — and one that’s
the fiercely enforced rules hopes, supersede the de- hard to fathom, given the
of the High Table, an in- crees of the High Table. parade of shootings today
ternational assassin’s guild Along with returning co- — that sullies the whole en-
that sets combat protocol stars Laurence Fishburne, terprise.
for a vast criminal nether- Lance Reddick and Mc- You could say, well, it’s just
world, including that no Shane, “Parabellum” is a movie. That’s true. No
“business” should be con- well-stocked in top-flight one would confuse “the
ducted in the Continental, character actors. No movie Wickian universe” for our
the Manhattan hotel pre- that includes Fishburne bel- own. But not because of all
sided over with panache lowing “I am the Bowery!” the gunplay. Because ev-
by its manager, Winston isn’t without its acting plea- eryone plays by the rules.
(Ian McShane). sures — including Reeves, “John Wick 3,” a Lionsgate
Ruthless as the world of himself, who has found in release, is rated R by the
John Wick is, it’s a rigidly Wick a comfortable match Motion Picture Association
ordered one, full of slavish for his spare style and pow- of America for pervasive
fidelity to a warrior code erfully still physical pres- strong violence, and some
that’s part samurai, part ence. Also added to the language. Running time:
magician. There’s a $14 mix here is Asia Kate Dillon 131 minutes. Three stars out
million bounty on Wick’s (“Billions”), as the Adjudi- of four.
head, just posted by the cator, sent to arbitrate vio- MPAA definition of R: Re-
High Table, which has be- lators of the High Table’s stricted. Under 17 requires
gun a soon-to-conclude code. accompanying parent or
countdown to make Wick But most come to the adult guardian.q