Why Character Development In ‘John Wick: Chapter 3' Is So Good

A God amongst men, is our trusty old Keanu Reeves. There are few people who would disagree, and I’m certainly not one of them. In fact, the movie is packed with presences familiar in the franchise that you can’t help but like such as Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne. We are even introduced to industry veterans Halle Berry and Anjelica Houston, who's performances manage to command the screen unapologetically despite their shorter than anticipated screen-time. Another notable mention would be Game of Thrones actor and the latter half of Robson and Jerome, Jerome Flynn, whom we incidentally meet up on the roof.

However, Keanu is still front of shop as his titular character would suggest, and thankfully since the start of the chronicle this seems is a deviation from Reeves' fair share of somewhat strange and existential movies (‘Knock Knock’, I’m looking at you) he's feated in the past few years. Certainly, the past few months have been successful for Keanu Reeves, considering the undeniable feeling that everybody wants a taste. From Toy Story 4, to Cyber Punk 2077, to Bill and Ted 3, to the John Wick chronical, it's clear that man shows no signs of slowing down and companies don't plan on letting him.

And, thus, today’s post will be offering a hors d’oeuvres into why Parabellum is so good, largely due to the development on John's character. Now, I can see my family and friends who may possibly be reading this shaking their head at my siezing of an oppourtunity to discuss just why Keanu Reeves is so good, particularly with this movie, however I have good reasoning to do so.

You see, movies like this are the kind that whilst you’re watching it you feel inspired to go home and research, talk and write about it and I think with Parabellum this is because there is something so overt in the movie’s declaration that you are in the hands of filmmakers. At this point, we are trusting of those behind the camera as we understand their intent on creating a work of wit, style, and vision. And, like its predecessors, this comes early on, perhaps even before our bums are on reclining seats. Whilst I am trying to train myself out of it, a hang-over from Media A-Level is my mentioning of the marketing, which does not go remiss here.

A movie like this has the potential to challenge marketing teams greatly as whilst there is the importance of encapsulating the sultry, dingy energy of the movie, this can become tedious as it approaches it's third feature, and even difficult through attempting to encapsulate the developmental complexity of not only the genre or the character, but the movie itself as something other than ‘that assassin movie where a guy avenges his dead dog’. To do this, the marketing successfully and effectively portrayed the nuanced anti-hero with an undoubted artist merit thanks to UK artist Billelis which somewhat combats criticism audiences have about Avengers marketing in particular. Enraged about the over-crowded, uncreative posters, it appears John Wick has listened to this very closely.

Similarly, the movie itself by no means steps down from representing our anti-hero as just this. I’ve noticed that by this late stage in the chronicle that yeah, I did suddenly feel bad for the copious amounts of people John Wick kills, despite the tradition to leave all sympathy that isn’t for Ellen or John’s dog at the door. However, yes, the man does have cleanliness boundaries and limits but no, it’s not for respected library silence. John Wick’s respect for the New York Public Library is unwavering; the emotionally driven scene of John observing his personal touch to a very specific book is rudely interrupted, he uses said book as a weapon to kill those who disturbed him. This mirrors the devout emotion John harbours underneath his stern face and the developmental motivation that has become more precisely-tuned to being able to remember his wife rather than erratically spoiling himself to revenge killings. There is a clear distinction between the chaotic fight sequences at the beginning of the series and the now methodical yet somehow more enjoyable, extravagant ones.

Well, John Wick’s commitment to words being mightier than the sword is fortunately for us, not where the dedication stops; he goes back and replaces the book on the shelf where he found it. This is very refreshing when taking into consideration the likes of the careless attitude of Frank in the Transporter movies because sure, make a mess and litter bodies like there’s no tomorrow, but running out of that library and leaving the place not the way you left it is not the name of the game for John Wick.

Whilst comedic, it's undoubted that it would weird if John hadn’t of done this. And, it’s these small, attention-to-detail, lingering moments on screen that build his character in a genre where protagonists get little to no personal, emotional or behavioural developments. Simply put, it’s refreshing to be subtly reminded of the intimate details of a character and how this parallels earlier films.

A moment that reinforced the vitality of these smaller details was the inclusion of the two assassins who not only antagonise John Wick for being ‘too old’ after he’s just had an arse whooping and a half, and unsurprisingly came out alive, but seem unduly excited at their chance to tango with the king of killing. The only people who’ve had a pre-showdown conversation with the Wickster have been those swearing to kill him in an angst, irritable way. It was a breath of fresh air to see people in the JWCU approach inevitable death with a spring in their step, combined with the comical way in which the dialogue unfolds that grants the series immunity yet again from being just another dopey, clunky action film.

All of the movies possess this smart and witty screenplay, a unique performance (I wanted to say brilliant, but the “yeah, I’m thinking I’M BACK” scene from earlier on in the franchise physically prevented me from doing so) from a unique man, and fight sequences executed so well that they make me, the unflinching presence of a movie theatre, gasp.

It is this kind of artistic merit that ensure you leave the cinema not only wiser for having been enlightened by the industry’s ability to create such a subtly great and overtly brutal piece, but also cursed by the laziness of the big players and their refusal to join in and create anything other than 3 hour superhero movies. Whoops.

Whilst there is not much for me to say that is impressive or new, Parabellum, as it should not be surprising by now, follows strictly from the success of its predecessors expressionist use of colours in the lights and background to maintain a consistency of John’s purpose, which is to live to remember Ellen. However, as much as the shockingly strong reds represent this passion born of blood, the lighting team seemed to have a field day in bathing Keanu in blue light, which I’ve come to decide is the omni-present “High-Table” whom John tangoes with regularly in the movie, and it serves to the audience as an ice-cold shock from the staple, familiar use of striking reds.

The red remains to be a champion of John Wick, who by film’s end seems to be surrounded by a place so dark that his red saviour couldn’t salvage him until he looks up towards the camera and we see the blood splatters on his face. Now that we know John will live to massacre another day, we sigh in relief after his fateful push from the top of The Continental that there may, please God, be John Wick: Chapter 4. This also table-sets for a change in his character as perhaps this signifies that John has entered another phase in his motivation.

Ultimately, there is nothing more I could say despite the fact I could happily proceed on about the cinematography, but considering that this is a natural gravitation, I felt it would be interesting to explore the character a little more as John Wick isn’t given the gift of complexity amongst audiences too regularly. A crying shame, I know, but competing with the strong narrative, the engulfing world created and amongst so many other things, the unfathomably beautiful cinematography is certainly shaping the movie up to be one of the 2019’s greatest.

Overall rating: 9.5/10

Now, enjoy this very sweet shot.