MovieChat Forums > Psycho (1960) Discussion > OT: John Wick 3 (MINOR SPOILERS)

OT: John Wick 3 (MINOR SPOILERS)

posted 6 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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Recall that I really liked the original John Wick , and named it as my favorite movie of 2014. I still do; it still is.

I remain happy "on general principles" that Keanu Reeves...by all accounts as nice as a major movie star can be...has escaped hard times and has himself a franchise with John Wick.

But alas and alack...viewing John Wick 3, I'm reminded of screenwriter William Goldman's brutal assessment of most film sequels as "whore movies." Movies made simply to make money, and that, in their own way, end up reversing and un-doing what was great about the original.

In a previous thread on John Wick 3(which I can't find), I used the Psycho sequels as an example of films that I really felt "un-did the greatness of the original." First of all, unlike Aliens and Hannibal and Lethal Weapon 3, the Psycho sequels looked far more cheap than the "cheap" original -- they looked like Universal B movies without any real studio commitment.
But the storylines weren't much help either. What had ended, in 1960 with Norman "facing eternity"(critic Robin Wood's words) got all leached out as he became a diner worker(among other plot developments.)

John Wick 3, being of the 21st Century, is big budget grade-A moviemaking, all the way. The Psycho sequel problem is not its problem.

No...its problem is taking something that was lean and tight and emotionally moving (amidst all the carnage) and turning it into a gigantic Rube Goldberg-esque "mythic plot machine" that literally buries all that was good about the original.

In this one, I really found myself missing "Viggo," the cool, solid, bearded Russian mobster boss of the original. He looked just like "The Most Interesting Man in the World" and he WAS interesting --- having to task scores of assassins against John Wick in order to save the life of the punk son(who had killed Wick's puppy) he despised. There was a "yin and yang" to John Wick -- Wick's quest(to kill the son) and Viggo's plight(to defend the son.) And all that's gone.

Indeed, it turns out that a fairly minor consideration in the first film -- an assassin cannot kill another assassin in the consecrated halls of "The Continental Hotel" has been blown all out of proportion in this one. In "John Wick" the sexy female assassin who broke that rule was quickly and formally executed for her crime. In "John Wick 3," the consequences of breaking that simple rule (John Wick himself killed a REALLY bad guy in The Continental at the end of John Wick 2) stretch out in all directions and to all corners of the globe(it seems), while pulling in all sort of characters(anyone who helps John Wick now that he is "excommunicated" is subject to severe punishment.)

There's a bit of suspense in this idea, I guess. Line up the quality support cast: Ian MacShane(elegant British manager of the NYC Continental); Lawrence "Matrix" Fishburne("King of the Bowery"), Lance Reddick(even MORE elegant and helpful desk clerk of the Continental) and two new guest stars -- Anjelica Huston and Halle Berry. Each is faced with a decision: "Should I help John Wick?" And each faces dire consequences if they do.

Hey, actually,THAT part of the movie is A-OK. Its just that everything ends up overrun by super-glossy visuals and , yes, a rather unending slaughter of everyone else by John Wick(and some of his friends.) Watching this third go-round of ever-escalating gun, knife, axe, Kung Fu killing sprees I felt a bit bored. (And then it hit me: hey, if I was 17 again, I would probably be eating this stuff up with a spoon.)

I think the John Wick sequels are better than the Matrix sequels, but this one runs into the same problem AS the Matrix sequels: what was cool and interesting and well-enough explained in the first one(assassins cannot kill assassins on Continental grounds) now comes equipped with ever more rules and regulations and -- uh oh, this happened in the Matrix, too -- a "journey" to meet the Head Boss High Table guru. Wasn't there a guy like that in Matrix 2?

Well, good news: it never gets QUITE as bad as the Matrix sequels, and having all those top actors along to support John Wick makes for an interesting enough storyline.

There will definitely be a John Wick 4, we are told. And some other critic said "its the best franchise right now outside of Mission: Impossible."

But this: Mission Impossible doesn't have a scene of Tom Cruise holding a guy's head in a headlock(as Sweet Keanu does in John Wick 3) while searching for the guy's eyeball to slowly drive a knife into the eyeball -- all in one full-view shot. Arbogast getting slashed NEAR his eye in Psycho? Child's play. Moe Greene getting shot through the eye in The Godfather? A model of restraint.

Yes, it hit me that the "John Wick" series -- versus Mission Impossible, or the Avengers -- may just be the R-rated Grand Guignol "gorefest action series" that certain young adults crave.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

As I've stated before, my regard for the John Wick series now is somewhat limited to being happy that Keanu Reeves has it as an income-generator. (By the way, the now 50-something Reeves looked a bit old and a bit puffy in this one -- his age may start to defeat the concept.)

And, much like any given James Bond movie of the past 30 years, I expect I'll go to all the John Wicks they make(the premise for John Wick 4 is at the end of John Wick 3...and its a good one.)

But it is also kind of sad to have seen all that was special about the first one blown to smithereens with these sequels.

Indeed, in John Wick 3, the entirety of the first one is thrown away in some assassin's line "This all began over a dog and a car, right?" One great sleeper movie thrown away in a lazy line. (Hey, it was a PUPPY.)

I recommend John Wick 3 roughly as I would recommend Spectre. Action wise, you get your money's worth, and the actors are good. But there's nothing magic about it.

PS. The best action fights are pretty much front-loaded in John Wick 3. He kills one guy in a library using a BOOK; he kills several guys in a "knife museum"(?) as all the men break glass, grab knives and have at it, stabbing and throwing and chopping and slicing away. Some points for invention, here.