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Showing posts with label Chad Stahelski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chad Stahelski. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2021

John Wick 3

 John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019, Chad Stahelski)


Guns. More guns. Suits. Blood. Mood lighting. Once the bullets are done, knives or any other weapon that can be grabbed by the hand will do. More violence ensues.

This is the world of John Wick 3. A world of assassins following their own unique rules, currency and codes. The characters in the film inhabit our contemporary world yet their lives run in parallel with that of normal humans who aren’t aware that there is a battle going on. The violence and a codified world has shades of Blade and especially The Matrix, solidified due to the presence of both Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. As fascinating as the film’s world is, the core of the film are the fights. This is where the film goes into video game cinema territory like that of the Raid movies and Resident Evil when after one set of villains is killed, a new level opens up with more deadly opposition. More kills, new level, repeat. The pattern is similar to the previous two films but with more violence and fights.

This pattern, where each successive chapter has to raise the stakes and the fights have to be more elaborate from the previous chapter, is not unique to the John Wick films. Instead, this is the same pattern that drives Hollywood studio sequels and comic book movies where a new sequel means more action, more villains and more noise. Over the last few decades, Hollywood has become a cinematic amusement park where the goal is to come up with thrill rides that outdo the previous year’s versions. So every season, newer versions/upgrades of the same roller-coaster are unveiled promising even bigger thrills. Now, we are even given 3-5 year plans of which new cinematic rides will be released by some studios. The ironic nature of this cycle is that even if an original film is released, it will eventually became part of the same amusement park. If something makes money, then sequels will follow to ensure more money is made. The studio amusement park also now regularly hires directors of critically acclaimed films as well to ensure the assembly line never runs out of new talent.

The first John Wick was refreshing, a stylish upgrade to the action films from the 1980s-90s. Now, two movies later, it has become its own series and one that follows the formula of other studio sequels. There will be a John Wick 4 which will surely guarantee more fights, more violence and more coolness than the previous film.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Cinema of Cool

Baby Driver (2017,  Edgar Wright)

Black Shades. Music. Fast cars. Heist. Cool gangsters. Smooth talkers. Attitude. More music. Extremely intelligent sounding dialogues. Money. A girl, always a girl. For a change, some coffee.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017, D.J. Caruso)

Neymar. Cool stunt, all for a soccer game. Extremely intelligent sounding dialogues. More cool stunts. Money. Lots of weapons. Exotic locales. For a change, an international cast, featuring Deepika Padukone, Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa. Of course, the father of coolness, Mr. Samuel L. Jackson is there as well.

The Fate of the Furious (2017,  F. Gary Gray)

Bigger cast, increasing with each film. Of course, fast cars. Exotic locales. Weapons. Loud explosions. Women and Men with attitude. Like last few films, all about a family.

John Wick 2 (2017,  Chad Stahelski)

Quality suits. Tailored expensive fabric. Cool lighting. Atmosphere. Weapons. Bullets, lot of bullets. Blood. Attitude. Money. Expensive tastes. Characters made to appear extremely intelligent. For extreme coolness, the presence of Morpheus to exchange some witty dialogue with Neo. For a change, it is Neo who offers the choice to Morpheus.


Four completely different movies yet all united by their ability to claim ample room in a multiplex. Of course, these four have to pounce on whatever space remains after the Super hero movies have come and gone.

All four vary in their quality. Baby Driver is the most refined of this group and has the acclaim of many critics while John Wick has its fans. The Fast and Furious movies have their admirers as well.

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is also a refined film, albeit a video game/war movie hybrid.

All these films drip with style yet are hollow in their core. Once the layers of style are removed, there isn't any substance.

This is cinema now. It sure ain’t dead but these movies are certainly trying very hard to kill it.