John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (also known as John Wick: Chapter 3 or simply John Wick 3) is a 2019 American neo-noir action thriller film starring Keanu Reeves as the titular character in the third installment in the John Wick film series, following John Wick (2014) and John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017). The film is directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams, based on a story by Kolstad. It also stars Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, and Ian McShane. In the film, ex-hitman John Wick finds himself on the run from legions of assassins after a $14 million contract is put on his head.

The first film was always intended to begin a franchise, and a third installment was announced in June 2017. Much of the returning cast and crew was confirmed in February 2018, with new members joining that May. Filming began that month and lasted through November, taking place in New York City, Montreal and Morocco.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was theatrically released in the United States on May 17, 2019, by Summit Entertainment. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the fight choreography and Reeves' performance.

Plot
John Wick is now a marked man on the run in Manhattan. He has been declared "excommunicado" by The High Table which places a $14 million contract bounty on his head as a result of Wick's unauthorized killing of High Table member Santino D'Antonio on Continental grounds, but has been given one hour by New York Continental manager Winston to prepare.

Wick travels to the New York Public Library and retrieves two concealed items: a "marker" (medallion) and a crucifix necklace, before being ambushed by a fellow assassin, Ernest. Wick kills him with a book and leaves but is pursued by a gang into a warehouse, where he neutralizes them in a brutal fight. Elsewhere, The Adjudicator - a representative of The High Table - visits both Winston in The Continental and The Bowery King in his hideout due to both helping Wick. Both are ordered to relinquish their positions of authority within seven days or face consequences.

Wick visits the Director – a figure from his past who also happens to be a member of the High Table. He hands over the crucifix necklace to her, therefore allowing Wick safe passage to Casablanca. There, Wick visits a local branch of The Continental and meets with Sofia – a woman from his past who owes him a favor. Wick hands Sofia the "marker" he retrieved from the library - the medallion which symbolizes an unbreakable promise by one person to fulfill a task requested by another. Wick requests Sofia fulfill the marker by helping him locate The Elder - a senior member of The High Table. Sofia reluctantly agrees and takes Wick to a local man named Berrada.

Berrada provides Wick with The Elder's location within the desert, but he asks for payment and asks for one of Sofia's dogs, who he has become fond of. When she refuses, he shoots it. In retaliation, Sofia shoots Berrada. With the help of her two trained dogs, Sofia and John fight their way out of the area before travelling to the desert. Having fulfilled her "marker", Sofia leaves. John continues walking in the desert alone, before collapsing due to exhaustion. John is found by a passing traveler and taken to The Elder, who gives John the choice between dying or accepting a mission to kill Winston on behalf of The High Table in exchange for the removal of the bounty on his head. John accepts the mission and as a show of commitment to The High Table, severs his ring finger and gives his wedding ring to The Elder.

Meanwhile, The Adjudicator recruits an assassin, Zero, and his gang to act as enforcers for The High Table. They visit both the Director and the Bowery King, kill several of their associates before inflicting physical punishment on both of them as a consequence for helping Wick, who has arrived back in New York. He is confronted by Zero's gang, kills one member, and manages to escape on a motorcycle. After killing the pursuing gang members, Wick is chased by Zero to The Continental where the former takes sanctuary. Wick speaks with Winston, who tells Wick he is aware he is there to kill him. The Adjudicator arrives in the middle of their conversation, but Wick refuses to carry out the kill order and Winston also refuses to surrender his position at the hotel. As a consequence, The Adjudicator declares The Continental as "deconsecrated", permitting killing on the premises once again, before requesting an armed unit from The High Table attend the hotel to kill Winston and Wick.

With the help of the hotel's concierge Charon, John takes on The High Table's forces inside the hotel, ultimately defeating them before being confronted by Zero's gang once again. Wick eventually overcomes the gang members before facing Zero in the hotel's boardroom and killing him.

The Adjudicator contacts Winston and offers to negotiate, eventually agreeing to allow Winston to remain at The Continental, but states Wick remains a problem. Winston shoots Wick (notably in his bulletproof suit), who falls from the roof of the hotel to the streets below. They notice Wick's body is gone, though Winston casually assures the Adjudicator that he won't get far. John's dog runs out of the hotel and catches up with the Tick Tock Man, one of the Bowery King's men, who has retrieved Wick and brings him to the heavily scarred Bowery King. The Bowery King converses with an injured, but still living Wick, and both express a desire to take down the High Table once and for all.

Cast
Additionally, Riccardo Scamarcio cameos as Santino d'Antonio's corpse, Jerome Flynn plays Berrada, Tobias Segal plays Earl, and Arjon Bashiri, Tiger Chen, Vladimir and Vlado Mihailov, Danish Bhatt, and Candace M. Smith have been cast as assassins.
 * Keanu Reeves as John Wick
 * Halle Berry as Sofia, an assassin and a close friend of John Wick.
 * Laurence Fishburne as the Bowery King, an underground crime lord.
 * Mark Dacascos as Zero, the main assassin recruited by the Adjudicator.
 * Asia Kate Dillon as the Adjudicator of the High Table.
 * Lance Reddick as Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel in New York.
 * Anjelica Huston as the Director, a member of the Ruska Roma and protector of John Wick.
 * Ian McShane as Winston, the owner and manager of the Continental Hotel in New York who gave John a blood marker in case he needed a favor from Winston as a last resort.
 * Saïd Taghmaoui as the Elder, a member of the High Table.
 * Jason Mantzoukas as Tick Tock Man, an associate of the Bowery King.
 * Robin Lord Taylor as the Administrator.
 * Yayan Ruhian as Shinobi #1, Zero's pupils.
 * Cecep Arif Rahman as Shinobi #2, Zero's pupils.
 * Boban Marjanović as Ernest, an assassin.

Production
In October 2016, Chad Stahelski, who made his directorial debut with John Wick and served as Reeves' Matrix stunt double, stated that a third film in the John Wick series was in the works, and in June 2017 it was reported that Derek Kolstad, who wrote the two prior films, would return to write the screenplay. In January 2018, it was reported that Stahelski would return to direct.

According to Reeves, the film's title was taken from the famous 4th-century Roman military quote "Si vis pacem, para bellum," which means, "If you want peace, prepare for war." In an interview with The New York Times, McShane also said that the film will be big, good and nothing is the same while also hinting that part of the action could be the High Table's payback not only on Wick but also on his close friend Winston.

Casting
In January 2018, it was reported that Hiroyuki Sanada was in talks to join the cast. Later, it was revealed that Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, and Lance Reddick would reprise their roles from previous John Wick films. In May 2018, Halle Berry, Anjelica Huston, Asia Kate Dillon, Mark Dacascos, Jason Mantzoukas, Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman and Tiger Chen joined the cast. In November 2018, Said Taghmaoui confirmed his involvement in the film.

Principal photography
Filming began May 5, 2018, in New York City and Montreal, along with the additional filming locations of Morocco. Principal photography wrapped on November 17, 2018. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen was asked about how challenging it was to use as many extended fight scene takes as possible while filming the high action screenplay. He stated, "Of course it is (a challenge), because all the fights – Chad (the director) is doing most of the fights himself. We play that as wide as we can. Because that way we see it’s him. We do that a lot, we try to play it as wide as we can and do long shots. Of course, because Chad has a background from the stunt world he knows exactly how to block this kind of stuff. I’m not the best stunt person in the world, but I’m learning." In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Halle Berry said, "I broke three ribs in rehearsal."

Visual effects
The visual effects are provided by Method Studios, Image Engine and Soho VFX.

Soundtrack
Tyler Bates & Joel J. Richard returns to score the film. The soundtrack will be released at Varese Sarabande Records.

Release
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum premiered in Brooklyn, New York on May 9, 2019. The film was theatrically released in the United States on May 17, 2019, by Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum was released alongside A Dog's Journey and The Sun Is Also a Star, and is projected to gross $30–40 million from 3,850 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $5.9 million from Thursday night previews, which was more than the first two films' totals ($950,000 and $2.2 million) combined.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 178 reviews, with an average rating of 7.45/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum reloads for another hard-hitting round of the brilliantly choreographed, over-the-top action that fans of the franchise demand." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, calling it "a work of pop cinema so blissfully, albeit brutally, entertaining that you come out of it feeling even more resentful of its multiplex neighbors for not making a similar effort."