Perhaps the secret that keeps me coming back is how slight the plots are. It seems like a John Wick film never aspires to be more than an armature upon which to sculpt action sequences. I mean, lots of summer action movies are built that way, but unlike your average, say, James Bond or Mission: Impossible movie, a John Wick plot is almost laughably simple. It's the Dr. Seuss of hyper-violence. Consequently, I forget almost everything about a John Wick movie not long after I see it, which soon leaves me open to the idea of seeing another one. (I mean, I'd remember if I'd thought it was really bad, right?)
This third installment has the slightest story yet: John Wick is blacklisted and on the run from other assassins. Mind you, I'm not saying this threadbare plot is a negative. Indeed, it helps this movie start out stronger and faster than either of its predecessors. (From what I recall... which, as I just said, isn't much.) There are some fantastic early action sequences, including an aggressive knife fight (that seamlessly uses CG tricks on the weapons to heighten the danger), and a wild slugfest inside a horse stable. The movie continues to pick up steam when it introduces Halle Berry as a new character. She kicks as much ass as Keanu Reeves, and she's paired up with two vicious attack dogs that kick even more. It feels like the deliriously fun culmination of constantly trying to top themselves, and it totally works.
But then Berry's character exits the movie barely half an hour after coming into it, and she takes most of the fun with her. There are still plenty more action sequences to get through, but the movie has already peaked. A motorcycle chase sequence lacks energy, in large part due to it still being incredibly difficult to green-screen night environments convincingly. More and more story time is given to a villain who never fights at all, an all-bark-and-no-bite figure that doesn't really work with the tone of the franchise. And the movie just keeps going... and going... and going, trying to wring more than is possible from its simple plot. It's half an hour longer than the original John Wick movie, and I felt that was only time in which the movie wore out its welcome.
Yet still... it's not bad, it's just too much. My prediction? By the time I can watch John Wick 4 on my couch, I will have forgotten most of 3, and will find myself going in for the franchise again. But for the moment, at least, while my memory holds, I'd call Chapter 3 a C+. It has its moments, but doesn't know when to quit.
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