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GunFu Pandamonium

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum movie review

Parabellum picks up right after the events of Part 2. Wick has one hour before the entire assassin world goes behind him to get the 15 million dollar bounty on his head. To give you a low down - John Wick has killed someone on Continental grounds and the High Table, the ultimate authority in the underworld has put a bounty on his head. This isn’t a movie for the faint-hearted. It is 2 hours of non-stop action porn. It’s not a movie with a great story, nor one with great dialogues. And it doesn’t try to be one. What it is, is a visually violent action choreography master-piece by Chad Stahelski. 

Parabellum plays to it’s strength and gives the audiences what it craves, violence at it’s best and a central character everyone loves in the form of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. Wick is one of those rare violent characters, who even the ‘non- violent’ movie-goers seem to love. What makes John Wick so likeable? Unlike our caped superheroes, John Wick is very human and he loves dogs. He gets hurt just like us. He needs medicine to heal. And at the end of the day he fulfils our often repressed fantasy for revenge. 

In terms of negatives, there is a story arc shot in the middle of the Saharan desert which looks visually stunning, where John Wick walks miles in an effort to meet The Elder, a high-ranking member of the High Table for forgiveness, just to later go back on his word. This entire bit feels just blah, as compared to the rest of the film. Maybe even unnecessary. But perhaps, it was needed to pave the way for the fourth film in the franchise. 

Parabellum often runs the risk of becoming over-saturated with action, but the movie tackles this very innovatively. Every subsequent action sequence brings in a new style, a new prop, a new way the action is executed, much like the Jackie Chan movies of the mid 1980s. In terms of action choreography, John Wick 3 is right up there with the likes of Ip Man, Bourne Identity, Kill Bill, Transporter, Taken and the Raid franchise. In fact two fan favourite villains from Raid have a showdown with Wick in the second last fight of the movie. Parabellum also features Halle Barry in a small role, but in her brief time she manages to match John Wick bullet to bullet and kick to kick. Anjelica Huston, Ian Mcshane, and Mark Dacascos deliver the goods in their scenes. Whereas Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick and the main villain of the movie, Asia Kate Dillon - the adjudicator representing the High Table, all suffer from lack of character development. 

GunFu Pandamonium it is, but there is beauty in this chaos. Wide frame actions shots, amazing locations, fascinating characters and good music that compliments the charismatic choreography make this gratuitously violent film, a piece of art in action. After the Matrix franchise, which is nearly two decades old, the John Wick series has definitely made Keanu Reeves one of the best action heroes there is. To fully appreciate this movie, I recommend you watch the first and the second parts too. As Chapter three on it’s own may lack meaning. But for old school fans of action and Keanu Reeves, like me, it is a breath of fresh air to see him deliver blow after blow with such persistent pursuit. I give John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum 4 out of 5. 

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GunFu Pandamonium

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum movie review

Parabellum picks up right after the events of Part 2. Wick has one hour before the entire assassin world goes behind him to get the 15 million dollar bounty on his head. To give you a low down - John Wick has killed someone on Continental grounds and the High Table, the ultimate authority in the underworld has put a bounty on his head. This isn’t a movie for the faint-hearted. It is 2 hours of non-stop action porn. It’s not a movie with a great story, nor one with great dialogues. And it doesn’t try to be one. What it is, is a visually violent action choreography master-piece by Chad Stahelski. 

Parabellum plays to it’s strength and gives the audiences what it craves, violence at it’s best and a central character everyone loves in the form of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick. Wick is one of those rare violent characters, who even the ‘non- violent’ movie-goers seem to love. What makes John Wick so likeable? Unlike our caped superheroes, John Wick is very human and he loves dogs. He gets hurt just like us. He needs medicine to heal. And at the end of the day he fulfils our often repressed fantasy for revenge. 

In terms of negatives, there is a story arc shot in the middle of the Saharan desert which looks visually stunning, where John Wick walks miles in an effort to meet The Elder, a high-ranking member of the High Table for forgiveness, just to later go back on his word. This entire bit feels just blah, as compared to the rest of the film. Maybe even unnecessary. But perhaps, it was needed to pave the way for the fourth film in the franchise. 

Parabellum often runs the risk of becoming over-saturated with action, but the movie tackles this very innovatively. Every subsequent action sequence brings in a new style, a new prop, a new way the action is executed, much like the Jackie Chan movies of the mid 1980s. In terms of action choreography, John Wick 3 is right up there with the likes of Ip Man, Bourne Identity, Kill Bill, Transporter, Taken and the Raid franchise. In fact two fan favourite villains from Raid have a showdown with Wick in the second last fight of the movie. Parabellum also features Halle Barry in a small role, but in her brief time she manages to match John Wick bullet to bullet and kick to kick. Anjelica Huston, Ian Mcshane, and Mark Dacascos deliver the goods in their scenes. Whereas Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick and the main villain of the movie, Asia Kate Dillon - the adjudicator representing the High Table, all suffer from lack of character development. 

GunFu Pandamonium it is, but there is beauty in this chaos. Wide frame actions shots, amazing locations, fascinating characters and good music that compliments the charismatic choreography make this gratuitously violent film, a piece of art in action. After the Matrix franchise, which is nearly two decades old, the John Wick series has definitely made Keanu Reeves one of the best action heroes there is. To fully appreciate this movie, I recommend you watch the first and the second parts too. As Chapter three on it’s own may lack meaning. But for old school fans of action and Keanu Reeves, like me, it is a breath of fresh air to see him deliver blow after blow with such persistent pursuit. I give John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum 4 out of 5. 

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CLUNK: (Noun) a dull sound made by heavy metal objects striking together.

Kalan Movie review 

Kalank had some of the biggest heavy weights of Bollywood, including my favourites Madhuti Dixit, Sanjay Dutt and Alia Bhatt. I didn’t go in with any expectations, and 15 minutes into the film, I was struggling to watch it. The story was dull from the get go. 

Individually the actors looked great and looked the part, the sets were magnificent. After having gone through the film, I can certainly tell, that  everyone put in a lot of hard work in the film. But the pace of the film, makes everyone’s performance very tough to watch. At roughly two and a half hours, Kalank isn’t an exceptionally long movie, neither will shaving 15 minutes off the movie make it more watchable. It’s the painfully paced transitions that make the film, simply tiring. 

Alia Bhatt’s character is likeable and relatable, whereas Varun Dhawan’s character the exact opposite. For most of the film, he feels like a rebel without a cause. For a character that gets the most screen time, it’s not a personality trait that will appeal to the viewers. And that’s not really Varun Dhawan’s fault. He portrayed the character he was given. Except one scene featuring Alia’s character visiting Siddharth's office for the first time, there were barely any comic scenes to break the monotony of the drama. It was one serious character after another. Pritam’s music is decent, but the dialogues are average. Sanjay Dutta, Madhuri Dixit, and Sonakshi have acted well, and shine in their individual scenes. Alia’s has good chemistry with Madhuri. Sanjay and Madhuri are able to light up the screen even after two decades, when in the frame together. The negative role suits Kunal Khemu really well, but his performance seems inconsistent, probably because of lack of his character development. 

Making a film this big is always hard work, and it’s disappointing to see when hard work doesn’t pay off. Made on a budget of 150 crores, Kalank will find it difficult to make its money back. Especially because of negative word of mouth. All in all, Karan Johar’s labour of love, is a laborious cinematic experience for the audience. I give it 1 out of 5. 

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End of -fe-n Era.

Avengers Endgame review.

If the story and performances in Infinity war was mind and body blowing - literally, Endgame was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Yes it was that unbelievable - in script and spirit. I understand there are things like time travel, magic, and people re-appearing from nowhere, that audiences have to get their head around. But that was always their world. This isn't the "real" world that Chris Nolan's Batman belonged to. From the time Thor's hammer landed on Earth at the end of the first Iron Man movie, magical realism has existed in MCUs world of superhero science fiction. 

A culmination of 22 films, this movie gave a lot of characters and story lines closure. Characters like Hawkeye, Natasha, Rhodes, Sam Wilson, Nebula got the screen time they deserved. Infact Hawkeye got his own movie within this movie. 

If infinity war was about Thanos, Endgame is about the heroes. This wasn't just the 4th Avengers film, but also the 4th Iron Man & Cap'n America movie, and the 5th Thor movie. So it was important to reinvent and show the leads in a new way. After all we have seen them save the day multiple times. One of the biggest gamble Russo brothers took was introducing Professor Hulk. And I absolutely loved it. Hulk as a character can easily become boring. How much mindless smashing can one take as a viewer. It was important to reinvent him. And it is completely plausible that banner, one of the smartest person on Earth and a scientist, finds a way to coexist with his alter ego. Another risk the Russos took was - Fat Thor. Here’s why it totally makes sense. Thor lost the most - his people, his friends, his brother, coupled with the fact that he didn't go for Thanos's head when it was most needed, he was bound to suffer from guilt, depression or maybe even PTSD. Despite all this when the time comes he rises beyond his mental demons. The last and the most defining twist of the movie was Cap wielding the Hammer. I think after Tony's final words, the movie will be remembered for that one scene. Let's face it, he was always worthy. 

I also believe the movie is not without its flaws. For instance, Thanos easily going head to head against Thor and Cap - who’s basically Thor 2.0 here with the hammer, plus a much stronger & improved Iron Man and let’s not forget the mighty Captain Marvel. Taking them on all at once, even before getting his hand on the Gauntlet. Thanos from Infinity War was not as Physically strong even with the Gauntlet. In terms of raw physical strength, Thor alone was enough for him. But these are things a first time viewer will never really notice. And what really matters is how you liked it the first time you see something. If we watch a movie like Endgame, where there’s so much going on, with the intention to nitpick, there will always be a lot of things one can point fingers at. Hopefully with time, we will get answers to all the questionable actions that have taken place in this film.  

Endgame may not have the audience numbers of an Avatar. But it will get as close to its  Box office collection ($2.78  billion) and will damn sure make a dent in the record book. I strongly recommend everyone watch this movie. But also try and watch all 22 films that have come before to truly appreciate this movie. It is a fine example of script writing and story telling, where one has built a universe where multiple protagonists coexist. I give it 5 out of 5, but really even 8 out of 5 feels less.