John Wick: Chapter 3 keeps upping the ante and hits a bullseye

Just as movie number two in the Keanu Reeves-starring series of revenge thrillers bested the original, number three takes higher aim than its predecessors and hits a bullseye.

Against all odds, the John Wick franchise will never be down for the count as long as it keeps upping the ante.

Just as movie number two in the Keanu Reeves-starring series of revenge thrillers bested the original, number three takes higher aim than its predecessors and hits a bullseye.

The new instalment picks up where we left off last time, with Mr Wick making the most of the one-hour head start he has been granted from a horde of contract assassins on his trail.

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The third chapter of the John Wick franchise ups the ante and hits the bullseye.

Joyless Johnny violated a code of conduct so precious to his hitmen brethren that there is a $14 million (and rising) bounty on his head.

New York City’s Continental Hotel — once a safe haven for everyone in the slay-for-pay business — is now a no-go zone. Again, it is all the fault of John Wick.

Having been declared ‘Ex Communicado’ means that the options available to the title character when it comes to the minor matter of staying alive are severely limited.

Two women will reluctantly come to John’s temporary aid, but not in the interests of effecting a permanent rescue.

A Russian ballet instructor known only as The Director (Anjelica Huston) is compelled to assist Wick with a way out of NYC, but only because of an ancient rule pertaining to his ethnic background.

Anjelica Huston plays a Russian ballet instructor known as The Director.

Later on, another new and backstory-free figure known as Sofia (Halle Berry) must honour a past debt to John.

While John crosses a few international borders — and at one point, the Sahara desert on foot — his miraculous ability to remain alive attracts the attention of The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon).

A ruthless referee when it comes to the rules governing the lifestyles and lifespans of all assassins bound by the dictates of the High Table, The Adjudicator sanctions an anything-goes pursuit of John that will once again see him paying a visit to the Continental.

What follows overall is yet another stunning collection of action set pieces for which the John Wick franchise has become renowned, every one of them intricately choreographed to the last millimetre.

Halle Berry with her combative canines.

Some sequences are flat-out insane, such as an all-in brawl staged in Morocco where the most dangerous fighters turn out to be a pair of comically combative canines.

The unworldly shot composition of unheralded director Chad Stahelski continues to astonish, too.

John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum (MA15+)

Director: Chad Stahelski (John Wick)

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Asia Kate Dillon, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane

Rating: ***1/2

This Wick stays lit

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