Wick in a corridor of antique knives; and chases
on horse, under an elevated subway, and by
motorcycle, in a blur across a bridge. In one
moment, a tussle plunges underwater and the
action takes on a slow-motion beauty.
There is no doubt that these sequences are quite
easily, in form and execution, a cut above what
most any other action film is currently doing.
But “Parabellum” often squanders its finesse
by resorting, countless times, to execution-like
killings. As the body count swells, the relentless
sound of gun blasts, and the occasional knife
stuck in a skull, begins to pulverize. Fans will
surely eat it all up, but the “John Wick” films have
nothing to say about gun violence despite its
absurd abundance. As laudable as the filmmaking
is here, it’s an abdication — and one that’s hard
antfer
(Antfer)
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