Keanu Reeves had a rough start as a martial arts star. Martial artists are skeptical of any celebrity claiming to have studying martial arts, and in the wake of the groundbreaking Matrix franchise, Reeves was pigeon-holed by martial artists as someone to watch. Was he a genuine practitioner or just another Hollywood poseur? After Neo uttered that classic line “I know Kung Fu”, Reeves was stalked by Kung Fu fans replying just like Morpheus did with “Show me”. THE MATRIX (1999) had Hollywood’s go-to Hong Kong Kung Fu director Yuen Woo-Ping calling the kicks and punches and he can make anyone look like they know Kung Fu. Whether Reeves actually had skills, or whether it was just another trick of the Matrix, remained to be seen.

Nearly a decade and a half later, in 2013, Reeves stumbled with consecutive martial missteps: MAN OF TAI CHI (2013) and 47 RONIN. MAN OF TAI CHI was Reaves’ directorial debut with Yuen Woo-Ping as action director. It also starred two of the hottest up-and-coming martial arts stars at the time: Iko Uwais and Tiger Hu, alongside veteran martial actor (and KUNG FU TAI CHI cover master) Yu Hai. It seemed like a sure win, and although it received some critical accolades, it was generally dismissed as an overly generic martial story - the ol’ underground fight cliché. The film flopped, earning nearly $3M in China but a mere $100K in the USA and its worldwide take of $5M paled against an estimated $25M budget. 47 RONIN was equally disappointing. This is a venerated tale Chushingara based on the historic 18th century Ako incident when 47 loyal retainers avenged the death of their lord. The tale has been depicted in cinema many times before, but the new twist for Reeve's version added CGI sorcery. While it did better than MAN OF TAI CHI in the US with earnings of $38M, and better worldwide as well with a box of $151M, it was still a loss because the production was estimated at $175M. In the eyes of the martial world, neither film had enough impact to warrant the buzz. Reaves’ reputation as a martial arts star fell with faint hope of recovery.

Then came Wick. JOHN WICK. JOHN WICK was the next film Reaves made after MAN OF TAI CHI and 47 RONIN bombed and it was a game changer. Directed by two stuntmen, Chad Stahelski and an uncredited David Leitch with fights coordinated by veteran choreographer Jonathan Eusebio, JOHN WICK levelled up Hollywood action like never before. The hand-to-hand combat and gunplay was top notch, satisfying even the most hardcore fans of ultraviolence. The general audience enjoyed it too, turning an estimated $20M budget into $43M in the U.S. and over $130M worldwide. JOHN WICK struck gold with lethal efficiency.

In the eyes of the martial world, Reeves was redeemed.

In 2017, the same production team reassembled for JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2, ratcheting up Wick’s World into an unique universe of the world of international assassins akin to the worlds of Bond and Bourne. However, Bond was based on the books of Ian Fleming and Bourne on those of Robert Ludlum. JOHN WICK is original, the creation of screenwriter Derek Kolstad and director Stahelski. They returned in force, rejoining Reeves and Eusebio with a carefully orchestrated sequel that firmly established the franchise (Leitch went on to ballistically sexy ATOMIC BLONDE (2017), the R-rated Marvel movie Deadpool 2 (2018), and to this year’s upcoming actioner HOBBS & SHAW). Now armed with a $40M budget, CHAPTER 2 racked up more than $93M in the U.S. and $158M worldwide. What’s more, Stahelski and Kolstad had eyes on the future. Not only did CHAPTER 2 end on a cliffhanger that set up PARABELLUM, it developed THE CONTINENTAL, the international sanctuary and armory for Wick’s world of assassins, which is in development to be a TV show from Lionsgate for Starz.

As long as Parabellum doesn’t flop, the fuse is lit and the JOHN WICK franchise is set to explode.

 

Parabellum – Prepare for War

If there was any remaining doubt about the martial skills of Keanu Reeves, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3: PARABELLUM puts that to rest like a bullet between the eyes. This not only satisfies hardcore fans of action and fight choreography, it takes us to new depths of what ultravi can be. The gunplay fire fights are intelligent. We can see the tactical positioning as Wick moves through a hail of bullets, plus there's attention to that all-too-often-overlooked aspect of guns in movies - reloading. And the fight choreography is clearly Reeves in action, delivering astonishing brutal grace for a 54-year-old actor.

PARABELLUM picks up right where CHAPTER 2 left off, just a few minutes later actually, so it dives into the action immediately. There's no bandying about. The filmmakers know what JOHN WICK fans want and they deliver it with barrels blazing. One of the early fight scenes happens in a random armory where there just happen to be cases of vintage guns and blades just lying around. The ensuing fight is savagely blood-thirsty, drawing wincing groans and sadistic chuckles from a delighted and rabid crowd. This is what we come to see - high octane action and gratuitous fight scenes.

For non-practitioners, martial artists look for three elements for a good fight scene. First is the length of the shot. It's easy to shoot a fight scene when there's one strike per cut, but the longer a choreographed fight can sustain itself in a single shot, the more impressive it becomes. When a single shot contains a dozen or even two dozen moves, it requires so much more craftsmanship from a martial perspective. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 delivers so many single shot sequences, and even with Wick's face-concealing bangs, Reeves is clearly doing his own fights for the most part, deferring to his stunt doubles only for the big falls. Second is the complexity of the choreography. Jackie Chan and those classic Shaw Brothers films caterpulted fight choreography to an absurd level of complexity by adding acrobatics and traditional opera skills to enhance the drama. With a constant barrage of gun disarms coupled with Reeves' flamboyant Jiu-Jitsu throws, the multi-move single shots are glorious, vicious and sanguineous, just the sort of ultravi that martial arts fans crave. And third is timing. Timing is everything. If the actor telegraphs their moves, it looks choreographed and that can spoil the suspension of belief in any fight scene. Mad props must go to the masterful work of Fight Choreographer Jonathan Eusebio, as well as Fight Coordinator Jon Valera, two names that have appeared prominently within our KungFuMagazine.com movie reviews over the years. They have really outdone themselves with PARABELLUM delivering some of the most engaging fight scenes Hollywood has offered in years.

Oscar-winner Halle Berry co-stars in PARABELLUM and claims to have learned three years of martial arts in six months in preparation and broke three ribs while training. And even though she does deliver a few decent single-shot fight scenes, they lack the complexity and the timing of the rest of the fights. To a trained eye, her lack of martial skills is obvious. But beyond Berry, Stahelski has the rest of the cast locked and loaded with the martial firepower that JOHN WICK demands. He poached two of the top martial actors that are on fire in the eyes of martial arts fans right now: Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman. Both are genuine masters of the Indonesian martial art of Pencak Silat who burst into film with the martial breakout RAID franchise (Rahman was in THE RAID 2 (2014) and Ruhain was in both that and THE RAID (2011)) and both were in a disappointingly short cameo in THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015). Both play Shinobi, or what pop culture knows as ninjas.

That's right. Ninjas. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3: PARABELLUM adds Ninjas. And in Wick's world of international assassins, Ninjas are a very welcome addition because now along with gun fights and hand-to-hand fights, there are sword fights. What martial artist doesn't love a good sword fight? PARABELLUM even gives an homage to one of the best cinematic sword fights in recent years, the motorcycle sword fight from Jung Byung-gil's rollicking assassin thriller THE VILLAINESS (2017).

The Ninja leader is veteran martial arts master Marc Dacascos. Pop culture probably remembers him most as The Chairman on IRON CHEF, a role he's had since 2007, but the martial world knows him as the son of Grandmaster Al Dacascos, founder of Wun Hop Kuen Do and the stepson of Grandmaster Malia Bernal, founder of Xiang Di Kung Fu. Dacascos has a long history of martial arts films roles and now at 55, serves as an ideal nefarious villain for Wick. Their volatile chemistry both in the roles they play and in the fights is full of wicked wry humor and inspired acts of violence.

 

John Wick: Chapter 4

While on promotion tour for JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3: PARABELLUM, Reeves appeared on LATE NIGHT WITH STEPHEN COLBERT on May 10 (Season 4, Episode 145). With the wisdom of a Shaolin Monk, Reeves stunned Colbert with a koan-like answer when he was asked “What do you think happens when we die, Keanu Reeves?” Reeves paused, and then replied with so sagaciously that it went viral on Twitter.

"I know that the ones who love us will miss us."

With the upcoming TV show THE CONTINENTAL, it can be said that Wick's world will go on without spoiling John Wick's fate in this film. Wick doesn't miss his mark. He's John Wick. And JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3: PARABELLUM is not to be missed.