John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum  ★★★★

THE third John Wick instalment is the best Hollywood action film since, well, the second John Wick instalment.

Of course it depends on your taste in action, which can vary.

For some people, the Fast and Furious franchise, with its focus on muscle men, muscle cars and multiple explosions, is the current pinnacle.

But for pure intensity the visceral fight scenes of the John Wick series are only bettered by the finest examples in Korean and Indonesian action cinema.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum picks up the moment Chapter 2 ended with ultra-assassin John Wick now on the run after breaking international rules and killing a rival in the neutral Continental Hotel.

He has a one-hour start before New York’s society of assassins comes after him for a $14 million bounty.

Once again the film expands the detail of this parallel universe that is run by faceless members of a High Table’ who set the rules of engagement that must be followed.

But while that’s all interesting, what most people are watching for is the Western take on the Asian-inspired ‘Gun Fu’, hand-to-hand combat combined with with close-quarters knife and gun fights.

And boy does this film deliver with set-piece after set-piece delivering thrills and spills.

Highlights include a library fight that ends with a book being used to break a jaw and neck; a horse versus motorbikes chase; a spectacular gun fight in a Moroccan square; a sword fight on speeding motorbikes; and the final series of showdowns in the Continental.

Through it all you have Keanu Reeves doing what he has always done best – playing the stoic anti-hero with deadly skills and a strange sense of honour that justifies killing 100-odd people for things like his dog and car.

Dogs actually continue to play a part in this latest chapter with Halle Berry’s female equivalent dispatching dozens with the aid of her two, expertly vicious hounds.

There is a touch of dry humour, particularly courtesy of Mark Dacascos as villain Zero.

The climax features a Raid style extended fight in an Enter the Dragon location homage featuring Raid fighters Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman.

It’s a great end to a film that for action fans is a must-see.