Friday night I returned to the world of John Wick in preparation for the latest instalment, which I was off to see on Saturday.

In Chapter 2, we left John Wick after he had broken the rules of The Continental by killing someone on the grounds of the hotel. He had been given one hour before being deemed excommunicado and that is where Chapter 3 begins.

As the clock strikes ten past five, it appears to have been an extraordinary long ten minutes, as New York has passed from a sunny day to a heavy rainy night. And that’s the kind of detail that this film continues with throughout its runtime.

The opening twelve minutes of screentime cover the remaining fifty minutes of the hour before John’s excommunicado status comes into effect, and a lot of that are time calls as to how the hour is progressing. Yet later in the film when there is a seven-day timeline, the audience is given no concept of how much time has passed. We just magically arrive at seven days.

One of my biggest issues is what happens once the hour is up. No scratch that, a few minutes before the hour is up. When we first met John Wick back in the first film, everyone who knows (of) him is scared of his reputation – you do not mess with this dude. A kid makes a mistake and kills his dog, setting off a chain of events where now hundreds of people are dead or severely wounded. He killed three guys with a pencil after all! So why is it now, that literally every person on the street wants to have a crack at killing him? Is John Wick not as scary for a $14M price tag? Is the price tag worth dying for on the off chance they can get to him? Honestly it just makes no sense.

I also can’t seem to work out if the film takes itself too seriously or is taking the mickey. It feels like some cast members have been told it is a drama, while the others to have a bit of fun with it. You’ve got some heavy hitters with Halle Berry and Jerome Flynn joining the cast who give straight, dare I say serious, performances in what are at times ridiculous situations. Then you’ve got Mark Dacascos, who was my favourite part of the film, bringing some whimsy to the table.

Chapter 3 also looks to give us more history into the world of the assassins and the layers to the character of John. Yet here too they have appeared to fail. There are multiple threads introduced, some interesting, but they ultimately go nowhere.

A positive from the last two films, was the addition of two new female characters.

Unfortunately, the scenes with Halle Berry didn’t add value to the plot. This section of the film could have been removed quite easily saving runtime with no impact on the plot. The included action scene however was one of the better ones, returning to the look of a video game and bringing back memories of playing laser tag.

The character of The Adjudicator on the other hand, played by Asia Kate Dillon, was of interest and something that I enjoyed. This character fit in well with the world that has been built and played off well against Ian McShane’s character of Winston.

In conclusion the third instalment of the John Wick series does move the story along and includes several more action sequences, building up to some good ones towards the end. There are knives, guns, horses, and dogs. So, if you don’t mind plot holes and a lot of action with one-liners, then this would be a film for you.

The John Wick franchise are a set of films that I haven’t quite gotten around to watching. Like many, I’m a Keanu Reeves fan and of action films but for whatever reason haven’t seen.

I now have a very pressing reason to catch up – with Chapter 4 being released this week, I have a friend who would like to see it for her birthday. And while these types of films probably don’t require you to see them all, that’s just not how I operate. Plus, it gives me the chance to finally watch them and see what all the hype is about!

I also found it a nice tribute to the late Lance Reddick who sadly passed away today.

Now if you’re not the kind of person who enjoys senseless killings and a lot of violence as part of your entertainment viewing, this film probably isn’t going to be for you. I don’t mind these kinds of films as a way of switching off, so no issue for me to proceed.

I went into the film knowing the basic plot that has become a meme over the last decade – don’t kill Keanu’s dog!

However dear reader, after watching the film this evening, I have to tell you – that was tough to get through.

I guess I might be one of the very few people on the planet who did not enjoy this film and it’s one that I won’t be returning to in the foreseeable future.

The synopsis of the film on IMDB is described as:

An ex-hit-man comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that killed his dog and took his car.

And that pretty much describes the whole film. Nothing really happens to progress the plot or characters any further. The film does try to be a bit creative by starting with the final scene, then going back in time and slowly releasing information over the course of the next 101 minutes.

It’s not too long before things get a bit tedious and repetitive. It’s rare that I’m conscious of the film’s runtime yet tonight there were a couple of times I found myself hoping the film was nearly finished.

There were little glimpses of interesting plot points that failed to develop, which leads to the film’s biggest weakness – the script. The dialog isn’t well written, which doesn’t give the cast much to work with. Even the scenes without dialogue were confusing. Two words for you: angry driving.

I also found some of the casting either misplaced or the acting just poor. While the script was poor some of the actors gave better performances than others.

On a positive note, I did enjoy a number of the action sequences and at times creative. Queue pinning a guy down while John changes the magazine in his gun after running out of bullets, before going on to shoot him.

The film also had a nice look to it and was shot very well. There were a number of camera angles that I really enjoyed.

So no, my issue was not with all the senseless killing and violence. I just didn’t find it as enjoyable as I do with a Guy Richie film for example. I think John Wick (the film) takes itself a little bit too seriously. Surely the poor writing and bad acting isn’t an attempt of humour is it?

For my tastes, I would say that Kingman: The Secret Service, released in the same year, is a far superior film.

While I do think that simple plot films can do well, I would prefer some layers and as well as wit.

Let’s see if any of the sequels get better…