John Wick 3 to be directed by Chad Stahelski and feature new and old characters
John Wick is back to complete his action-packed trilogy with returning characters, some new ones and a bad-ass villain from Japan.
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The action genre has ebbed and waned with time as each contemporary trope was used to its fullest. 21st century action was taking a dip as well with the over-reliance on shaky cam, first introduced in the Bourne movies. However, it witnessed a renaissance of sorts when David Leitch, Chad Stahelski & Keanu Reeves joined hands to give us John Wick. So, as the first two adventures of the dog-loving assassin has earned praise from critics & audiences, he’s back again to show us how to do Gun fu.
Keanu’s first outing as John Wick featured high-octane action and tons of world building, but didn’t leave much for a sequel. On the other hand, Chapter 2 upped the stakes, showed a variety of fight sequences and left on a tantalizing cliffhanger. So, it was no surprise when the makers came back for a third outing. And according to That Hashtag Show, John Wick 3 is supposed to begin principal photography on March 1st in New York, followed by Spain and Russia.
While Wick doesn’t believe in unfinished jobs, he did leave Cassian (Common) and Ares (Ruby Rose) alive out of professional courtesy, and now they’re supposed to show up in Chapter 3. Among familiar faces, Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King will be returning as well. In addition to that, That Hashtag Show has reported that the movie’s main antagonist will be played by Hiroyuki Sanada, thus marking the first collaboration between Reeves & Sanada after working together in 47 Ronin.
After sharing the directing credits for John Wick, Stahelski went solo for Chapter 2 while Leitch went onto direct Atomic Blonde. As Leitch is currently busy with Deadpool 2, Stahelski will be helming Chapter 3 on his own again. Stahelski and Reeves have a long history of working in movies like The Matrix Trilogy, Man of Tai Chi and now the John Wick series. So, it’ll be interesting to see what upgrades he’ll be bringing to Reeves’ style in order to fight against the horde of assassins coming for him.
Will John Wick 3 setup The Continental?
Unlike most action movies, the John Wick series has established that the world these assassins live in have irreversible consequences. Be it Wick rejecting Iosef Tarasov’s (Alfie Allen) offer, Marcus (Willem Dafoe) helping out Wick or Wick breaking the rules of the Continental hotel. So, as his last action has him on the run with every assassin in the world after him, I don’t think John Wick will be able to beat the odds this time.
As Starz has announced a series based on the world of John Wick, called The Continental, killing him will heighten the hyper-realistic vibe of this world. It’ll establish the fact that this is not a story where the one-man-army trope works any more. In addition to that, killing Wick will show how important the rules of their world are and that there are repercussions for breaking it. Given how the series will be based on the hotel, it’ll have the overbearing sense of tension that there are no exemptions for disrespecting it, even if you’re John Wick.
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Although the details on The Continental has been kept on the wraps, we know that the show will be swinging between the past and the present and won’t have Wick as the lead. So, killing off Wick will allow the franchise to move on to newer characters and stories. And if the series begins to dip or just plainly needs some narrative momentum, they’ll have the liberty to use flashbacks to bring in Wick and give Reeves’ fans something to cheer about.
Are you excited to see John Wick 3 on May 17, 2019? Let me know in the comments.