John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

John Wick Chapter 3 opens right after the events of John Wick Chapter 2. Chapter 3 further explores the consequences of John’s decisions in the world he left behind and reluctantly rejoined.

We see more of the resources of the High Table in play and that no one is safe from their attention. Everyone plays by their rules or by their leave.

As John works to see one who stands above the High Table, an Adjudicator for the High Table comes to New York to pass Judgement on everyone who has helped John. Bonus, we do get some of John’s origin as well.

John’s quest takes him to Casablanca where we get to see an amazing battle scene with people getting shredded in a coordinated attack by a person and a dog. Repeatedly.

While John is out of town, the Adjudicator’s people work through John’s former support system in New York.

It all comes to a head at the New York Continental and a massive battle against heavily armored troops. We are left open for john Wick 4 – confirmed for a 2021 release.

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Tobias Segal, Anjelica Huston, Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Randall Duk Kim

Polar

Interesting tale of a retired hitman and the lengths his former employer will go to to keep from paying out his pension. A group of young hitmen going after the grizzled retiree shows a nice examination between experience and training.

It is a nice alternative to the John Wick series. The fight scenes are not as frenetic as John Wick, but still enjoyable.

When Dominic visits a school and gives a talk to a group of children is one of my favorite scenes. He shows then knife techniques and photos of a 3 day old corpse.

It does set itself up for a sequel.

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick, Fei Ren, Ruby O. Fee, Matt Lucas, Robert Maillet, Anthony Grant, Josh Cruddas, Lovina Yavari

Synopsis (from IMDB): The world’s top assassin, Duncan Vizla, is settling into retirement when his former employer marks him as a liability to the firm. Against his will, he finds himself back in the game going head to head with an army of younger killers.

Skyscraper

PG-13 take on Die Hard. Less killing. More Duct Tape. No surprises – just a popcorn movie to get you through the summer heat.

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, McKenna Roberts, Noah Cottrell, Roland Møller, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, Hannah Quinlivan

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Wolf Warrior 2

Fun action movie.

I first heard about this movie on the Trick or Treat Radio podcast. I jumped onto this one without seeing the first entry in the series. I will probably catch the first one (streaming on Netflix as of Dec 2017).

You have the main character from the first movie, Leng Feng, heading to Africa after leaving the military. Some rebels attempt to take over the country he is currently in and Action Movie ™ ensues. We get enough plot to keep Leng Feng in the midst of the action.

The stunts and gun play were amazing. The CGI blood less so. Two words. Improvised Crossbow.

Starring: Jing Wu, Frank Grillo, Celina Jade, Gang Wu, Hans Zhang, Qian Yu, Nan Yu, Shanshan Chunyu, Haifeng Ding, Oleg Prudius, Heidi Moneymaker, Aaron Ly

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The Hitman’s Bodyguard



I enjoyed the Hitman’s Bodyguard. It was a light, bloody popcorn flick for the end of summer.

There are no real surprises here. Samuel L Jackson play Samuel L Jackson. Ryan Reynolds plays Ryan Reynolds.

It was an enjoyable odd couple road movie. With gun play and mayhem.

Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, Elodie Yung, Gary Oldman

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