'John Wick 3' is a wild action workout that might not be topped

Keanu Reeves is 54 years old but you'd never know if you saw John Wick 3. He is as much a physical marvel as Tom Cruise is in the Mission: Impossible films, but while Cruise's persona in those films is largely about his grace and fluidity under pressure, with Reeves' Wick its pure brute force.

John Wick 3 (or the more pretentious John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum) is easily one of the most violent movies I ever seen -- the body count must be in the hundreds, and in what is par for the course with these movies, most people who are getting killed and getting shot in the head -- repeatedly.

There isn't much moral justification for a movie like this, and I am not going to argue that it's smart -- its central conceit that there are elite assassins everywhere who are all seemingly linked under the control of a mythical 'high table' is patently absurd and pretty needlessly complicated.

And yet -- this is one of the most deliriously over the top orgies of action I have ever seen and I got a kick out of (almost) every second of it. The first 15 to 20 minutes alone are such a tour de force of bare knuckle action and suspense that I fear the rest of the series will never top them.

And who knows if Reeves is up for more. He and his stunt doubles are certainly put through the ringer in this one. He spends most of the movie stumbling, soaking wet and get the shit kicked out of him before doling out one ferocious kill after another.

There are scenes so shocking you can't help but audibly grown and gasp -- and one sequence in particular involving some aggressively thrown knives may be one of my favorite action set pieces of all time.



In this installment Wick is definitely more physically vulnerable and constantly under siege and it does feel a little bit like the filmmakers themselves are overwhelmed by how big this franchise has become.

The first Wick film topped out at around $43 million at the box office stateside, the second film added another $50 million to that total. The one, which is even bigger in terms of scale -- will be even bigger still, but I can't see how they will ever be able to surpass the carnage and stunts in this film.

It also has milked the Wick on the run concept to death so I'm hoping if they do another one -- and there absolutely will be if Keanu is physically up for it (I can't say enough how impressive he is here) that they'll mix things up. But may be peak John Wick.

Welcome back John. It's always good to see you.