John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (also known as simply John Wick: Chapter 3) is a 2019 American neo-noir actionß-thriller film starring Keanu Reeves as the eponymous character. It is the third installment in the John Wick film series, following John Wick (2014) and Chapter 2 (2017). The film is directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams, based on a story by Kolstad. It also stars Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, and Ian McShane. In the film, which picks up minutes after the end of the previous film, ex-hitman John Wick finds himself on the run from legions of assassins after a $14 million contract is put on his head due to his recent actions.
The third installment was announced in June 2017. Much of the returning cast and crew was confirmed in February 2018, with new members joining that May. Filming began that month and lasted through November, taking place in New York City, Montreal, and Morocco.
Parabellum was theatrically released in the United States on May 17, 2019, by Lionsgate. It grossed $326 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of the franchise in just 10 days, and received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences, visual style, and Reeves’s performance. A sequel, John Wick: Chapter 4, is set to be released on May 27, 2022
John Wick makes his way through Manhattan before he is labeled “excommunicado” for the unauthorized killing of High Table crime lord Santino D’Antonio on the grounds of the New York Continental Hotel. At the New York Public Library, John retrieves a marker medallion and a rosary. He is injured in a fight with another hitman and seeks medical treatment from an underworld doctor, but his $14 million bounty activates before the doctor can finish. John finishes suturing himself but is quickly pursued by various gangs of assassins whom he kills after a significant struggle.
John meets with the “Director”, the head of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, where he presents the rosary and demands safe passage to Casablanca. The Director reluctantly helps John as he was once one of them, a Belarusian-born protégé named Jardani Jovonovich. A High Table Adjudicator meanwhile meets with New York Continental manager Winston and the Bowery King, notifying them that they both have seven days to resign from their positions for breaking the rules of the High Table The Adjudicator hires Zero, a Japanese assassin, and orders him to stab the Director through both of her hands as penance for defying the High Table. In Casablanca, John meets Sofia, a former friend and manager of the Moroccan Continental. John presents the marker, which he obtained after helping her to protect her daughter, and demands to be directed to the “Elder” – the only person above the High Table. Sofia reluctantly takes John to Berrada, her former boss, who tells John he may find the Elder by wandering through the desert until he can no longer walk. In exchange, Berrada asks for one of Sofia’s dogs and when she refuses, he shoots the dog, which survives due to its ballistic vest. Sofia tries to kill Berrada, but at John’s warning she only wounds him. They fight their way out of the kasbah by killing scores of Berrada’s henchmen and drive into the desert, where she leaves him.
Seven days later, the Adjudicator and Zero confront the Bowery King, who refuses to abdicate his position. In response, Zero’s students slaughter his men while the King is scarred seven times with a wakizashi as penance. Meanwhile, John collapses in the desert and is brought to the Elder. John states that he wants to live to keep the memory of the love he once had with his late wife. The Elder agrees to forgive John on the condition that he kill Winston and remain subservient to the High Table for the remainder of his life. John severs his ring finger and offers his wedding band to the Elder as an act of fealty. He returns to New York and is attacked by Zero and his students before reaching the protection of the Continental. Winston urges John not to die as the “Baba Yaga”, but as a man who loved and was loved by his wife. The Adjudicator arrives, but Winston refuses to resign his position and John refuses to kill him, leading the Adjudicator to revoke the status of the Continental and sends both Zero and an army of heavily armed High Table enforcers to kill John and Winston. Winston provides John with weapons and the assistance of concierge Charon and his staff. After killing the enforcers, John is ambushed by Zero and his students, and John proceeds to kill all but two students who surrender with honor after being beaten. Zero battles John but is eventually defeated and left to die.
The Adjudicator agrees to a parley with Winston, who offers fealty to the High Table. John arrives and Winston shoots him repeatedly, causing him to fall off the roof. Winston reassumes his manager position. The severely injured John is secretly collected and delivered to an underground bunker where the Bowery King is waiting for him.
