John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum

Parabellum marks the most diverse entry into the John Wick franchise yet.

When there are hundreds of deaths, it's pretty incredible that John Wick 3 sustains its inventiveness and sheer bonkers-ness.

The script (series creator Derek Kolstad leads the writing team) is excellent, especially when regular characters such Anjelica Huston's Ruska Roma boss and Laurence Fishburne's Bowery King return to beef up the dialogue.

Buying a ticket to a John Wick movie is like signing control of your lizard brain away to the director, Chad Stahelski, for 130 minutes. Luckily, he knows what to do with it.

Reeves and Dacascos's brutal, climactic sparring session definitely leaves us wanting more, not to mention wondering about a potential Oscars sound editing category for shattering glass.

Reeves is committed to this role. He excels in this genre because of his willingness to push his body to the limit in the name of authenticity.

The action scenes in this series keep the viewer invested, whereas our interest in the ever-expanding mythology and personal motivations of Wick have thinned over two sequels.

"The film moves the franchise and genre forward and manages to find new ways to kill bad guys."

This might be the defining action movie of the year.

Awe-inspiring.