Well Boys and Girls, you know you loved JOHN WICK. And if you dug CHAPTER 2? Good news, Lionsgate has set the release date for CHAPTER 3 for May 17, 2019.
Personally I have mixed emotions about this. Don’t get me wrong, I loved JOHN WICK, and liked CHAPTER 2. But with the second movie, it felt like this would-be franchise sort of followed in the same footsteps of PITCH BLACK.
PITCH BLACK was a great sci-fi horror movie that seemed to come out of no where. But with each subsequent movie, it really felt like the filmmakers and studio were trying to build/retrofit some kind of universe or mythology when there was none to begin with. From a business perspective, I really can’t knock that decision. If you have an IP that turned a decent profit, you want to build on that. But when there wasn’t a foundation to begin with, it just doesn’t work.
Now I want to say that the creator of PITCH BLACK had claimed there was a universe in place when he put together the initial movie. Which very well may have been the case, but it just didn’t come across in the final film and subsequently leaving it open for a franchise.
And it feels like JOHN WICK is following this same track. Through the first movie, we were definitely presented with this underworld, with it’s places, roles, and rules. But for me, in the first film, all of that was nothing more than dressing to give the world flavor and texture. Which was fine with me, and loved how that was presented. But with CHAPTER 2, it seemed like they’d tried to expand on that, from cabal-esque blood packs, to international sects, all the way to down to a hipster-retro aesthetic to everything like the technology used. Essentially ramping up the “style over substance”, and ultimately I don’t know if I was ever sold on that.
And with the compulsion to go bigger with a sequel when you have a success, I worry how much the “style over substance” will play out.
But like I said, I loved JOHN WICK and liked CHAPTER 2. So I’ll be there for CHAPTER 3… just a little worried how it’ll take shape.
Source: Variety