I really enjoyed “John Wick”. It was a fun action flick and Keanu Reeves was very well cast. The fights were well choreographed and it wisely kept its plot simple and straightforward. Then there was the sequel – starting to get weird, with all this ‘high table’ stuff and introduction of some kind of international crime syndicate/assassin’s guild. And then there is number 3.

We are supposed to believe that there are multiple assassins hanging about on every street, just waiting for a phone call. It seems these people don’t have homes to go to, they just hang out on the street, or at a bar, just waiting for a call. And they are everywhere. You might be forgiven for thinking the assassin market is just a little bit over-saturated?

Violence in public is met with no reaction. Wick kills a man in a crowded railway station, right in the middle of people all around. The man falls to the ground. So, there is a body, lying there. No one looks or screams. No one shouts to call the police. No crowd gathers. People just walk past a murder. Is it just me thinking this is all a little surreal?

There are a few running battles in the street. In one, Wick makes his escape on a horse, pursued by men on motorcycles. Shots are fired. Motorcycles crash. Mayhem ensues. Pedestrians are seen leaping out of the way. And yet … not only is there no sign of police, there is not even the sound of sirens in the distance. Did none of these witnesses call the police, or an ambulance for the smashed motorcycles and their riders? Where are the authorities?

The so-called high table was introduced in the second movie, but it attains much greater significance in this. It is apparently a world-wide organization, and we are supposed to accept that there is not a single criminal around who is not part of it. So apparently, some organization has achieved universal control of crime. That’s impressive. It is also completely ridiculous. The ritualistic nature of many of the interactions, plus the religious terminology used (‘excommunicated’, ‘deconsecrated’) are just weird. It becomes an almost feudal type of system, with loyalty, fealty, kneeling, etc.

Then we come to the big boss, referred to as ‘the one who sits above the table’. (Really?) So, who is this mysterious figure? Well, he’s an Arabic dude who likes to hang out in a tent in the middle of the desert. He is apparently running the whole world organization from there. It seems to me that crime is not really paying for this gentleman. Unless he enjoys living in a tent, I suppose.

Why are all these people accepting this situation? Frankly, it doesn’t really seem to be paying off for many of them, who do not appear to be living in luxury. There is also the small matter of running the risk of being maimed or murdered for just the appearance of breaking the rules. So why are they all swearing oaths and putting up with it? Not to mention there is the small fact that not once in this film is there any sign of what might be construed as civil authorities.

In the title I mentioned a theory, and this is it – the “John Wick” universe isn’t the real world at all. It is taking place in some kind of parallel universe, where every second person is an assassin, where there are no police, and the ‘high table’ is the government. It would explain a lot of things, why there is no sign of any reaction to all these goings on, why nobody seems to be bothered to disguise their activities or be under the radar.

“John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” is a silly movie, that makes absolutely no sense. It is a shame, because the idea started out so well. Even the fight scenes were starting to drag. Watch only for the fight scene with the trained dogs because they were awesome. Otherwise I definitely do not recommend it.