JOHN WICK: Chapter 3 – PARABELLUM

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film starts as John Wick (Keanu Reeves) and his still-unnamed pitbull run through the streets of New York City. He has less than an hour left until he is officially declared excommunicado and has no hitman services rendered to him, along with the $14 million bounty on his head going into effect. He gets into a cab and leaves the dog to be taken to The Continental to be left in the care of Charon (Lance Reddick) by giving the cabbie a token. John proceeds to the New York Public Library. After being directed by the librarian, he finds a book containing hidden marker coins and a crucifix necklace. A lone hitman, Ernest (Boban Marjanovic), comes in and tries to kill John, leading to them knocking each other around the bookshelves before John gets a heavy book and uses it to beat Ernest, dislocate his jaw, and finally snap his neck with it.

John then travels to see The Doctor (Randall Duk Kim) to fix up his wounds, but he is unable to finish before the hour is up, and John’s life is up for grabs. John finishes the stitching himself, but before he leaves, The Doctor tells him to shoot him in the right areas to make it look like John forced him to help. He then starts to run through Chinatown where he is found by a gang who chase after him. They end up in a warehouse where they fight and then come across a bunch of knives, daggers, and other pointy weapons. Despite their efforts, John hurls knives into all the thugs before tossing an axe into the leader’s head. John continues running and catches a horse, with which he uses to kill some thugs by getting it to kick them in the face before he mounts it and rides it through the streets. Thugs on motorcycles try to catch him, but John takes care of them fast.

John arrives at a theatre where he presents the crucifix for entry. It is the hideout of the Ruska Roma, an organization that appears to groom hitmen from a young age, and where John may have learned what he knows. He meets with The Director (Anjelica Huston), a member of The High Table that has known John since he was young. She refers to John as “Jardani”, as that is his real name (Jardani Jovonovich). He gives The Director the crucifix necklace, which will allow him to travel outside of New York safely.

The Continental is visited by The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon), another High Table member coming to settle things in the wake of John breaking the rules in the hotel. She meets with Winston (Ian McShane) and tells him that since he gave John a one hour headstart before his contract went up, he has a week to step down as manager of The Continental. Similarly, she visits The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) and tells him to step down since he gave John sanctuary when Santino put the hit on his head.

John goes to Casablanca where he is at first attacked by hitmen until one guard stops them since he knows why John is there. He is escorted to meet with an old friend, Sofia (Halle Berry), who is accompanied by her two loyal and vicious German shepherds. He presents her with a marker with her blood on it, done when John helped protect Sofia’s daughter and hid her. While she isn’t keen to help John, she agrees to do so. He wants to locate The Elder, who ranks above even The High Table themselves and can remove John’s excommunicado status.

The Adjudicator finds an assassin named Zero (Mark Dacascos) and entrusts him and his men to find John and kill him. He readily agrees to the task. The Adjudicator and her men then pay a visit to The Director. Because she helped John get out, The Adjudicator has The Director’s associates killed while they force her to prove her fealty to The High Table by running a blade through both her hands so that she may pay with blood.

Sofia takes John to meet Barrada (Jerome Flynn) so that he can give John the location to find The Elder in the desert, but John will only meet with him if The Elder chooses to find John himself. Barrada then demands one of Sofia’s dogs as repayment, but when she refuses to give the dog up, Barrada shoots it. It was wearing a bulletproof vest, but Sofia is pissed, so she and John proceed to shoot up Barrada’s people while the hounds start chomping on groins, including Barrada’s. Sofia then shoots Barrada in the leg before she and John take one of his cars.

The Adjudicator visits The Bowery King again, and he says he has no intentions of stepping down. As punishment, The Adjudicator has Zero slash Bowery King seven times.

Sofia drives John out to the desert, but since her end of the bargain is fulfilled, she leaves him there. He walks through the desert until he passes out, at which point he is found by The Elder (Said Taghmaoui). He knows why John is there, and it isn’t until John says he wants to stay alive to keep Helen’s memory alive that he becomes interested in helping. John pledges his fealty to The Elder by severing his left ring finger and giving his wedding ring as payment. The Elder tells John he will lift his excommunicado status if he kills Winston. John agrees.

John returns to New York and is spotted in Grand Central Station by would-be assassins, though they are killed off fast by Zero’s men, as they want to save John for Zero to kill him. He fights and kills Zero’s men, even getting chased by them on motorcycles through a bridge, but John evades their guns and kitanas before killing them. Zero almost catches up to John and nearly gets him until they reach The Continental, and John is officially on the hotel grounds and can’t be touched. Inside, Zero admits he is a huge fan of John’s and that it would be the ultimate honor to kill him.

John goes up to meet with Winston. He knows that John has been ordered to kill him on behalf of The High Table. However, Winston offers him a choice. John can go ahead and kill him, living his life as a killer, or he can live as a man the way Helen would have wanted. The Adjudicator then arrives to find both men. Winston refuses to step down, and John refuses to kill him. She then makes a call to declare The Continental “deconsecrated”, meaning killing will now be allowed in the hotel. Winston opens his stash of weapons to John and Charon while he stays in his safe room with John’s pitbull.

John and Charon proceed to kill some High Table assassins, but they are wearing strong Kevlar armor, so Winston supplies the men with armor-piercing rounds. Heads get blown up and bodies are riddled with bullets. After all the other assassins are killed, John is left to fight Zero and his men. The goons toss John through a bunch of glass cases until he manages to gain the upper hand and take them out, leaving only Zero alive. The two engage in a fierce duel, but John ultimately overpowers Zero and runs his own sword through his body. Zero still thinks it’s an honor to be killed by John.

As the morning comes, The Adjudicator offers to parlay with Winston. They meet on the roof of the hotel where she offers to let Winston stay at The Continental, but John must be dealt with. Winston then appears to betray John by shooting him multiple times, sending him falling off the roof to the ground below. The Adjudicator reconsecrates the hotel and starts to leave, but she goes around by the alley where John fell and notices he is gone. She informs Winston, and they realize John is still a problem.

John is picked up by Tick Tock Man (Jason Mantzoukas), who brings him to Bowery King in his lair. He sees how messed up John is, and he tells him that he is PISSED at The High Table. He asks John if he’s pissed too, and John says he is.

Legendary assassin John Wick is officially excommunicado and has a $14 million bounty on his head for killing a member of The High Table on the grounds of The Continental. He seeks help from those closest to him to find The Elder, who ranks above The High Table and can get the bounty taken off his head and have all his privileges reinstated. The Elder orders John to kill Winston in order for him to move on.

Meanwhile, a rep for The High Table, The Adjudicator, orders Winston to step down from The Continental for giving John a headstart, while also doing the same for The Bowery King when he gave John sanctuary after a hit was already on his head. She also hires an assassin named Zero to find John and kill him, which is an honor for him since he's a huge fan of John's.

John makes it back to New York to kill Winston, but he backs down when he realizes he doesn't want to continue being a killer for the sake of his late wife Helen. The Adjudicator then has it made so that killing will now be allowed in The Continental, but John and Charon kill The High Table's assassins before John faces off against Zero and his men, killing all of them.

The Adjudicator bargains with Winston, letting him keep The Continental and having it go back to its no killing rule, but Winston appears to betray John and shoots him off the roof. He is picked up by Tick Tock Man, assistant to Bowery King. After The Adjudicator left Bowery King for dead, he and John appear to team up to take down The High Table once and for all.