What would a movie about a hitman on the run be without a bunch
of people to shoot? John Wick has never had a lack of targets, and the upcoming
John Wick: Chapter 3—possibly titled John Wick:
Parabellum—just added a crazy ton of actors. The list includes Halle
Berry, Anjelica Huston, Jason Mantzoukas, Asia Kate Dillon, Mark Dascascos, and
most importantly, at least from my perspective, Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif
Rahman from The Raid and Man of Tai Chi
and Triple Threat star Tiger Chen.
The Hollywood Reporter dropped this massive casting load and
across the board it all sounds pretty rad. There are a few character details,
but more than anything, it’s good John Wick won’t get bored or have nothing to
do. All of these new faces join an already fantastic stable of returning talent, like Laurence Fishbone, Ian McShane, Lance Roddick, and more.
Halle Berry plays someone named Sofia. That’s about all
there is to know right now except sources told THR she’s not the film’s
villain. Anjelica Huston plays The Director and my guess is that she’s some
legendary assassin/crime figure who, you know, runs shit. Asia Kate Dillon, who
plays North American TV’s first non-binary character, plays The Adjudicator of
the High Table. The High Table is the 12-person council in the John Wick
mythology, and the title sounds like a person who has the final say/also runs
shit. Jason Mantzoukas plays The Tick Tock Man, which sounds like a killer with
a thing for clocks or timers—I can see him being a bomb-centric assassin with a
wacky streak the actor is known for. Mark Dascascos signed up to play another
assassin, one named Zero.
Those are all well and good additions, but it’s the more
action-orientedcastings that have me excited. For his part, Dascascos is an
accomplished martial artist and no slouch when it comes to on-screen
fisticuffs. Yayan Ruhian is just insanely badass in everything, though he’s
most famous for The Raid. Cecep Arif Rahman first popped up
in The Raid 2im, which is every bit as badass as the first.
And though he’s probably less known than the others, Tiger Chen should be a
bigger action star and had his fair share of ass-kicking screen time on his
resume. Chen also co-starred with John Wick himself, Keanu Reeves, in
Man of Tai Chi, which stands as Reeves’ solitary directorial
effort.
A former stunt performer, director Chad Stahelski knows how
to stage action better than just about anyone working today, as illustrated by
the first two movies in the franchise, and I can’t wait to see what he has in
store for all these new toys. I imagine signing up this array of action luminaries
must have been like a kid ripping into presents Christmas morning. I know
watching it will sure as hell feel like that.
John Wick 3: Parabellum is filming now
and opens May 17, 2019.
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