Overview
Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Eve Macarro begins her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.
Initially conceived between the second and third films – the official greenlight was given in 2022 with de armas in the lead role as Eve (a character portrayed by Unity Phelan in Parabellum). Delayed by over a year from initial release date, reports suggest that Wiseman was sidelined by Stahelski (who undertook quite a significant round of reshoots), but both Wiseman and Stahelski dispute those claims. Characters were added and the scenes were shot/reshot. The end result is…well, pretty fun.
The problems – you can see where the additions of the Wick universe were inserted in heavily – and you could pretty much remove any scenes with Reeves out of here and not lose anything story wise. Story is wafer thin, being a generic revenge action film, and the characters (aside from De Armas as Eve) are stock template NPCs churned out to play to their tropes. There is a neat idea about a whole mountain town populated solely by clan members that makes for a great set-piece location.
But boy, whatever it lacks in depth, it more than makes up for with action, and nary 5 minutes goes by at any point before another spectacular action scene erupts. And how creative they are too, whilst knowing when to keep the camera focused and when to cut, in that way we’ve come to expect from the Wick series of films.
Look, this is two hours of adrenaline fueled action that slots in between the last two John Wick films, but doesn’t really offer more to the lore that Parabellum hadn’t already set up. But who cares – popcorn out, sit back and just be thrilled.
