Robert Rodriguez Rewrote Alita: Battle Angel For Free Before James Cameron Let Him Direct

Robert Rodriguez Rewrote Alita: Battle Angel For Free Before James Cameron Let Him Direct

Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron was talking about doing a feature film adaptation of the Battle Angel Alita manga since the early 2000s, but he never got around to it. Now, roughly two decades later, Alita: Battle Angel is finally in theaters; but James Cameron only produced the film, while Robert Rodriguez directed it. James Cameron didn’t just give up the reins to his passion project easily though, Robert Rodriguez had to work for it, as the latter explained:

Jim would rather put something in a drawer and not do it at all than do it incorrectly with the wrong director. I saw his original drawings and they took my breath away. The main character had porcelain arms and huge manga eyes, and I thought, Wow, he’s going full manga with this. And he trusted me with the version that was in his head, and he said: if you fix the script for me, you can direct. So a month later I come back and say: here you go, free of charge. And he said: all right, it’s yours.

It sounds like Robert Rodriguez basically had to prove himself to James Cameron to take on a project that was so important to the Aliens director. That test required Robert Rodriguez working on the script for Alita: Battle Angel and fixing its issues, thereby not only proving himself capable, but also proving that he had a grasp on the material. He understood how it should be adapted, and was clearly the right fit to direct.

It’s quite a vote of confidence because, as Robert Rodriguez told The Irish Times, James Cameron has no problem shelving a project he has the rights to indefinitely rather than see it done poorly. That’s an admirable trait, but with the can getting perpetually kicked further down the road thanks to the priority of his multiple Avatar sequels, it risked never happening if he didn’t pass it off to someone else.

As we’ve heard, Robert Rodriguez wanted to see James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel and since James Cameron wasn’t going to make it, he did and endeavored to make it feel like a James Cameron movie. Fortunately, James Cameron was still involved and gave him a great starting point.

Robert Rodriguez didn’t have to start from scratch, because James Cameron had already laid out his vision for Alita: Battle Angel in 600 pages of notes and drawings. And we’ve previously heared how Cameron introduced Rodriguez to Alita with a 15-minute presentation complete with narration, artwork and story concepts.

That all made it clear that James Cameron indeed wanted to make a manga movie that felt like the source material, retaining the weirder elements less familiar to Western audiences, like Alita’s giant eyes. So the movie was all there, Robert Rodriguez just had to fix the 186-page screenplay and it was his. He did just that and it sounds like he did it with style too, taking only a month and doing it for free.

Now Alita: Battle Angel is finally in theaters and despite mixed reviews, it has gotten a positive audience response and recently crossed $350 million at the worldwide box office. Although it still has a ways to go to become profitable and hopefully get a sequel greenlit.

Alita: Battle Angel is now playing. Check out our 2019 release schedule to keep track of all the year’s biggest releases and for all your movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

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6 Questions We Still Have About Captain Marvel

6 Questions We Still Have About Captain Marvel

We are just a few days away from the release of a brand new Marvel movie. Thanks to critics, we have an idea of Captain Marvel's quality, and it's tracking for a massive $100 million domestic opening, with some analysts going as high as $135 million. But there's still a whole bunch that we don't know about Captain Marvel. Those answers aren't going to come to us until Thursday night, but we can't help lingering on the mysteries.

Marvel has gotten pretty good at keeping its cards close to the chest for its blockbusters; It wouldn't even share the title of Avengers: Endgame until last December. That secrecy extends to Captain Marvel, which has a few mysteries involving characters names, origins and the true nature of a certain cat. Things are bound to leak, but unless it's been confirmed by Marvel, then it doesn't really count. Here are the six big questions we still have about Captain Marvel.

How Does Carol Get Her Powers?

Captain Marvel is an origin story, but it bucks the trend by starting with a fully-formed superhero. The twist is that Carol doesn't remember how she got her powers, and it's an answer she (and the audience) will discover throughout the film. That's a nice way to ditch the origin story formula, and at the moment we are left guessing as to how she learned to shoot photon blasts. There aren't too many hints, but footage has shown Carol during her years as pilot getting caught in an explosion that's likely related to the Kree. In the comics, a blast of Kree DNA is what gives Carol her tremendous powers, so we'll see if that's still the case for the film.

How Does Carol End Up On Hala?

Captain Marvel was raised on Earth, but she somehow finds herself on an elite team of warrior heroes for the Kree. Carol lives on the homeworld of the Kree, known as Hala, which is maybe trillons of light years away from Earth. One would figure that the Kree took her under their wing after whatever incident grants her her powers. It's pretty significant when you just move to a new state, so a new planet is a pretty far leap. With Carol's amnesia, I have to wonder if her relocation was entirely her choice to begin with. Given that Carol doesn't know anything about her past, that increases the chances that the Kree haven't been entirely truthful to her.

Why Does Captain Marvel Have Amnesia?

Well, this woman is just a regular bag of mysteries, right? The reason that Carol doesn't know the origin of her powers or of her time on Earth is because she has amnesia. An incident with the Skrulls sends her back to Earth in search of answers, which are likely to be a big revelation. It's possible that the incident that gave her powers also caused the amnesia or that her memories were hidden by the Kree to cover something up. Amnesia is usually a pretty suspicious thing to have and I doubt it's a random side effect of her powers. At least a good chunk of the film will be devoted to Carol piecing together the remnants of her past.

How Will Nick Fury Lose His Eye?

You know that joke in Hot Tub Time Machine where the guy is destined to lose his arm, and you just keep waiting for some horrible accident to take it from him? That's what I'm going to feel like watching young Nick Fury in Captain Marvel. Nick Fury's eye patch is an iconic part of his look, but he hasn't yet lost an eye when he first meets Carol Danvers in the '90s. There's no way that we aren't going to see him lose the eye, so it's just a matter of how. Fury once said it was because he trusted someone, so could a shape-shifted Skrull be the cause? Another important question with Fury is how this experience leads him to become the always-prepared Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. we know best.

What Are the Skrulls After?

The center of the conflict of Captain Marvel is the centuries-old war between the Kree and the shapeshifting Skrulls. Captain Marvel and Earth will be right in the middle of this conflict, and the Skrulls have been billed as the main villains of the movies. We can see a group of them on Earth led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), but their ultimate objective is unclear. Are they looking for Carol? If so, then why? Is there some kind of MacGuffin on Earth to turn the war in their favor? They must have a reason for infiltrating the planet and it might be leading to a major comic book storyline called Secret Invasion for further down the road.

Is This Cat An Alien Or What?

Finally, we get to the most important question! Goose the cat may seem like an ordinary cat, and for all we know he will be, but comic book fans know that he's more than what he seems. In the comics, Goose -- actually called Chewie -- is an alien that just looks like a cat, but on the inside it's got a bunch of purple tentacles for swallowing people whole. The alien species is called Flerken, they lay eggs and are generally really weird. There's been no indication that's the case for the movie, but given how much the cat has been involved in the marketing, it might just be a secret alien.

So, clearly, there's still a lot that we don't know about Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers is a ball of secrets wrapped inside of an enigma waiting to be unpackaged by moviegoers. Marvel has become so skilled at secret-keeping over the past decade that it can build hype for their films by barely telling us anything. At least we don't have to wait too much longer for the answers to finally be revealed because the movie is out in theaters on March 8. But seriously, that cat better be an alien.

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Why Star Wars Can't 'Do What Marvel Does' With Film Releases, According To Kathleen Kennedy

Why Star Wars Can't 'Do What Marvel Does' With Film Releases, According To Kathleen Kennedy

When Disney bought Lucasfilm is was made plain that the plan was to bring the franchise back in a big way. A new trilogy was announced and following that, additional films were confirmed and several others began to be rumored. It looked like Disney was getting ready to launch another massive franchise to rival their own Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now, it appears things won't be happening quite like that.

While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will mark the fifth Star Wars movie in five years, after that, Star Wars will be taking a brief break. The next movie, from the creators of the Game of Thrones series, will be arriving in 2022, and we'll only be getting one movie every other year, rather than getting one movie or more in a year like Marvel now does. Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy says that this is necessary, as Star Wars simply won't work the way Marvel does as a franchise...

I think there is a larger expectation that Disney has. On the other hand, though, I think that Disney is very respectful of what this is, and right from the beginning we talked about the fragility of this form of storytelling. Because it’s something that means so much to fans that you can’t turn this into some kind of factory approach. You can’t even do what Marvel does, necessarily, where you pick characters and build new franchises around those characters. This needs to evolve differently.

It's hard to imagine that this response from Kennedy in Vanity Fair isn't a direct response to the fact that the last Star Wars movie, a film designed around a set of characters picked out from the franchise, didn't do well. While Solo: A Star Wars Story still made good money in an absolute sense, it still didn't make nearly as much money as the other new films have done, and its behind the scenes issues made the film more expensive than it was supposed to be, resulting in the first Star Wars film to reportedly lose money.

It's also true that because of the way that Star Wars has existed in the past, with two, and now three, movie trilogies, each separated by decades, there's a feeling that Star Wars is something special, that it needs to be handled slowly and with care. One of the reasons that has been given for Solo's poor performance is that it was released only six month after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and fans didn't like to see so much happening so fast.

Whether or not Star Wars is truly "fragile" and thus prevents the sort of approach that Marvel has been using or not, it does seem clear that Disney now believes that it is, otherwise you could be sure we would be getting exactly that. Kathleen Kennedy is honest about the "larger expectation" that Disney has, certainly the parent company wants to be able to do as much with Star Wars as possible because the brand is successful and that means profit for the company.

It's possible that the solution has been found in a sort of middle ground. A pair of new Star Wars series are set to debut on the Disney+ streaming service over the next couple of years, and so it could be that instead of releasing multiple movies over the next several years, the plan could be to supplement the few films we get with series like The Mandalorian.

I'm not sure that I buy that Star Wars can't work as a larger franchise. If Marvel can maintain a level of quality as it has, it certainly seems that Star Wars could as well, but if the feeling is that it needs to move slower to stay good, I'd certainly rather have fewer movies that are better.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters in December.

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Sarah Connor Utters The Iconic ‘I’ll Be Back Line’ In New Terminator: Dark Fate Video

Sarah Connor Utters The Iconic ‘I’ll Be Back Line’ In New Terminator: Dark Fate Video

As far as sci-fi properties go, there are few quite as beloved as the Terminator franchise. James Cameron brought the titular robot to the big screen back in 1984, and its never been far from theaters in the decades since. But out of the entire series, Terminator 2: Judgement Day remains the undisputed fan favorite. Plus, it's the last movie that Cameron was intimately involved in. That is... until now.

The franchise is coming back to theaters with Terminator: Dark Fate, which will be a direct sequel to T2. James Cameron is involved as a producer, and the new movie will also welcome Linda Hamilton back to her signature character Sarah Connor. The first Dark Fate trailer was super exciting, and a new clip has Sarah Connor uttering the most iconic line from the entire franchise: "I'll be back." Check it out below.

Does anyone else have chills? On top finally uttering the line made by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original Terminator, Linda Hamilton does so in perhaps the most badass way possible. Namely, by popping a grenade as she did it, and calmly walking away from the impending explosion.

This new clip just hammers down what a total badass Sarah Connor has remained since we saw her in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Linda Hamilton had a massive transformation between her two appearances, with T2 taking her from victim to deadly mental patient. And she's remained just as capable through the decades, as the first trailer for Dark Fate showed her going toe to toe with Gabriel Luna's new Terminator model.

The Terminator franchise may have never really left theaters, but the various sequels lacked the same tone as the first two. These movies resulted as a combination of James Cameron and his stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And now that the trio have once again collaborated on Terminator: Dark Fate, and it looks like there will be plenty of references to the start of the franchise. That includes using some iconic lines of dialogue that are synonymous with those movies.

Aside from including lines like "I'll be back", Terminator: Dark Fate will also deeply connect to Terminator 2 through the use of flashbacks. The upcoming sequel will include new scenes of a younger Sarah Connor and her son John-- who is noticeably missing from the film's cast. CGI will be used to de-age Linda Hamilton, while the same type of visual affects will bring Edward Furlong's likeness as John back to the silver screen. It's an exciting concept, especially as movies like Captain Marvel and Rogue One have proven how far that technology has come.

Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger Looks Totally Badass In First Terminator: Dark Fate Image

Given the footage from the above video, it should be interesting to see if more iconic Terminator lines end up making their way to Dark Fate. "Come with me if you want to live" seem like an easy bit of dialogue to fit into such an action-packed sequel. And with the original Terminator and Sarah Connor reuniting, there's also the opportunity for Arnold Schwarzenegger to say "I'm a friend of Sarah Connor." We'll just have to wait and see what Deadpool director Tim Miller has up his sleeve for the generations of Terminator fans.

All will be revealed when Terminator: Dark Fate arrives in theaters on November 1st. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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Does The Child's Play Reboot Need To Show Us More Chucky? Let's Talk This Out

Does The Child's Play Reboot Need To Show Us More Chucky? Let's Talk This Out

The most recent trailer for Child’s Play has landed, and it continues to look rather promising. With the story of a single mother buying a cutting-edge toy for her son to befriend taking front and center, the reboot to the 1988 horror classic looks like it’s got a nice sci-fi upgrade for a new generation.

However, even with the announcement of legendary actor Mark Hamill voicing the character of Chucky, the marketing seems to be playing it coy with showing us the doll in its full form. That decision brings up an important debate, one that we’ll be discussing over the course of what you’re reading here. That discussion boils down to the following question: Does the Child’s Play reboot need to show us more of Chucky in its marketing? Let’s talk this out, starting with the case for more Chuck for the buck.

The Case For More Chucky

Reviving a character as iconic and well known as Child’s Play’s Chucky takes more marketing prowess than it would to sell a new intellectual property. With a new property, you can shape the terms of how the audience sees that new product.

However, when you’re trying to make the case for the 21st century variant of Chucky, you need some more oomph in your cannon. It’s important to show more of Chucky to the audience that’s been loyal to the brand, especially considering the controversy surrounding the film and the feelings about the new project from some.

Being a Child’s Play remake outside of series/character creator Don Mancini’s TV series, which still retains original continuity, as well as Brad Dourif’s involvement, this may be a harder sell than many reboots in modern times. There’s still a lot of fans who need to be sold on this film to open their wallets.

Showing more of Chucky’s full face and voice in the marketing for Child’s Play just might win over more fans of the original version, as it looks like the film is going in a new direction with the character, rather than just remaking the infamous killing sprees of Charles Lee Ray.

It’s even more critical to approach newer audiences expecting a fresh definition of what the Child’s Play series is all about with a clear picture of what the modern Chucky is capable of. So for the sake of winning audiences old and new, by distancing itself from the original film, the new and improved Chucky should come out to play in whatever marketing materials crop up next.

The Case For Less Chucky

The freshness of Child’s Play 2019 is a good starting point for the call for more of Chucky’s material to be shown in the trailers. However, that’s also the perfect launching pad for the argument against being too showy with everyone’s new Buddi.

Surprise is exactly what Child’s Play has going for it in this new incarnation, and we did get the slightest tease of Mark Hamill’s fresh performance in that recent trailer. Some could say we’ve gotten enough to tide us over, and history just might prove that faction right.

In the trailer for the original Child’s Play, a similar approach was taken in selling this concept as brand new. The Good Guy doll was shown as a doll, with any glimpses into its evil activities being brief and mostly concealed. We never really got to see Chucky at his full potential, because even as a brand new property, surprise was the key to making audiences go nuts upon the big reveal.

The same could be said for Child’s Play 2019, because we have seen the full doll as a play thing, again with glimpses of the evil that this Buddi can do. So maybe the way to win fans, classic and new, is to give them the same treatment that was had when Chucky was a brand new doll, fresh off the factory floor.

Curiosity and surprise are definitely valuable commodities when selling a movie these days. Getting the audience hyped with a smidge of voice over and just enough violence is probably a better idea, in the sense that it combats the biggest problem moviegoers have with more recent trailers that tend to give the whole movie away. Less Chucky likely equates to more shock value.

The Final Ruling

Taking into consideration the fact that both arguments are pretty sound, I still feel like there is a clear winner in this debate, which is the trailers for the new Child’s Play reboot need to show more Chucky in the future.

While curiosity and surprise are still needed in the world of film marketing, it’s not spoiling Child’s Play if you show off the killer doll everyone’s expecting. We’ve seen the doll, we’ve heard its voice, and the historical canon of this villain is no secret. So hiding it isn’t helping that much, in my opinion.

Between a new crowd that still knows of Chucky’s character, and a faithful fanbase to that original series that needs some enticing to come to this newly set table, more clear killer doll action can only help better sell this product. This is particularly true in the case of a reboot, as remaking an older, very popular series for a modern context almost always triggers people to think that it’s a cash in.

If Child’s Play 2019 is going to stand a chance, it needs to break away from Child’s Play 1988 and do its own thing. I think that requires showing off the difference between the old Chucky and the new one. Why should anyone expect people to show up when they can’t see the star of the show?

While this debate takes both sides of the coin into account, it is all from one singular viewpoint discussing both sides. If a film like Child’s Play has any chance of succeeding, it needs to adhere to the opinions of you, the audience.

So after you’ve mulled over both sides of this issue yourself, feel free to share your thoughts in both the poll provided at the end of this piece, as well as in the comments section below. But before you go off to deliberate, why not watch the Child's Play trailer one last time?

As for Child’s Play, it hits theaters on June 21st, just in time to give your summer a scare. But if horror isn’t your thing, and you just like reading arguments about movie marketing, you can find a movie more suited to your tastes in our 2019 release schedule.

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Who X-Men: Dark Phoenixs Villains May Actually Be

Who X-Men: Dark Phoenixs Villains May Actually Be

Although 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse concluded the "First Class" trilogy that began in 2011, the X-Men film franchise isn't finished spending time with this group of mutant characters. Later this year, we'll reunite with Professor Xavier's team of superheroes in X-Men: Dark Phoenix, which, like 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, will adapt the classic storyline The Dark Phoenix Saga. Along with having to deal with Jean Grey in her Dark Phoenix form, the X-Men will also face an enemy played by Jessica Chastain. However, this character may have deeper ties to the Marvel mythology than previously suspected, as it's being reported that X-Men: Dark Phoenix will feature the Skrulls, the same shapeshifting alien species that is already set to appear in Captain Marvel.

Back in December, Jessica Chastain's X-Men: Dark Phoenix character was described as an "otherworldly shapeshifter who manipulates Phoenix for her own agenda." So right off the bat, we know that this mysterious individual can alter her appearance. With Chastain having already debunked the rumor she was playing Empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar Empire, it was hard to guess who this villain was. But supposedly X-Men: Dark Phoenix will include the Skrulls, so while we still don't know what Chastain's character is named, presumably this makes her someone high up within the Skull Empire. The Skrulls are one of the few Marvel properties that Fox and Marvel Studios share (though that will obviously change if Disney's Fox purchase goes through), and at last summer's San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Captain Marvel would be set in the 1990s and see Carol Danvers battling the Skrulls.

This wouldn't be the first time that an X-Men movie has beaten the MCU to adapting a character for the silver screen first. 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past introduced Evan Peter's Quicksilver, who was brought in to replace Juggernaut, and a year later, Aaron Taylor-Johnson brought the same speedster to life in Avengers: Age of Ultron. As for the Skrulls, while they started out as enemies for the Fantastic Four, over the years they've graduated to clashing with heroes from all corners of the Marvel universe. It's unclear if it was always the plan for X-Men: Dark Phoenix to include the Skrulls, particularly since they didn't play any role in the original Dark Phoenix Saga, but assuming this report is true, then the X-Men universe's versions of these aliens will debut four months before the MCU versions. It would also be interesting to see how the X-Men Skrulls are visually different from the MCU Skrulls in their natural forms.

Along with reporting about the Skrulls, Jeremy Conner, a.k.a. Manabyte, has heard from a source that X-Men: Dark Phoenix is better than X-Men: Apocalypse, but not as good as X-Men: Days of Future Past. Apparently Dark Phoenix is also "very serious with little humor," but director Simon Kinberg did a good job with the movie. There's still nine months to go until Dark Phoenix's release, but ideally within the next few months the first teaser trailer will be released, giving us our first idea of what this story holds in store.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix hits theaters on November 2, and Captain Marvel will follow on March 8, 2019. For all the latest comic book movie news, Skrull-related or otherwise, keep checking back with CinemaBlend.

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All powerful Dark Phoenix. Dark Phoenix is the titular main antagonist of X-Men: The Last Stand - this time caused by Jean apparently going insane. In the film, Professor Xavier recognizably remembered this alternate personality of Jean Grey by its other name "The Phoenix", whom he sees as in his own words, "a creature all desire, joy, and rage".
X-Men: Dark Phoenix review - Well, it's better than X-pected

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Dark Phoenix's Vuk and D'Bari: The Marvel Villains Explained villain character in the latest X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix. We now know that she plays the Marvel character Vuk, who is a member of
Is Onslaught The Villain In X-Men: Dark Phoenix? | ScreenRant

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The Dark Phoenix, or just Phoenix for short, is Jean Grey's alter-ego that possesses her in the third installment of the X-Men original trilogy X-Men: The Last Stand, where she was the secondary antagonist, and repossess her in Dark Phoenix where it appears as the titular anti-villainous protagonist.
Dark Phoenix Movie: Alien Villains' Marvel Origins Explained

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Dark Phoenix was released in the United States on June 7, 2019. It was previously set to be released on November 2, 2018, then rescheduled to be released on February 14, 2019, before being pushed to June. It is known as X-Men: Dark Phoenix for release in countries outside of the United States.

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Who X-Men: Dark Phoenix's Villains May Actually Be

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Marvel's Dark Phoenix Saga, which the movie is based on, is dense and features a large cast of characters that Fox's X-Men cinematic universe really couldn't accommodate.
Dark Phoenix | Villains Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

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Sadly, most who are in the know aren't feeling optimistic about Dark Phoenix. Here's everything we know about the film thus far, and why it's likely to be a disappointment to X-Men fans
Dark Phoenix (film) - Wikipedia

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Now, with a deal that could complete this transformation by reunifying the X-Men with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe apparently in the offing, the upcoming Dark Phoenix feature aims to keep the trend going with a "do-over" adaptation of possibly the most famous (and famously bungled by the films) X-Men story of all. The Real Villain
X-Men Dark Phoenix reviews: Do critics HATE Dark Phoenix

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So how about I say this then: X-Men: Dark Phoenix is actually better than you may expect it to be, especially given the litany of bad critical buzz and production troubles it's had. Is it a great adaptation of Chris Claremont's epic comic book story arc? Not even in the slightest.
Dark Phoenix's Vuk and D'Bari: The Marvel Villains Explained

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X-Men: Dark Phoenix hits theaters on November 2, and Captain Marvel will follow on March 8, 2019. For all the latest comic book movie news, Skrull-related or otherwise, keep checking back with
Dark Phoenix (X-Men Movies) | Villains Wiki | FANDOM powered

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X Men: Dark Phoenix landed in UK cinemas on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. The reviews went up the same day, and most critics were disappointed in the origin story. But fan opinion and critics' reviews
Why Fans Are Probably Going to Hate 'X-Men: Dark Phoenix'

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John Wick Chapter 3 Has Screened, See What People Are Saying

John Wick Chapter 3 Has Screened, See What People Are Saying

The John Wick franchise is one that has built up a lot of fans over the previous two films, and now those fans are excitedly looking forward to what one expects to be the end of a trilogy, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. While the rest of us pour bastards still have to wait a couple of weeks, the movie has screened for some critics, and they're now letting us know that if you were a fan of the first two films, you're probably going to like John Wick: Chapter 3.

CinemaBlend's own Mike Reyes was one of those lucky enough to get an early view of John Wick: Chapter 3, and he thought the film took its trademark stunts and highly stylized action to another level. It also, quite interestingly, still leaves the franchise in a place that it could go forward. According to Mike...

John Wick 3 is yet another round of kick assed action, and intriguing world building. Keanu Reeves continues to clean up & the stunt bar has been raised yet again. There are so many places this franchise could go from here, and all of them are exciting.

One of the most interesting parts of the John Wick films is the way the franchise has created its world of organized professional assassins, but done so with a limited amount of expository dialogue. Most of what we know about the world John Wick lives in, the Continental hotel, and the High Table all comes from watching these elements simply be introduced. We learn about them by the way characters react to them, rather than having them explained.

It seems that the world will still leave itself open to more stories, whether John Wick himself could be part of those stories, we'll have to wait and see.

One way that the franchise could potentially continue, apparently, is through the new character introduced in John Wick: Chapter 3 that is played by Halle Berry. Erik Davis of Fandango thinks she needs her own film series. He also thinks the new film is the best of the trilogy.

Finally allowed to say that John Wick 3 is hands down the best of the three movies. Ridiculously inventive fight scenes, lots more world building & great villains. There is a knife fight in this movie that is aces. Also, Halle Berry’s character needs her own series.

In addition to the John Wick films creative world building, the franchise is also defined by its practical stunts and beautifully choreographed action sequences. Courtney Howard says that John Wick 3 elevates both elements.

John Wick 3: A eye-popping, jaw-dropping, show-stopping killer. Extends world-building dynamics beautifully, but also assigns meaningful resonance to character-driven action. Keanu Reeves is perfect, Asia Kate Dillon is magnetic & Halle Berry kicks ass.

Not bad for a franchise that was all started by a dog. The first film saw John Wick, a retired professional hitman, run afoul of some thugs who proceed to beat him up, steal his car, and kill his dog. This brings him out of retirement to hunt down those responsible.

However, his decision to come back results in him needing to make good on a marker he owed before going underground. John Wick: Chapter 2, follows Wick as he does this, but when Wick makes the decision to break the rules of the underworld that he lives in, he finds a price on his head and a lot of people trying to collect. That's where John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum picks up.

Assuming that the complete reviews come in as glowing as these social media reactions, John Wick will be the rare movie trilogy that sees its entire franchise getting stellar reviews. Scott Mendelson from Forbes is another who praises the new movie, though, unlike some, he doesn't necessarily think the third movie is the best.

Oh, and John Wick 3 is another gorgeous and inventive action extravaganza. I think JW2 is a "better" movie, but this one is completely entertaining and a living video game. Keanu Reeves is once again a force of nature. He actually looks his age, which adds to the pathos.

So basically, if there was any question, if you're looking forward to watching Keanu Reeves kick ass. John Wick 3 delivers. As Slashfilm's Hoai-Tran Bui, puts it, the movie rules.

Pure visceral cinema. After the dramatic world expansion of Chapter 2, Chapter 3 returns to a leaner, exhilarating story chock full of breathless, bone-crunching action and even a few laughs. I was sweating 30 minutes in. This movie RULES.

Is there anything wrong with John Wick 3? IGN's Terri Schwartz admits that some of the decisions perplexed her, but that the problems were far from big enough to impact her enjoyment of the film, saying...

Some of the storytelling and character decisions left me scratching my head and questioning motivations when I left the theater, but that won't stop me from going back for the inevitable John Wick: Chapter 4.

In addition, Mike Rougeau from IGN says that some of the additions to the mythology don't necessarily work, and some of it might actually be controversial for fans.

John Wick 3 continues to build on the series' mythology and has some of the coolest action and most memorable side characters of the entire series. I'm not sure about everything it adds, and certain things will be controversial.

Overall, it looks like John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is going to be everything that fans have been waiting for. Based on the fact that most movie franchises these days are trilogies, we certainly may have expected the story to end with Chapter 3, though based on some of these comments, it sounds like the franchise may not be quite through yet.

I for one am certainly looking forward to John Wick: Chapter 3, it's probably my favorite modern action franchise. I find both of the previous films endlessly rewatchable and if the new movie is added to that list so much the better.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum opens wide on Friday May 17.

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