John Wick: Chapter 2

I was really hoping I would like this movie. I so enjoyed the first one. However, when the credits started to roll at the end I found myself wondering “What the fuck happened?”. Be warned that the rest of this review might contain a spoiler or two. One thing I really liked about the first movie was, as you can read in my review about that one, that it was a no bullshit, kill the bad guys and no emotional regrets, kind of movie. John Wick went all out for revenge and at the same time we got introduced into this cool world of assassins, safe havens, hidden “shops” for guns, classy tailors providing bullet proof costumes etc. etc. In this movie he is forced onto a job by a real asshole. He is constantly reluctant and walks around with a sad puppy face all the time. Of course said asshole screws him halfway through the movie and that would have been a good time to start get back on track with some decent payback story but unfortunately the script writers thought otherwise. After some more of the same shit no one really wins in the end (although one of the two adversaries suffer a more “permanent” setback than the other). Worse is that, in my opinion, in their eager to put together some crap drama this movie essentially screwed up the possibilities for a John Wick 3 unless they pull some rather big surprise rabbit out of the hat for that one. There are plenty of action in the movie of course but also her I feel that it was a bit too over the top. No one, absolutely no one, seems to be able to shoot straight except for John Wick. This makes the action feel more like a parody a’la Kill Bill than a more serious action, revenge movie. Yes it is cool to watch but only up to a point. Heck, if this would have been a Star Trek (TOS) episode Hollywood’s entire supply of red shirts would have been used up on a single movie. While I am bitching I should perhaps also mention that the amount of beating that John Wick seems to be able to absorb is … unbelievable. I did enjoy the movie but not at all as much as I hoped I would. To me it has a completely different spirit than what I remember from the first one and the ending is, again to me at least, not a happy one. Having said that the action sequences are as cool, crazy but cool, and violent as they are unbelievable. I found it a bit sad that they wrecked his nice car though. Overall a enjoyable movie but no match for the first chapter and I cannot bring myself to give it more than 3 out of 5 stars.

**All eyes on him and all guns pointed at him.** It was not an attracting title for a sequel. The first film was good, completely an unexpected, but I was expecting this one, even though not as much as I was excited to see 'Jack Reacher 2'. That film was good, but did not meet with its first film's merit. And this sequel, really amazing. One of best follow-up flick and better than the original. That feat considered very rare in cinema and here is the one. Entirely different than the first. I meant the storyline. A new action, a new adventure, and even on a bigger scale. Though the initial parts were average. I totally disliked that killing assignment Mr. Wick took in his hand, but what followed after made the film great, definitely not to be missed for that alone. Especially if you are an ardent action film fan. For me, that reminded me 'Kill Bill', but they are not the same kind, except the fighting concept with hundreds. Continued from a couple of days later where the previous narration had ended. Now the retired assassin, John Wick forced to take a final job, but soon he finds he was backstabbed. Every eye on the town on him and every gun pointing at him, there's no way he could get out of it easily. So, he has to fight them all, just in order to survive. Then what comes later are even more aggressive screenplay that's ends with left open the door for the third film. Now this became a stylish franchise. That's what happens when a stuntman takes up the directional job for an action flick. He did not write it, but he knew exactly how to create them, technically perfectly. Besides, he got wonderful, dedicated actors to achieve that. Not just Reeves, but all were awesome. Believe the third film would be a kick-ass, particularly the pace that could match with likes 'Crank'. Just watch it already and be prepared for the next, the mega finale. _8/10_

Picking almost right where the previous film ended, "John Wick Chapter 2" deals with the consequences of Wick's return to the assassin life and how he got out to begin with. As expected, it expands on the mythology hinted at in the first movie, with the revelation that there's a high council of sorts, other Continental hotels around the world, and a very widespread network of assassins. Also as expected, it ups the ante with bigger action sequences, and a much higher body count. We get to know more about some rival assassins played quite brilliantly by Common and Ruby Rose (whose character communicates solely through sign language; in many cases, this kind of thing is used as a gimmick to make the audience remember a character when they have nothing else to distinguish them, but it's not the case here and is used only as an aspect of the character; smartly done). Keanu Reeves...let's the Reeves of old come through a couple times, with a couple of bizarre and inappropriate inflections. Ian McShane's Winston expands a little bit, although he still refers to John as Jonathan, which is just wrong. If it's supposed to be some kind of an in-joke with them, they don't reveal anything about it. Again, I think there's more going on with Lance Reddick's hotel manager than they're letting on. And I was a little disappointed that Peter Stormare wasn't in more of the film, as he's always fun. Again, the world is very wide, and almost seems like everyone is involved with this underworld. There is an indication that that's not the case here and there, but we never get to meet anyone who doesn't know what's going on, which keeps some of that suspicion up. The plot follows a pretty basic structure. Actually, it follows a pretty rigid structure. In a two hour movie, it can be broken down almost exactly into half-hour sequences, something that struck me as a little odd. There are some minor plot twist. Nothing major or out of the blue, but at least there was an attempt. So now we come down to it. Is it better or worse than the first movie? Well, I would have to say "yes". It definitely ups the ante and is a much bigger film than the first movie, expanding on the mythology and the characters. At the same time, it falls into the trap that a lot of these bigger, badder sequels fall into, which is that with the bigger scope, it feels like they have to use a bigger yoke on everything in order to keep in reined in and from going off the rails on its own. In fact, they may have expanded the world too quickly, going from a city in the first movie to the entire globe in the second. That rapid expansion makes that bigger yoke much more percpetible and, while the ambition is admirable, at times I wondered if they may have bitten off more than they could chew. Still an enjoyable action film, and if you liked the first film, you'll most likely enjoy this one.