Movie Review: John Wick Chapter 2 (2017)

Summary: After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.

Pros:

Cast and Characters.

• Keanu Reeves as John Wick. I don’t care what anyone says. I love me some Keanu Reeves. He is awesome. He will always be awesome. John Wick is an ex-hitman and this picks right up from the first one. He doesn’t like when you take his stuff. He’s stoic, and he doesn’t talk often, when he does, you listen. He has anti stormtrooper aim. He’s the Boogeyman and everyone knows his name. He is amazing with a gun, he is physically amazing and he handles his business. He doesn’t want to be in this life, and keeps trying to stay away but something just keeps bringing him back in. Without spoiling anything… John Wick is awesome.

  • Keanu Reeves did most of his stunts himself and the man is in his 50s!! That’s awesome! I don’t think he is the best actor in the world, but he works in this film. He is John Wick. Being quiet, mostly working with his body and his actions is what makes John Wick really cool. Plus, he still sounds like Ted “Theodore” Logan sometimes with his delivery that makes some lines funny but I think that helps because some of the dialogue is so funny that only Keanu can say it. I totally don’t think about Ted when I see you in movies Keanu (if you just so happen to see this review).

• Common as Cassian. When they said his name I couldn’t help but to think about Rogue One lol. Anyway, he was really cool too. He starts off as a bodyguard to a politician but goes out for revenge for John Wick. He has some really good action scenes with John. He seems to be stoic like John but a bit angrier in some instances. I think Common did a good job, I quite enjoyed him in this role.

• Other Characters. We come in contact with a lot of people, Ian McShane plays like the head honcho of their Assassin organization, Riccardo Scamarcio is someone from John’s past, Ruby Rose as this assassin hitman. We get to meet a lot of people. They all have some awesome scenes.

Action. The action in this film is so good. It’s so easy to tell that it was well choreographed and that everyone involved worked really hard to make it look good and effortless. I think it worked so well. The action has been upped from the first film which makes that part of it better than the first. If you love action films with great fight scenes, this is your movie. It’s impossible to not be pulled in by the action.

Fight Scene with Common. There are a couple of scenes were John and Cassian face off and I just have to say that every time they do, it’s so awesome. There is a scene where they are walking in a train station or something, and they are trying to shoot at each other, but they keep hiding their gun from the civilians, it’s hilarious. Common really put himself out there in this physically demanding role, I was so impressed and surprised with him. He held his own against Keanu Reeves when it came to the physicality of their characters. I think all of those moments between the two are standout moments.

The Assassin World. So I love it when films create their own mythology or lore for their world and this film is no different. We got a taste of it in the first film with the Hotel, but in this film we get to see so much more of it. The Continental is like “holy ground”, you don’t conduct business there and it’s considered a sanctuary to the people involved, that’s pretty cool. It’s gets even cooler. We get to see John fully in this world and what the rules are. It’s pretty expansive. It’s like the mob but without the dramatic sit downs.

Ending Scene. You’ll know exactly what I’m taking about, but John goes to meet Ian McShane in Central Park and… that’s all I’ll say. Just know that I started to get stressed out even more and it was the end of the movie lol. It’s so unsettling and great.

The Directing. A lot of the choices chosen, especially during the action scenes were great. We could ACTUALLY see the fight scenes and follow what was happening. It’s so plain to see that it’s the actors actually doing these stunts because you can see them, there aren’t shaky cams or jump cuts, it’s straight forward and in your face. AWESOME.

Cons:

The emotional connection. I had to think about this for a moment, but I think the emotional weight that held the first film is gone here. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but without spoiling why John gets involved again, it prevents the viewer from having an emotional connection to him again. That may not be very important but considering that it was there in the first film, it would have been nice if it crossed over.

Over the top moment. There is this particular moment towards the end, where we see just how many people in involved in this world and there’s this one part, that while it was awesome, it was impossible lol. I can imagine some people going “really? come on!”

Ruby Rose. I wanted to like her character because she seemed like she was really cool and outside of a few moments, she was bland. A bit overdramatic and one of the last scenes she’s in, wow lol. Maybe she’s not an action person.

Overall, I loved this movie. It’s so fun, the action was great and was directed very well. Keanu Reeves owns this role and is so awesome in it. Knowing that he does his own stunts adds to the cool factor of the film and his role. Unfortunately, it is very similar to the first film so it doesn’t necessarily feel original but I think that’s okay for the type of movie it is, especially since the stakes are definitely upped here and the action is so much better. I don’t think it’s trying to really be anything completely new, it just wants to be a good time, which it is.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Have you seen John Wick: Chapter 2 yet? Are you interested? What are your thoughts on this film? Is it better than the first one? Tell me what you think in the comments below!

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