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‘John Wick: Chapter 2’
(Summit Entertainment)
By Lucas Allen
With 2014’s John Wick, Keanu Reeves has a found — since The Matrix Trilogy — a new franchise to call his own. In fact, it’s certainly much more stylish with its ultra-violence and fast-paced action. Those desiring more of the good stuff will be satisfied with the follow-up “John Wick: Chapter 2.” This time delivering a greater story and broadening the universe give the sequel more mainstream appeal than the first.
When we last left Wick, he was able to kill enough Russian gangsters to avenge both his stolen Mustang and his beagle, a gift from his late wife (Bridget Moynahan). Now with the return of his car and a new dog, he’s willing to stay retired from the assassin business. However, a former associate named Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) visits him with a new assignment. When Wick refuses, D’Antonio responds by burning his house down. (Fortunately, the dog lives this time around.) It’s enough to send Wick off to Rome, where he has to take out a member of a secret organization, who happens to be Santino’s sister.
When the assignment takes an unexpected turn, it sets off a violent chain of events sending Wick on the run. First, D’Antonio has his mute servant Ares (Ruby Rose) go after him, and then the bodyguard Cassian (Common) wants Wick dead as an act of revenge. Soon enough, Wick becomes the target of a bounty going out to every assassin around the world. However, with the help of his old rival Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), Wick is not going to take the whole thing lying down.
Much like the first film, Wick’s world is certainly unusual yet interesting enough for the sequel to expand upon — a secret world populated by assassins of any kind, who pay each other in pirate coins for weapons and other accessories no matter the assignment. Not only did the first film do a good job setting up the environment, the sequel does a better job expanding upon it, while having more fun with outrageous action sequences interacting with backgrounds. Yes, this movie doubles its headshots and other blood splattering moments as you may expect, so make sure it doesn’t gross you out.
The biggest problem with the first movie was the lack of plot despite the revenge setup, but the sequel successfully digs deeper into both character motivation and important plot points. With the benefit of a longer runtime, it gives the audience breathing room in-between the fight scenes. At two hours, the movie feels more like a quick sit, same as the first movie. If you think about it, putting the two films together in one three-and-a-half hour long movie would have created the ultimate action movie experience.
Reeves once again proves to be the most suitable for the role coming from past experiences with Speed and The Matrix. What he lacks in genuine emotion, he makes up for in serious, hard-edged movement in his fighting style. The movie’s also a character actor’s party with Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and John Leguizamo returning with new additions Franco Nero and Peter Stormare. The highlight is a mini-Matrix reunion between Reeves and Fishburne that will put a big smile on your face.
From the opening car chase to the final showdown, ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ is the superior action movie sequel fans will be watching forever at least until Chapter 3 comes out. The filmmakers knew from the beginning they had an interesting action franchise in the making, and this sequel didn’t disappoint.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for strong violence throughout, some language, and brief nudity)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.5 Stars (Out of Four)
