John Wick: Chapter 2 2017

At first I have doubts because of the shaky start and the uninspiring fights with the grunts, especially in the catacombs tunnel: flashy gun-kata choreography that is not sufficiently captured by bad camera works (why the continous wide shot?) that cannot capture the kinetic action and typical cliched henchmen who bring fist to a gunfight (and chasing Wick in an open space - at least the henchmen in the first film had reasons not to injure the crowds). Such a missed opportunity when other films that focused on flashy gun-kata-esque action can provide dynamic camera works better (i.e. The Raid, Equilibrium).

The action with other assassins however are more well-filmed, especially with Cassian. Camera tries to capture the speed nicely, with occassional zooming out to break the tense. Despite of that, like the henchmen fights, the fast-paced, skull-crushing action still lacks impact--lacks the "oomph" that makes each blow feels painful to the audience.

Punches, stabs, and cracks were designed (through sound and camera and I guess choreography) in a rapid succession, that when the ultimate killing blow finally strikes, it doesn't feel sastisfyingly impactful. It feels like just bodies after bodies to get rid off; which may represent what Wick has in mind as he murders the seemingly endless assassins, but for the audience, it makes Wick's struggle for survival feels trivial. Particularly so since the film decides to give supposedly grievance injuries to Wick for handicap - cracking bones, deep wounds - but Wick's fast and easy recovery as the plot progresses make those handicaps feel trivial.

That said, John Wick films are still one of the better ones in gun-kata(-esque) department, an action genre not many filmmakers seem to want to tackle. The universe is also interesting as a comic book film. But Chapter 2 doesn't live its full potential. Hopefully the setup for next sequel can spice it up much better.

John Wick was a success, albeit violent and silly, due to a slightly different take on the tried and trusted bestest hitman in the world that everyone knows about, surely the worst thing for that job but that’s another conversation and the perfect casting of Keanu Reeves in the role. Therefore it really hurts me to say but all of the above reasons for the first film being so good seem to be the same reasons for the ‘Chapter 2′ being so bad.

You can only assume it’s the direction that does this. Chad Stahelski appears to have been the director this film on his own, rather than in tandem with another as in the first film, he is a top stunt coordinator and this film shows exactly that.

What we have here appears to be a film made for the shoot-’em-up, beat-em-up video game generation. People who want no character development, no real peril, no proper story, just stunts, action, death, blood, guns and disposable henchmen over and over again until the end credits roll.

Just because John Wick is visceral, kinetic and action orientated it doesn’t mean if you stuff all of that into the running time with little attention paid to anything else you’ll get entertainment guaranteed.

The plot holes and idiotic logic in this film were so large and prominent they could be seen from the surface of the moon without a telescope and then throw into the mix the unrealistic bullet-proof suit and an armoury the average nation would be envious of and you have just got rid of a strong point of the first film. Fighting, shooting and killing people is difficult and it hurts. In this film it doesn’t. In fact, it’s a bit like a hard work out at the gym, leaves you feeling tired, makes your legs ache but you get over it fairly quickly. For the number of people John Wick kills in Chapter 2 the criminal world should have run out of heavies to hire by now. Who hires them, why do they work for any of these mobs, why are they so useless? Questions asked by Austin Powers that are re-enforced by John Wick Chapter 2 without even blushing.

John Wick in the first film was an ‘impossible’ hitman but he got hurt and had a motive. In this film he is a super-human and Reeves, so good in the first film, is on coasting mode throughout most of it. He is ably backed by the ever-reliable Ian McShane and ‘war-horse’ like Lance Riddick and Laurence Fishburne but even their experience and talent can’t throw a lifeline to the utter tosh that is up on the screen.

This film is mind-numbing, insulting to the intelligence, violent for violence sake and has a ‘hero’ who is impossible to best, beat or even hurt, you certainly will not kill him.

Worst of all, it is boring.

"You don't f**k with the devil then act surprised when he turns up."

John Wick: Chapter 2 is one of best and most exciting action movie I've seen in awhile. It accomplished everything it needed to do and much more. I mean, any action movie that starts with a Buster Keaton homage is always a sign of something great. A squeal that's bigger, more violent, and plenty more head shots.

Not as emotionally engaging as the first movie and it doesn't need to. In all honestly, I liked this more than it's predecessor. It expands the universe of assassins and making tension a lot higher for John. While it dose come off a bit ridiculous, but it's self aware of what it is and it's not trying to be very serious.

This movie is a prime example of how action should be done. Outstanding gunfights and every action sequences is filmed with delicate care, making every shot and kick almost into a rhyme. Nothing shaky or quick cutting. Just the right balance and mixture that delivers a thrilling ride.

Can I just say that Keanu Reeves is a nature treasure. Seriously, this guy is on is way of being the greatest action star of are time. He is John Wick and no one can top that. A legend in the assassin world. Just by uttering his name can send chills down hitman backs. But he isn't all invincible, as he dose get beaten up pretty badly in this movie. Blood, sweat, and struggling for breath. You get the feeling that this could be his last mission, but it's the thing deep inside of him that drives him forward. It makes him an interesting and compelling action movie character.

The villains have something quite unique about them. At first I thought Ruby Rose was going to give John Wick a true fight, but that was not the case. Instead she was mysterious. Riccardo Scamarcio crossing John Wick life and him later regretting it, making everything worse. They not the best or the most in depth bad guys, but it dose separates them from being boring villains.

That's what I like about John Wick Chapter 2. It's not just a dumb action movie like The Fast & Furious series. There's never a scene where John Wick goes through three buildings with his car and jumps out just in time. I'm not saying this movie is realistic or anything, but it's grounded enough for you to care of whats going on.

Overall rating: I can be very picky when it comes to action, but this surpass my exceptions. I enjoyed it for what it was and I will be looking forward to Chapter 3.

Oh and that pencil scene was freaking amazing.

I didn't love the first John Wick movie because it lacked substance. The so called "gun-fu" gimmick wasn't enough to earn my praise and the few action scenes in the movie were so brief and overrated. But this movie on the other hand really felt like a true action adventure movie. The universe was really fleshed out and many interesting characters and concepts where introduced, even John Wick himself had a lot more character development in this movie compared to the last which was simply "he killed my dog, gotta kill him".

The action scenes were WAY better since they weren't confined to small buildings and were actually spread across multiple locations in large public areas. The only thing i didn't like was how most of these public areas were completely void of civilians, and it seemed that 90% of New York's population was comprised of assassins which looked pretty ridiculous. The police should've gotten involved at least once and there needed to be way more civilians running around, screaming, taking pictures etc.

Still, the action sequences were extremely slick with great choreography, especially the one on one fight scenes between Keanu and Common. I hope they make a third (and final) film.