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.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2018-08-02T10:34:50Z
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.