You know I think it’s a little misleading to call the John Wick films action movies, they’re more like action-porn, but you know, high class action-porn with like a storyline and everything. Of course like any good action-porn, it starts with the action foreplay and teases us and teases us with all the potential gun-play and then we get hit the full-blown gun-porn going all over the walls, along with your back, neck and chest to the point where you’ll probably be spent before the end of the film.
So Keanu Reeves is back as John Wick, a hired gun who kills like he’s Neo in The Matrix - however after killing eighty-four people in the last film over a dog and a stolen car, he is simply looking to retire once more; but when an old debt is called-in, John Wick must lock and load one more time for a gun-porn-extravaganza. Now this film could have easily run the risk of being another Taken 2 or Hangover 2 but instead, director Chad Stahelski delves further into the shady and clandestine assassin society and brings an assortment of new and returning actors with Deadwood’s Ian McShane returning and a Matrix reunion with Lawrence Fishburne. We also have Common as a hard-hitting assassin and Ruby Rose as, well, just a mute version of Ruby Rose, so you know, if that’s your thing…
Much like the original, the film is incredibly creative with all it’s kills. Influenced from the Korean action movies, we have unflinching death-battles that involve Glock 17’s, Glock 26’s, AR-15’s, Benelli M4’s, fists, vehicles, pencils, knives and rope just to name a few. Once again, it’s more of a ballet of action sequences than the Jason Bourne-style shaky-cam of the last decade and it’s just as refreshing as it was in the first film mostly because they build so much on all the things you loved in the first one. There is an array of assassins, some cool, some funny, but all brutal killers; we have an expanded understanding of the secret societies John Wick is associated with and the film still plays with the extreme hard-hitting violence being broken up with a samurai-like respect for holy ground and moments of peace.
Of course don’t let the quiet moments fool you into thinking the film has pacing issues, the movie does some really clever editing to propel the narrative forward and for the most part you’re just white-knuckling it for the majority of the film. We delve deeper into the world both inside and outside of The Continental and before the credits roll and you’re clearly spent the filmmakers are good enough to confidently let us know that there’s another John Wick film coming and all I can say about that is: where can I buy my ticket for that film?
John Wick Chapter 2 gets Four out of Five spent shell casings all over the walls, along with your back, neck and chest.
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