When I first watched John Wick, I remember thinking beforehand “Here we go again. Another action movie with no story and over the top clichés”. How wrong I was; it was epic. It was like the Matrix and a jet fighter having fun in a utility room. All of this however, worried me when they announced a sequel; what if the magic has gone, what if that brutal, realistic story that we loved has disappeared under a producer’s bank account? Well, I’m glad to say, it hasn’t, what it is, is a sequel that we wanted; a worthy successor to John Wick.
*SPOILER ALERT*
Derek Kolstad has returned to expand on the already cool and minted universe of the first film and has added to new and interesting touches to the life of a high-profile assassin. After the death of Viggo, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has tracked down his old car and returns home to settle down. However as soon as he returns, an old friend, Santino (Riccardo Scamarcio) turns up at his doorstep, asking him to return the favour that allow Wick to settle down in the first film. When refusing, Wick soon realises that the world that he once knew is coming back with a deep vengeance against him, and now finds himself on the run, with a bounty on his head. Now, let’s get something clear and out of the way, the dialogue is clichéd and cheesy at times, but the main body of the story still has that same stylistic character that we loved 3 years ago. It still has the power to leave you in awe, shock and excitement every 10 minutes. This isn’t a film you watch for good dialogue, you watch for the action, and John Wick 2 delivers that in spades.
This is what happens when you let a professional stuntman become a director; like giving a computer programmer the best computer in the world, there is no limit to what he could accomplish. Chad Stahelski clearly has a knack for action movies and not only does he give action at a five star rating, but he pays attention to the story and characters just as closely; he still understands that the story is the most important factor of a story. Keanu Reeves may not be able to pull off an English accent, but my god he can surely kick ass on screen. he hasn’t seen this much fun since the Matrix, and that was nearly 20 years ago. And like the Matrix, John Wick is still the hardened and emotional character we fell in love with from the first film. As with nearly every sequel, there are new characters, and with a cast consisting of Common, Laurence Fishburne, Peter Stormare, Franco Nero (The original Django) and Peter Serafinowicz and the charming return of Ian McShane and John Leguizamo, John Wick 2 boasts a truly likeable and impressive cast.
Let’s be honest though, action movies are never really about the acting or a chance to explore the mind of a character, that would be like going to watch a porn film to be entertained by the plot. It is all about the action and like its predecessor, John Wick 2 delivers that at the highest possible level. Virtually no CGI, no green-screen, all straight up carnage drenched in blood and gore. This is the way action movies of this type should be done, forget the computer, do it old school, people like it. It has everything; knife fights, gun fights, car chases and the myth that John Wick can kill with a pencil has been proved true.
Even the sound design feels just as analogue as the visuals. Thundering V8 muscle cars, opera meets cyberpunk, hard hitting high calibre gun fights, you can never get tired of this stuff. The sounds in this make Fast and Furious look like it was designed by Jane Austin and when you see that Boss 429 Mustang on screen… my GOD! This film is a genuine surprise for me, because it could’ve gone wrong so quickly and in so many ways, but it didn’t, it stuck to its guns and focused on how the previous film felt so good.
The biggest surprise for this film, for me at least, was how the score was. It is the same with the last film; Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard made a Frankenstein blend of techno, dubstep and rock to create a score that is really like nothing else out there. They have pulled off the same trick with the second film and from the face of it, I should hate it. But I don’t, it works really, really well. Coupled with licensed songs and generally consistent rhythm, the music of John Wick really does stand out from the rest of the industry. Sure, it may seem a little cheesy at first, but when you have an action movie, music choice like this helps to convey an epic sense of scale to the whole production.
One of the biggest things that John Wick 2 had to continue from the previous film, was the way it looked. The first one was very much a real head turner, you watch it once you will give it second glance. The sets weren’t exactly elaborate, they very straight forward and simple, but that was the key to it. It is the same case with John Wick 2, but with a tad more sophistication. The classy Italian version of the continental, the burning ruins of John Wick’s home and the for the climatic shootout, the amazing moving hall of mirrors, all of this is familiar, and yet somehow not. But the set design was only part of John Wick’s incredible look, the other part was by making the film one of the more artistic action films to come onto screens for the past 10 years.
The previous film had Jonathan Sela doing the cinematography and his credit for that was certainly the best work he had ever done. For the sequel, Dan Laustsen was brought along and while his take on John Wick may seem a little more conventional than the first film, somehow, it doesn’t really matter. Even though the whole film was shot digitally, it has a great film quality to its appearance. Lens flares are actually quite beautiful in this film, it feels as though it has a J.J. Abrams quality to it. Sure, it may not be as thought provoking as the last one, but honestly, I just don’t care.
Perhaps the only thing that is even better looking than the film, are the costumes that the cast wear. John Wick now has a proper tailor for his clothes and with that Italian style and passion, his suit looks great. Even the homeless people of New York look great, and that is a hard thing to pull off.
John Wick Chapter 2 is rare treat for action films; it is a sequel that really doesn’t disappoint. With some of the best action sequences since the Matrix, this is film that demands to be seen, but only if you have seen the first one, if you haven’t then you won’t have a clue what is going on. But if you have seen it, then this is party time for you guys.
I give this film an 8.5/10.
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