Excellently Choreographed, Well Filmed

Rating: 8/10 (11 February 2017)

I don't think I'm saying anything revelatory when I say that the John Wick series isn't about plot. Sure, the universe is compelling and interesting - a pervasive, underground crime community with strict rules and mortal punishment for breaking them - but these movies don't bring a lot to the table in terms of pithy story-line or stunning character portrayal. John Wick is about seeing Keanu Reeves effortlessly walk through one bad guy after another, coming out limping on the other side, bloodied, but ready to keep fighting.
I'm happy to say that this movie delivers on that front. The choreography was fantastic, and the relatively wide camera angles and long shots do an excellent job of showing it off.
There did come a point for me where the level of violence started to feel excessive. Whether I had reached my personal limit or whether the violence really was over the top, I'll leave up to you.
One thing I particularly liked about this movie was the sense that the rest of the world didn't exist. Where other movies get bogged down trying to explain how action heroes manage to exist within the rest of society and avoid the law, John Wick simply ignores the rest of society. It embraces its purpose, and excludes any elements that don't serve the goal of creating really gnarly action sequences. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is, and I appreciate that.
I didn't like it as much as the first movie, but I highly recommend it. I will happily watch it again when it's available to watch at home, and it wouldn't take much convincing to get me to see it again in theaters.