John Wick:Chapter 2 Review

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2017)

I honestly think I am the only person who thinks this one is not as good as the first one. But I am not saying that it is a bad movie. And I will tell you why that is. Let's get to it.
Synopsis: After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life. Starring: Keanu Reeves Director: Chad Stahelski
The thing is the reason the first one was so good is because the directors didn't use the modern tropes that action movies have become synonymous with. This time around that changed. There were close up shots and shaky cams during a few of the hand to hand combat scenes. And that hurt the movie. Quite a bit in my opinion.
The story is a good one, just like the first movie. John came out of retirement for vengeance only for someone to say that John still owes him a favor. When John refuses he is attacked and has no choice but to take up arms again.
Keanu proves once again that he can still do action with the younger crowd. The two fight scenes he had with Common were good (see my previous statement as to why I don't think they were great). And the way he moved with the weapons, any military man/woman will tell you that it was flawless. It really seemed he put his heart into this movie.
The last complaint I have about this movie, and it's just a bit of nitpicking on my part, is that the movie could have ended about ten minutes earlier than it did. They could have saved the end of the movie for the beginning of the third movie. It seemed like they did that with the first one and this one. And honestly, I think that would have helped both movies in the long run.
The last thing of note, and I'm not complaining about this part, it's just really funny. The henchmen in this movie must get their training at the Stormtrooper Military Basic or James Bond Villain Henchmen Academy because they couldn't shoot. The only time John Wick missed was when he was facing Common, any other time he was right on. He was the only one in the entire movie who was.
Still though, the movie is a good movie. The two things I mentioned that I didn't like are miniscule to the bigger picture of the movie. The acting, the writing, the dialog, the action, the lighting, even the music all played well together.
So, I ask: Why haven't you seen this yet? Shame on you.
Rating: 7 out of 10