Hide the pencils secret assassins, the Boogeyman is back...

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2017)

It's only a few hours since he killed every living Russian in New York City but he wants his stolen 1969 Ford Mustang back. Within the first ten minutes of Chapter 2 gun-fu, kung-fu and car-fu ensues with the best "I'm stealing my own car back from you" scene E.V.E.R. Seriously excellent car-fu stunt driving and by the end it doesn't really matter that much that the car being retrieved isn't really much of a car anymore.
JW wants to again retire but gets a visit from an Italian assassin who hands him a marker, basically an IOU coin, which JW must honour as this man helped him leave the assassin life 5 years earlier to be with his then living wife, Helen. The Italian wants his sister dead so that he can ascend to the High Table, a group of powerful assassins. JW at first refuses and feels the wrath of the angry Italian but thereafter realises if he doesn't help this Italian that his life will be in danger. JW travels to Rome to kill the Italian's sister. He gets a nice new suit, guns himself up and heads to the nightclub to kill the sister. JW finds the sister and allows her to die the way she wants to die but before leaving the nightclub bumps into the sister's bodyguard, played by rapper/actor/film producer/poet Common and then the kung-fu/gun-fu begins again. The killing was so hectic that I unfortunately forgot to do a body count. But it was full on, action packed and looked bloody convincing to me and the best thing is not one innocent person got shot. Bloody dam near perfect to me. JW and Common chase each other through the crowded streets in Rome but JW manages to make it back to the Continental Hotel (the safe haven) so they can't kill each other. In true assassin code they sit down and have a drink together at the bar and JW tells Common that the Italian ordered him to kill the sister.
When JW heads back to New York the Italian decides to double cross him and puts a $7M bounty on his head. Now everyone in New York City wants to kill John Wick! "I heard he once killed three men in a bar with a pencil, a f**g PENCIL...!" Secret assassins from every nook and cranny in New York City come out to try their luck at killing the Boogeyman. JW again bumps into Common, this time on the subway and a fight ensues. An extremely entertaining and stylised gun-fu chase happens with the every day public none the wiser to the attempted killing, either that or they are just too used to that sort of stuff going down...
JW then bumps into an old assassin Morpheus (sorry, I mean Laurence Fishburne). They sit and reminisce about old times and how JW once spared Morpheus' life and that Morpheus should now help Neo (sorry, I mean JW). Morpheus tells Neo where to find the Italian. There is no mention of a red or blue pill...
JW heads off to find the Italian before he takes his place at the High Table of assassins. People die. Lots of people. Brilliant gun-fu chase through a hall of mirrors exhibition in the museum (where the hell did they hide the cameras and production crew for this scene?). Deaf/mute girl (Ruby Rose) who is an assassin associate of the Italian fights JW here. He finally catches up with the Italian at the Continental after every other person in New York City is dead (I'm pretty sure). Winston (who runs the Continental) informs John that the High Table have marked him as ex-communicado and doubled the bounty on his head to $14M - every assassin in the whole wide world will be after him now! Because Winston is JW's mentor he gives him one hour to escape before putting the word out about the new bounty. He runs off into New York City with his unnamed pit bull in tow. This is where the third instalment of John Wick will begin from.
Acting - 5/5 - All characters held up well, were convincing Storyline -5/5 - rather detailed story line, I especially like how they write the dialogue on screen to emphasise it, or to translate it from Italian/Russian, or if it is hard to understand the foreigner's English Action sequences - 5/5 - the pre-movie training involved in the kung-fu, car-fu and gun-fu is outstanding. I especially liked the gun handling skills that JW portrayed in the film Cinematography - 5/5 - the buildings they filmed in, the camera angles used, the lighting (lots of scenes of JW half in/half out of light), the use of colour (or lack of it) in the film People I want to see in the next instalment - John Wick (obviously...), Morpheus, Winston, Helen (they have kept his dead wife so mysterious), unnamed pit bull, the guy that fixes up his car.
The movie showed great insight into the underground workings of the assassin world and in doing so set it up well for a third instalment. The film was directed by Chad Stahelski. Chad was Keanu Reeves stunt double in The Matrix trilogy. For that reason alone, I believe the John Wick movies are THE BEST action films of all time. Realistic and hardcore. John Wick the character, even though he is an assassin, is likable. He only kills the bad dudes. Not one innocent bystander gets hurt. He loved his wife, he loved his puppy and he loves his car. John Wick: Chapter 2 is as good as the first movie and I highly recommend that you see it on the big screen.