Too much with Too Little

Rating: 4/10 (11 February 2017)

I had been pretty excited to see John Wick 2. The first movie was incredibly refreshing. It was a nitty gritty, original story. It explained only what the story needed to make sense. While we do not know much of Mr. Wicks past, The story line of "John Wick" was linear. It gave a reason why and gave resolutions to the events while maintaining a good and elegant ambiguity. I felt as if I didn't need to know more in order to understand who Mr. Wick was yet I felt like I knew the universal Why.
Now, we come to John Wick 2. The movie starts out with a bang. It was full force. It had a little bit of extra closure, which is always a good thing. It helped instill the image of how dangerous and brutal Mr. Wick really is. A man of conviction. Excellent.
After this the new story begins. It was explained but there was no Definitive reason. Simply, When Mr. Wick got out someone helped him. Now he must repay that debt, once it is paid off, he is free. While this is a reason, I felt as if it wasn't concrete. To add to the reason of the movie, his house is blown up after he refuses to complete the blood debt. Fueling Mr. Wick to complete the debt knowing full well that Mr. Wick will certainly deal with the extortion at some point during the film but the reason was much weaker this time around. They almost condemned themselves by creating such a moving and powerful catalyst in "John Wick." I am not saying I wanted to see another dog die but this story line for lack of a better phrase was "meh". Then the new story takes off, yet I felt as if the flow of the movie was very rough, I almost felt bored at certain times. Then during the action scenes, I felt as if it was a bit over the top, exaggerated. During the first movie, things were kept in the realm of possibility. Keanu Reeves made me believe he was able to do the things that he did partly because he did. The training and effort he put into this role was outstanding and was truly inspiring. "John Wick" was great because he wasn't invincible, in fact they made it very clear he was vulnerable yet he was a determined man fighting with great motivation. I felt as if they went away from that during "John Wick 2." There were to many bad guys, in unrealistic settings. I believe it could be possible for a trained hit man to defend his home from 12 men. But I find it much harder to believe anyone could go into a museum and kill that many men. Or even survive a dark tunnel system against that many men virtually unharmed. At one point, I felt as if half the people in New York city were hit men or worked for this secret empire.
There were a concession of fight scenes in broad public even on a subway cart with people just sitting in the back. No reaction from them, no one trying to really flee ( even though the doors say do not enter, they do open up, people do it all time.) Some of which were flat out ruined by the Previews. I did not need or want to see the pencil in the preview.
I could on, and pick the movie apart, But I will not. Most of the movie felt unbalanced, at times, even weird as if they were trying to add an unneeded deep substance to it and failed. (the scene with Gianna D'Antonio. I felt like it was shot for the Blu-ray Cover, it felt phony almost.) As if they were forcefully trying to slow things down then come roaring in with over the top action scenes. It did not have the same flow as "John Wick." Nor did it have the same elegance to it. It maintain the same ambiguity that I loved in the first movie but for some reason I felt as if kept asking why. I feel as if the title of the film had been something like "John Wick, The Continental Demise Part 1." I would have been more open to the lack of absolution in this film. While the odd linear story line of this film had actually been completed, this was not a movie in its self. It was a only part of a bigger story, not a stand alone movie yet was named and filmed as if it was trying to be. I was disappointed by this film. While the acting for the most part was superb expect for Mr. Wick and Sommelier. They tried to force the same relationship that Mr. Wick had with Charon. For some reason I felt as if Charon and Mr. Wick had a deeper respect for one another then most of the other characters. They had a bond. They tried to force that same feel, the same bond it seemed.