more of the good stuff

Rating: 7/10 (20 February 2017)

What can you say about John Wick2? Well Wow. I really enjoyed it. Chapter 2 is still slick, dark and gritty. Keanu is still gorgeous, ovviamente, beaten up and the deadliest thing both sides of the Atlantic (this time) and whilst he is bullet proof he's still barely standing; as it's apparently just a few days after the first one finishes. The story is still simple; people want to kill him, he wants to retire and be maudlin over his wife, and pet his new dog, and so he has to stop them by killing them first. Thing is, in JW2, more people need killing – someone from his past calls in a marker (a promised favour).
I had been itching to see JW2 since the first one left the cinema, and saw it on a Valentine's Day preview and wasn't disappointed. As sequels go, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the first, but it exceeded expectations by a long way. I loved it. Entertaining and exciting, some amazing kills by Reeves and his physicality again proved to be awesome; but whilst it's as good as the first one it doesn't have the emotional element or the more intimate settings and direct threats to his life. I say direct, I should say the whole film is a direct threat to his life but it's not so personal. Somehow.
The body count is like a first person shooter video game. If wall to wall violence isn't your thing, this film isn't for you. Reeves says more, and the scene is changed from NYC to Rome, and there's more story in terms of the "high table" underground royalty and the wider net of the Continental Hotel world; the Sommelier (awesome scene with Peter Serafinowitcz) and the Jewish bank vaults, the tailoring service etc as he prepares for his mission, but something of the original's slick noir, graphic novel feel and look is lost. Ian McShane is still wonderful as the Continental NYC "King" and Lance Reddick as the Concierge, Charon providing some very dry comic relief, and John Leguizamo puts in a reprise of his actual mechanic character – as opposed to a "Mechanic" like John himself. It's less subversive, and whilst watching the first one was like an entrée into a dark world, a clandestine peep, this one feels like it's all in the open and everyone knows about it.
The Italian bit is wonderfully showy and reminded me of the Vampire genre, but you have to contemplate how many hit men/women there are in the world that you can have a monarchy, a seeming government and entire community that large – and the Vatican is in on it – and it would appear that the whole population of NYC are trained assassins. It's more of the spectacle than the first and that was a negative for me. It is John Wick on a bigger scale sequels don't usually manage that (Terminator 2 is clearly the stand out exception) but this really does, but as I've said, it's bigger at a cost. It lost something in translation.
As said, it's bloodier than the first. Some of the splatter in close up kills in the first were shocking, but in Chapter 2 almost unnoticed in the carnage left in John's wake. At one point in the catacombs of Rome I wondered whether it wasn't all CGI as there were so many bodies being dispatched and you barely saw them and I got a bit bored – the scene went on too long and I started thinking it was all getting a bit silly. But then there are a few kills and scenes which were brilliant – and made audience members exclaim – the pencil scene (yes, he does it again with a pencil), the sumo Japanese guy, and the scene on the NYC metro with Common and the "professional courtesy" were very good to watch. Actually all Common and Reeves' fight scenes were very good, and the stunt men used were fantastic (I know Reeves does most of his stunts but I'm sure not for the stair falls).
I really enjoyed it. Easily as good as the first but different. Not as good overall, in the same way, but along the same lines. Some may think it better but either way it is very good cinema viewing – it can fill a big screen – and a must see if you like this sort of thing. Direction was good, clever, and trying to capture the artiness of the first, and doing a pretty good job but for me, it was a little too fantastical – stepping over the border from thriller/action to dark-fantasy. As with the first, it doesn't explain anything, you are dropped into the world of Wick and you have to find your own way. It still doesn't explain who he is but there is another shower scene where you see the tattoo hinting at his past. There are even hints to Reeves' career past as well; Laurence Fishburne on set with Reeves for the first time since the Matrix and they exchange a quote from the franchise. I am trying to think whether Reeves and Common (previously in Street Kings) have the same thing "exigent circumstance" or something.
I will see it again before it leaves the cinema.