Fast and violent fun

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2018)

'John Wick: Chapter 2' is a sequel I didn't think they were going to make, but it is actually better than the first, if only because they now know what to do more and less of. It starts directly after the first film, but Wick (Reeves) now has a new dog. The initial car chase scene in New York is a pretty great way to start the film. Wick's still the same - brooding, wearing a suit, saying maybe 100 words in the whole 2 hours and killing people left, right and centre.
The plot, as much as there is one, is that Santino D'Antonio (Scamarcio) - some Italian mafia guy - wants Wick to kill his sister, so he's off to Rome to mess stuff up. This starts a long-running battle with fellow hitman Cassian (Common), which has some funny moments and some good fights.
I liked that there's a sort of 'Kingsman'-like global hitmen underground, but it does seem a little far-fetched most of the time, especially since there's apparently hundreds of them! The film definitely needed to use Fishburne, McShane and Leguizamo more. But Reeves carries it, running around and killing at least 50 bad guys. The scene at the end in the museum is really well done too. Nothing new or exceptional, but well-made.