Good plot, great action

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2018)

John Wick: Chapter 2 is the 2017 sequel to 2014's John Wick. Now I must admit off the bat, I did not see the original before I saw this film; in fact, as of writing this review I still haven't. There was no problem for me getting into the story, characters, and the world of this movie, without viewing it's predecessor. It stars Keanu Reeves as John Wick, an assassin working for a sort of corporation of killers, and he wants out of it for good. But he is forced to repay a debt and brought in to do a job. What will result is much more than he signed up for, and he will have to kill many, many people if he's to stay alive.
The film is well directed by Chad Stahelski, who also did the original. It has a cast, some known names, others familiar character actors, and a few people that I saw for the first time here, who seem all really well suited for their roles--roles which are dynamic and memorable, if admittedly not very deep (though they don't really need to be). This universe in which these characters exist is committed to by the film in a way that makes you look past its absurdities, and sometimes even feels like it could somehow exist. But it's the action where this movie clearly excels. Gun-play, knife-play, martial arts are intertwined in kinetic, bloody sequences, with some of the better fighting choreography I've seen from movies of recent years. There are certain formula action-movie elements here, like the way it shifts between one-on-one and one-versus-many fights; but they're staged in such a meticulous, clever ways as to hardly ever feel cliched or stale. If John seems a little too invincible, I can kind of forgive that too. The film moves along at a nice pace, with interesting scenes in between the ones with John blowing tons of people away, including a hypnotic sequence of Mr. Wick gathering weapons and protective gear for his forthcoming mission.
Bottom line: this is an action film with heart, style, and wit. It doesn't quite add up to a great action film in my opinion, but in many facets it's bloody brilliant. And I still look forward to one day seeing the original John Wick.