Great action and beautifully shot

Rating: 8/10 (12 February 2017)

There are a couple crazy things about this movie, not the least of which is the fact that Keanu Reeves is FIFTY-TWO! Can I please look that good in a suit when I'm his age? The other thing on my mind is what my top three favorite elements ended up being: lighting, sound, and score. I definitely did not expect any of those to even be on my radar after seeing an action film sequel. Now, you can take that as a slight against the rest of the movie, but I certainly don't. Each scene is beautifully and creatively lit, no matter the location. The sound design is probably the best I've experienced in the genre. And the score is diverse and perfectly paired with the tone of each scene.
This follow up expands on the hierarchy and rules set up by the original, with some occasional retread. Laurence Fishburne shares the screen with Keanu once more, but wasn't utilized very well. In his introductory scene he ends up explaining a past encounter that is far more intriguing than anything we see him do. In addition, he's explaining that scenario to the very person that was present at the time, making for some heavy-handed exposition. While I'm not usually a fan of the practice, I think a flashback would have been the better route to go.
I'm not usually a fan of Common, but he did better than I expected. I'm still trying to figure out if he was supposed to have an accent, though. There was a deaf and/or mute character that brought something new to the table. It also added to the Rosetta Stone-like ability of John Wick to understand not just multiple spoken languages, but sign-language as well.
Overall it was a worthy sequel. It's always a tall order to surpass the original, but this one comes close.