It's an Anime! (sort of..)

Rating: 5/10 (5 June 2017)

I am definitely not a regular anime fan. I have only seen 6 or 7 of them, but there some generic characteristics i saw in this film that kinda make feel like i was watching one. Yes, know it sounds strange, but it will make sense in a bit..
1. The everyone is killer universe. 95% of all the people involved in the story are assassins. Some lower some higher rank, but they all seem to be involved in the same business. The ones not involved, police, fire department, regular people, are also quite familiar with the concept and they either enable the characters or look the other way while shootouts happen, as if they know exactly what's going on.
2. The Secret Society who controls everything. OK, that's not a new idea, but we usually see it fantasy movies. (And anime.) All around the world secret customer service, with secret hotels, bars, all controlled by some all-powerful, mysterious guys in dark suits with ponytails, a special secret currency and sacred blood oaths.. It's more Underworld than Bourne.
3. The character design. The all have some interesting feature, again very common in anime. The boss(anime lingo) has his creepy Italian accent, the boss's sister has the white dress, the boss's sidekick is a girl in a suit, has androgynous look, doesn't speak and she's good with guns.You really can't go more anime than that! John Wick has long hair and we see some other interesting hair styles and goatees through the film.
4. The over the top killing. Easily 100+ in this one. And with a promise at the end to kill all of them.. It's cartoonish and gory and makes no sense for an action movie but it's again very common (and praised) in anime.
Final thoughts. As a sequel to the first movie it sucked. It all happens in a completely different world. A fantasy one. All of its aspects are cartoonish. The whole thing develops in this weird universe of secret societies and secret codes with an OP main character who fights his way through in a survival mode setting. The only movie i've seen similar to this one is Wanted (2008)with James Mcavoy, which IS labeled a fantasy movie and it's based on a comic and it was funny and silly and that's why it worked. John Wick 2 is darker than that, it's supposed to be serious and set in a non- fictional world but at the same time it kinda looks fictional.
Animation gives you the right to set a non-fictional world but also but put some fantasy characteristics which make things more interesting. John Wick has all of those characteristics and if it was a manga adaptation i would have enjoyed the silly plot and quirks, but as it is, i think it fails.