A rare case where the sequel outshines its predecessor

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2017)

So I really enjoyed the first John Wick. Of course they made a sequel, because Hollywood just can't resist. I didn't expect Chapter 2 to be nearly as good, much less surpass the last one but lo and behold, they did it.
John is the same assassin we saw from the first movie. Again, he is attempting to live the retired life and again, the rest of the world just won't let him. He doesn't have trouble adjusting back to being the living legend assassin he is known for, of course.
Fair warning, the first act is a lot of build up. It opens with an action chase scene but you might feel like it's not that impressive, compared to the intensity of the action scenes we saw in JW1. Then, the movie takes a little while to get him back in the swing of things and in killing mode again. Once he arrives in Rome though and he is on a new assassination assignment, all hell breaks loose and it's loads of fun non-stop. The action scenes are longer and even more frenetic this time around. They also stepped up the gore. There were quite a few people in the theater wincing at a good number of the death scenes. So be warned, you might not want to bring the young ones. This is not for the faint of heart.
This is a pure popcorn, shoot 'me up, turn your brain off, good time action flick. The film makes no apologies for what it is and in fact, it revels in it. Sure, there are some things that don't make sense. Sure, there is some subpar acting. Sure, it is not a movie for everyone but really, they know their target audience and with the movie holding steady at 90% on RT after being in theaters for a months and then some, it's safe to say their audience is pleased!