Keanu kills everyone. Again.

Rating: 5/10 (4 February 2020)

I love me a bit of the old ultra-violence, but I also like a plot of some kind to go with all of the gunfire, blood and broken bones. Failing that, the gory mayhem had better be something special - something that breaks new ground in terms of action cinema. John Wick Chapter 2 is relentlessly violent, Keanu Reeves' eponymous hitman laying waste to almost everyone he crosses paths with, once again finishing most victims with a shot to the head, but the action is simply more of the same, director Chad Stahelski bringing nothing new to the table.
This sequel sees Wick being forced out of retirement to honour a 'marker', criminal Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) calling upon the quasi-mythical hitman to repay his debt by assassinating his sister Gianna D'Antonio. Wick refuses, which results in his house being burnt down and his life being put on the line. Realising that he will only ever have peace if he agrees to Santino's request, Wick kills Gianna, and massacres her henchmen; however, in order to tie up any loose ends, Santino double-crosses John, putting out a contract on him. Now Wick has to battle lots of other hitmen and women. Luckily for him, they're all rubbish and easily killed. Miffed at being betrayed, John goes after Santino, meaning that he has to fight even more gunmen, but they're all a bit rubbish too. Wick gets shot in the gut and stabbed in the leg in the process, but is able to shrug off the pain, continuing to cut a bloody swathe through the bad guys to get to his target.
If kick, punch, blam, blam, blam is all you want for 2 hours, with very little variation in style, lots of CGI blood, and nothing to tax the brain, then have at it - it's not unwatchable, just unremarkable. To his credit, Stahelski ends the film well by nicely setting up things for a third film. I just hope he doesn't give us the same thing all over again (Chapter 2 even repeats the novelty subtitles that I found so irritating in the first film).