"No one gets out and comes back without repercussions."

Rating: 7/10 (14 September 2018)

No doubt about it, "John Wick: Chapter 2" is a slick action thriller, but man, oh man, how can any one person absorb that kind of punishment? John (Keanu Reeves) gets shot, stabbed and hit by cars multiple times and postures a limp now and then to indicate he might have gotten just a little bit hurt. Besides that, he almost never makes a wrong move when hunted by dozens of assassins all at the same time. Okay, I get it, Reeves is the star of the picture and has to come out on top, but I'd like a little more credibility put into these kinds of stories. But I guess that's the whole point, suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours and just go with all of the over the top action the film makers can put together.
I do have to say that the opening scene of the brightly lit downtown Manhattan cityscape was about the finest cinematography you can hope to come up with just about anywhere. The picture maintained that same high level of consistency with the sleek settings and the richly detailed environs of The Continental. I also like the entire idea of this particular mob having a code that's inviolate, even for someone like Wick who crossed the line by taking out Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) on Continental grounds. Ian McShane's Winston had a nice way of putting things in perspective for Wick to show him that the repercussions weren't going to be personal. After all, rules are rules.
My favorite scene was the hit on Gianna D'Antonio (Claudia Gerini), not so much for the bullet to her head, but for the way she took control to demonstrate she would die on her own terms and not her brother's. That was really quite a remarkable and original scene that makes the film more memorable for me than it otherwise might have been.
Anyway, for a film with a cast of thousands who are either hit men or getting killed themselves, this is quite the adrenaline rush. Again, I emphasize that if that's what you want when you come to a picture like this, then Wick Two delivers in spades. And with the unequivocal ending, Wick 3 ought to escalate the body count exponentially.