A sequel that lives up to the original film!

Rating: 7/10 (7 March 2017)

The first John Wick back in 2014 was a huge surprise and a welcome to, it has some of the best action brought to film ever. So inevitably I so really hyped to see the sequel which it really deserved since the original had done such a good job of introducing a character and opening a new world to audiences. However the first film did lack one thing, a compelling and complex story, so that was the one area the sequel had to improve upon.
Keanu Reeves is 52 for crying out loud, and he still to this day is one of the best action stars around, his performance once again is brilliant and is built upon more in different ways and methods in this film. Instead of solely focusing on the passing of his wife and all the emotion of his past life, this film takes the stance that he wants to try and re-build his life and have no connection with the "hitman" world anymore. The "stabbing in the back" of the characters story is fantastically portrayed by Reeves and brings a new sophistication to the character that is still so relatable to the audience in a strange way. Its the basic story of a guy just trying to do the right thing, make up for all the wrongs in his life and escape from all the negativity which anyone can relate to really. Reeves is fantastic once again, this franchise has reinvented him as an actor in my opinion!
The story of this film compared to the original is a far more interesting and complex, which is fantastic news considering I personally believe that was the main negative if the first. Getting John to help an old friend to eventually escape the world, only then to be "stabbed in the back" by this same person. This sets up John begin the character on the run instead of everyone else, like it sort of was in the original and interesting spin on the story of the character. The different locations that story take us one is also an improvement, rather than just stay in New York, Rome was the perfect choice for a film and character like John Wick. The ending of the film is really interesting for me and personally was really well done, it sets up a third film really nicely and will once again change the dynamic for the character in future films.
The action unfortunately is just terrible.............yeah Im joking, its is beautifully brilliant once again and some how they have improved this as well from the first. It shows a truly brutal nature of violence that Wick is capable of, which makes you wonder how is he going to kill next will it be a head shot, two shots to the chest or a pencil. Fantastic improvisation and out of this world choreography, this film shows the elegance of action at its purest form, every action film now needs to look up to the John Wick films because they are setting a new standard.
Finally there are a couple of negatives with the film, the villain or villains. There not as threatening as the villain in the first film which is a shame, Ruby Rose's character really doesn't work in this film and could of been completely written out of the story. Laurence Fishburne's character is criminal underused and will hopefully make a re-appearance in future films because he needed much more screen time than he got, to fully flesh out his character. All in all this film is as good as the first 75% out of 100, Reeves brilliant again, story more interesting, action out of this world. However the negatives in the film do way it down, hopefully there is a third film in this new franchise because it deserves it, 100% worth a watch thrilling from start to finish!