Homage to John Woo? (Mild spoiler)

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2017)

For years, I wondered why no action directors followed in the footsteps of John Woo, specifically his classics like "A Better Tomorrow," "The Killer," and "Hard Boiled." He pretty well created singlehandedly the "ballet of bullets" style; that is, structuring and pacing action flicks like classic musicals, with a series of tightly-choreographed set pieces (musical numbers vs gunfights/martial arts battles) connected by the barest bones of a plot and played out by stock characters whose motivations are sketched in broad emotional strokes. With the Chad Stahelski's first "John Wick" and Gareth Huw Evans' "The Raid: Redemption," it finally seemed a couple of filmmakers had picked up Woo's torch.
Don't know whether it was deliberate on Stahelski's part, but toward the end of "John Wick: Chapter 2" it appears he tipped his hat to Woo by inserting one of the latter's signature tropes - a flock of doves or pigeons suddenly taking flight. Stahelsi does it twice in the space of a minute or two - out of focus in the background when Wick and Winston are conversing, then much more explicitly when the Bowery King releases the bird in his hand and the others in his aerie take off. If it wasn't on purpose, it sure was a nifty coincidence.