Lots of Action, Not Much Substance

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2017)

I really enjoyed the first John Wick. It was stylish, lots of action, and had an anti-hero you could root for. The character was depressed, heart sick over the loss of his wife, and just not interested in being an assassin any longer. Then thugs mess with him and he goes on a rampage.
Chapter 2 takes up right from the end of the first movie. He wants his car back. Then he tries to retire again, but fate won't let him. So, again he goes on a killing rampage. Its the same as the first movie, just less plot development and a lot more bad guys to kill repetitively. The main villain was lame and the mute bodyguard was underdeveloped. The inclusion of Laurence Fishbourne was a bit of a stunt, I guess to give a wink to the Matrix movies. His character is pointless and doesn't have much to do.
Still, Chapter 2, has its moments. The fight scenes are well staged. The car chases were kind of lame, but some of the stunts within those chases were exhilarating. Common as a fellow assassin is a nice counterpoint to Wick. Their scenes crackled with charisma. Hopefully he returns for Chapter 3. Likewise, Iam McShane as the Continental Manager is fun to watch as he directs traffic at his establishment. The fights and stunts, as I said, are fantastic and well choreographed.
The first movie was long on action, so this one should have dialed it back a bit and set up character development for the last movie in the trilogy. Unfortunately, it was just a lot of people getting shot in the head.
I still enjoyed the movie and its running time, while a bit long at 125 minutes, didn't feel too long. Hopefully, in Chapter 3 the stunts will be used to enhance the plot rather than cover up for the lack of one.