John Wick 2

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2017)

With the plethora of terrible and unnecessary sequels these days, recently "Inferno", "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back", and "Independence Day: Resurgence", "John Wick 2" is a welcome and refreshing surprise.
Right off the bat, the film starts with a chase, and it rarely lets up. After this opening chase, which concludes with John getting his car back, he is confronted by Santino, a man that he made a sacred oath with in order to escape the underworld of hit men was involved in. Since he came back to that world in the first film (and the beginning of this one), he has broken this oath. He is now brought back in to (supposedly) do one last favor for the man that he owes.
The character of John Wick himself is actually quite a troubled one. As you know if you've seen the first one (which you should watch if you plan to watch this one), John Wick had a wife that died, and now all he has left from that time in his life is his dog and his car. He is first forcefully brought back into the hit-man lifestyle, but it is possible that he enjoys his rampages and fits of vengeance, because without a wife or a home, it is all he has. At the same time, he clearly feels guilt and regret for much of what he's done, and what he's lost because of his actions. John is lonely, and his loneliness twists him throughout the story.
While John Wick may be surprisingly layered for an action hero, the film is also incredibly efficient in the information we are given and how it is given to us. John Wick is the strong, silent type, and most of what we know about him is shown through the editing and the acting, which bluntly conveys exactly what it should, with a very physical performance from Keanu Reeves. The many other performances in the film are fantastic as well, especially Ian Mcshane and the short cameo by Laurence Fishburn. The world building is also impressively done, with most of it just being shown to us, and only what needs to be explained being explained to us, such as the two rules of this business. Sometimes, character and world building is woven into the action. Oh, and what incredible action. This has - hands down - some of the best action scenes in this decade, and probably even in subsequent decades before it. Chases, hand to hand combat, shootouts, you name it; it's all here, and it is all fantastically shot and edited, perfectly choreographed, and consistently creative and intense. The frame is wide and the shots each last long enough to have a clear view of the brutal and precisely choreographed action, unlike many action scenes in modern Hollywood. There were several moments where my jaw was literally dropping at how intense and consistently original all of the action was. Even though John takes out hundreds of people, there is always a genuine sense of struggle in each fight, and each encounter is unpredictable, with a constant sense that a fight could break out at almost any moment.
The constantly vibrant color palette, the stylized subtitles, and the sense of humor throughout the film also all show that the film isn't taking itself too seriously. It knows that it is over the top, and it realizes the absurdity of the situations, and often makes comedy out of it. It is self aware about the crazy 80's-style action shclockiness; it knows exactly what it is, which is a non-stop, full force, fun action film, with just enough time in between to give context, characters, and motivations that you understand. It is the rare sequel that surpasses its predecessor, and one of the best action films I've seen in ages.