John Wick: Chapter Two

2017 action sequel

Rating: 15/20 (Dylan: 14/20)

Plot: John Wick, brought out of his short retirement in the events captured in his first movie, finds himself with a huge bounty on his head. He tries to connect with his new dog.

As my faithful readers might recall, I didn't like the first movie very much. I didn't like Keanu Reeves, at least when he was talking, and I thought the action scenes were redundant and predictable. It probably should have kept me from watching this one actually. I had plans to watch the first one again because I was wondering if I had been unfair to the poor movie. See, the main reason I hated it, more than likely, was because there's a guy I don't like very much who really liked it.

Instead, I reminded myself of the details of Chapter One by reading a plot synopsis and then dove right into Chapter Two. I'm glad I did because it's really good! Wick the character grows exactly how much you'd expect him to--that would be not at all--but this isn't the kind of movie that needs character development. In fact, something like character development is just going to get in the way with something like this. This doesn't worry about creating characters or including an unnecessary love interest or even throwing in many twists and turns. With an action flick like John Wick: Chapter Two, they're more interested in lighting a fuse and then watching Keanu Reeves run around killing everybody in the world. Seriously, it's Weng Weng type numbers we're talking about here.

But most of it is so beautiful! They find such great backdrops for Reeves and the unfortunate men (mostly) and women (a couple) to shoot. This is in-your-face stylistically with scenes taking place in fairly-well-lit catacombs and even an art museum. With nearly every action scene, the setting gives us lots to see, and at times, it's unfortunate that blood has to get splattered on things. If the rest of this series is just the director looking for interesting places for Reeves to do his killing and then choreographing said killing, I'll be pleased.

This installment brought back John Leguizamo and brought in the great Peter Stormare, Laurence Fishburne, and, most awesomely, Franco Nero. Franco Nero! I also liked the mute female assassin Ares played by Ruby Rose. Maybe they should have gone ahead and made Keanu Reeves mute, too.

There's one line he delivers that made me laugh, but I can't remember what it was. It wasn't supposed to be funny though.

This is set up for a Chapter Three, and although Reeves won't be any younger or more talented, I'll still look forward to it.