Movie Reaction: John Wick: Chapter 2

Formula: John Wick - 1 irredeemable act

Action movies evolve in predictable ways. The 70s were full of gritty heroes like Dirty Harry. When those got too serious, audiences turned to over the top shoot-em-ups like the Rambo movies and Commando. Eventually, that got old and Die Hard grounded things a little more. That is, until we got sick of that and The Matrix said "screw physics" and went superhuman. The response to that was the Bourne movies, with their shaky cam realism. It's no surprise that The Expendables brought a brief resurgence to the 80's excessiveness after that. John Wick feels like the natural next step after the Bourne era though. He's essentially Jason Bourne with a license and proclivity to kill. Not maim. Not incapacitate. Kill until dead.

The thing that made the first John Wick so enjoyable is also the reason why no one ran out to see it. It looked generic. It's a lean action movie that only has a plot as a device to get from one well-staged fight scene to another. It's hard to sell a movie on being well made. John Wick is technically just a man. He's not Neo, but he's spoken of like he's Neo. And that's why the character works. The whole movie is built around the idea the John Wick is indestructible. He's the main character in a first person shooter. When he's shot, it hurts him, but he keeps going. He has to reload his ammo one clip at a time, like anyone else. He's just better than everyone else. The mistake of watching a John Wick movie is wondering 'if' not 'how'*.

*How he survives, not if he survives.

Chapter 2 picks up shortly after the first movie. After retrieving his car that was stolen in the first movie, John (Keanu Reeves) returns to his home with his new dog, ready to retire again. No sooner does the cement dry than he gets a knock on his door from a man requesting that he makes good on a blood oath and do one last mission. After some cajoling, John reluctantly agrees to one last hit. This quickly spirals out of control and John has to shoot his way out of the situation across two continents. He's chased primarily by two assassins (Common and Ruby Rose) and hundreds of henchmen. He employs the help of people like Ian McShane, Lawrence Fishburne, John Leguizamo, and Lance Reddick along the way. The movie is strategic to not kill anyone they might want to have return later and is liberal with head shots and double-taps for everyone else. It's also determined to let John off the hook as much as possible when it comes to doing bad things (i.e. He's only doing it because he's been backed into a corner). Derek Kolstad (writer) and Chad Stahelski (director) have fun expanding out this assassin underworld. It's all over the top but in a self-aware way. Every single thing about the movie, including the end, is designed to allow many future chapters. And I'm fine with that.

As you'd expect from a film directed by a former stuntman (Keanu's former stunt-double, in fact), the stunt work is great throughout. Stahelski tries to stay with single shots as long as possible. The blocking and camera placement is always spot on. Despite a lot happening, the geography of a given scene is easy to keep track of. I'll happily take 'competent' over 'showing off' when it comes to fight scenes like this.

Spoilers don't matter for a movie like this, so there's one thing I need to make very clear. Nothing bad happens to the dog this time. They learned their lesson. It was an effective motivation in the first movie, but dipping back into that well would've been excessive. You can watch this one guilt-free.

John Wick: Chapter 2 isn't going to make a believer out of anyone. If gunplay in movies isn't your thing, this will be an interminable slog. Otherwise, it's perfectly enjoyable. While I've never minded Keanu as a screen presence the way others do, there isn't enough "Keanu acting" to scare anyone away. It's basically a more expansive version of Chapter 1 and that's all it's trying to be.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend