John Wick: Chapter 2 - directed by Chad Stahelski
This movie is what you get when your $30,000,000 predecessor makes $88,000,000.
It is bigger in every way apart from one.
This sequel cost $40,000,000 and has to date made more than four times that in box office revenue.
It has a much higher body count and more elaborate sets and action set pieces.
But what it doesn't have is the sense that it needs to happen for story reasons.
The first film was pretty much a complete story with the titular anti-hero serving up a suitable revenge on those who had dared to kill his dog, steal his car and dishonour the memory of his beloved late wife.
But of course a sequel needs some sort of reason to exist and even if I don't find the plot particularly effective in doing so the mere fact that this film like the one before it is a huge amount of fun seems like reason enough.
"John Wick: Chapter 2" begins at a run with a car chase and a high body count fist leading to gun fight.
Seemingly whatever loose ends from the last film are tidied up before a new twist is introduced in the form of Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) who forces Wick to take a job to assassinate his Sister who is occupying a seat on the High Table that he wants.
There is talk of a marker - a sort of blood oath- that John has with Santino so he doesn't have much choice.
Besides- Santino blows up John's nice new house with a grenade launcher.
He doesn't kill the dog though with the huge explosion however.... a concession to the audience rather than logic I would venture.
These events allow for two things.
Firstly John relocates to Italy for the hit job and secondly it puts an awful lot of fresh bodies in the way for him to 'off' in ever balletic ways.
One of the features of the John Wick movies are the highly choreographed gun and fist fights.
Keanu Reeves is superb pulling these off and his grace and dedication combined with some slick camera work and equally deft editing mean that the action is every bit as good as it was last time.
I feel that these films are almost single handedly carrying on a genre that has succumbed to the stupidity and excess of the likes of the Transformers and Fast and the Furious movies.
They are frequently over edited and lack a basic geography in the action scenes.
No such issues here - everything that Wick does makes perfect sense and is never confusing even when there are a dozen figures on screen involved in the action and it is set in a house of mirrors!
Common and Reeves get two terrific standoffs with the second one producing a wonderfully comic moment.
Special credit to the lighting and set design too. The colour palette utilises nicely contrasting blues and oranges in many scenes and bright whites in others.
This is a great looking movie.
So yes- this is a really, really well made action film and that really is a rare thing these days.
And wait until you see what can be achieved with a pencil....
On the negative side of the ledger I still find John's refusal to kill female opponent's baffling given that he is frequently referred to as The Boogeyman - a legendarily intimidating and ruthless killer.
Last time it was Adrienne Palicki's Ms Perkins who benefited from Wick's lady-mercy.
This time it is Amber Rose- a mute bodyguard assigned to protect Santino.
Wick seems very reluctant to kill these women even as they are trying their damnedest to kill him!
It seems that John Wick is allowed to be a bad-ass... just not actually really bad.
Also the inclusion of Laurence Fishburne- Reeves old chum from the Matrix movies seems like stunt casting.
There is also the tendency for the film to bog down with non-action scenes that often threaten to stall the great momentum that has been built up.
But these are not huge complaints and all of the superbly realised action from the last film is back with an even higher body count.
John Wick is a terrific character and when the inevitable John Wick: Chapter 3 arrives I will be one of the first in line to check it out.
This is a damned fine action flick - bloody, cool as all hell and a whole heap of fun.
And for some reason the operators at The Continental use a VIC-20 computer so if you're looking for yet another reason to see this flick there you go!
RATING: 82 / 100
CONCLUSION: Great fun in the way that action flicks used to be. This franchise continues to be the torch bearer for a genre that used to be filled with Die Hards, Commandos and Predators but of late seems more preoccupied with over the top car stunts and conspiracy theories rather than good old fashioned shoot-outs.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Rose, Ian McShane, Riccardo Scamarcio, Common, Lance Reddick, Franco Nero, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan, David Patrick Kelly, Peter Serafinowicz, Tobias Segal, Thomas Sadoski, Claudia Gerini
Screenplay: Jamie Moss
Music Score by: Joel J. Richard & Tyler Bates
Cinematography: Dan Laustsen
Edited by: Evan Schiff
Running Time: 122 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R16 - Violence & profanity
Running Time: 122 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R16 - Violence & profanity
It is bigger in every way apart from one.
This sequel cost $40,000,000 and has to date made more than four times that in box office revenue.
It has a much higher body count and more elaborate sets and action set pieces.
But what it doesn't have is the sense that it needs to happen for story reasons.
The first film was pretty much a complete story with the titular anti-hero serving up a suitable revenge on those who had dared to kill his dog, steal his car and dishonour the memory of his beloved late wife.
But of course a sequel needs some sort of reason to exist and even if I don't find the plot particularly effective in doing so the mere fact that this film like the one before it is a huge amount of fun seems like reason enough.
"John Wick: Chapter 2" begins at a run with a car chase and a high body count fist leading to gun fight.
Seemingly whatever loose ends from the last film are tidied up before a new twist is introduced in the form of Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) who forces Wick to take a job to assassinate his Sister who is occupying a seat on the High Table that he wants.
There is talk of a marker - a sort of blood oath- that John has with Santino so he doesn't have much choice.
Besides- Santino blows up John's nice new house with a grenade launcher.
He doesn't kill the dog though with the huge explosion however.... a concession to the audience rather than logic I would venture.
These events allow for two things.
Firstly John relocates to Italy for the hit job and secondly it puts an awful lot of fresh bodies in the way for him to 'off' in ever balletic ways.
 |
| The driving, fighting, guns, suits and dog return for more of the same. But bigger! |
Keanu Reeves is superb pulling these off and his grace and dedication combined with some slick camera work and equally deft editing mean that the action is every bit as good as it was last time.
I feel that these films are almost single handedly carrying on a genre that has succumbed to the stupidity and excess of the likes of the Transformers and Fast and the Furious movies.
They are frequently over edited and lack a basic geography in the action scenes.
No such issues here - everything that Wick does makes perfect sense and is never confusing even when there are a dozen figures on screen involved in the action and it is set in a house of mirrors!
Common and Reeves get two terrific standoffs with the second one producing a wonderfully comic moment.
Special credit to the lighting and set design too. The colour palette utilises nicely contrasting blues and oranges in many scenes and bright whites in others.
This is a great looking movie.
So yes- this is a really, really well made action film and that really is a rare thing these days.
And wait until you see what can be achieved with a pencil....
 |
| Common, Franco Nero, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio and Amber Rose |
Last time it was Adrienne Palicki's Ms Perkins who benefited from Wick's lady-mercy.
This time it is Amber Rose- a mute bodyguard assigned to protect Santino.
Wick seems very reluctant to kill these women even as they are trying their damnedest to kill him!
It seems that John Wick is allowed to be a bad-ass... just not actually really bad.
Also the inclusion of Laurence Fishburne- Reeves old chum from the Matrix movies seems like stunt casting.
There is also the tendency for the film to bog down with non-action scenes that often threaten to stall the great momentum that has been built up.
But these are not huge complaints and all of the superbly realised action from the last film is back with an even higher body count.
John Wick is a terrific character and when the inevitable John Wick: Chapter 3 arrives I will be one of the first in line to check it out.
This is a damned fine action flick - bloody, cool as all hell and a whole heap of fun.
And for some reason the operators at The Continental use a VIC-20 computer so if you're looking for yet another reason to see this flick there you go!
No comments:
Post a Comment