Review: John Wick Chapter 2
The first John Wick came out of nowhere to be one of the best action movies of the decade, the story of a man out to avenge his dog, it combined unflinching gunplay, intense hand-to-hand and outstanding world building to take a tried and true formula and refine it as much as it could. The result was a resounding cheer across the board and three years later, John Wick Chapter 2 wasreleased which manages to not only justify its existence, but enhances the franchise as a whole.
Set a few days after the ending of the first film, John ties up the last loose ends of the Tarasov family and gets his car back in time to return to retirement with his new dog. However the peace is cut short by the arrival of Santino D’Antonio, an Italian crime lord who helped John with his first retirement that allowed him to marry and settle down with Helen, now with John out of retirement Santino wants him to fulfil a blood oath that he took several years ago and kill Santino’s sister Gianna so that he could take her place on the High Table, a council of high-level crime lords.
John refuses but as Santino and Continental manager Winston remind him, if he doesn’t honour the blood oath then his life is forfeit, with no other option; John takes the contract and heads to Rome. But as he soon finds out, Santino is not about to let John go that easily.
Things are a little more complicated this time round but you can’t really get much simpler than ‘Bad guy kills dog, Good guy kill bad guy’ so upping the story wasn’t a surprise and it’s still easy enough to follow. The Rome storyline takes up the first half of the story but it’s the second where the story really kicks into gear and brings out the best the film has to offer while also setting up the threads that lead into Chapter 3. It’s non-stop escalation that leads to an ending still being felt in the franchise to this day.
Once again the film finds itself filled with a varied group of interesting and enigmatic characters, returning from the last film are Ian McShane and Lance Reddick as Winston and Charon of the Continental. Charon as a few more lines but essentially is the same cheerful but still sinister Concierge while Winston takes the role of a mediator trying to keep order but slowly realising that might not be an option.
The new villain Santino, played by Ricardo Scamarcio, is fine foil to John, while he lacks the history and the humanity of Viggo from the first film, he makes his own antagonistic role with a scheming, short-tempered little shit, a very different villain from the first film. Scamarcio has the right demeanour and body language to pull off the character, leaning into the slimy nature of Santino just right, and while he might be a step-down from Viggo, the impact left by him throughout the franchise cannot be overstated. Conversely, his mute bodyguard Ares, played by Ruby Rose, feels like a letdown, she has her moments and her use of sign language often had some humorous tones, but there’s not a lot to her and Rose only worked as well as she did by keeping her mouth thankfully shut.
Also new is Cassian, played by Common, bodyguard to Gianna who takes a personal vendetta against John and surprisingly proves to be one of the film’s better elements with Common holding his own in the fight scenes with Keanu. And The Bowery King played by Matrix alum Laurence Fishburne, as fun as it was seeing him and Keanu share the screen again The Bowery King, an underground crime-lord using a network of homeless people, was a good character in his limited screentime, clearly relishing that the great John Wick was coming to him for help.
John himself, played once again by Keanu Reeves, is still as strong a lead as any, what made John work in the first film was that he had a detached quality to him, a stoicism brought on by the death of his wife and murder of his dog leading to a surprisingly subdued performance with rare but fitting moments of anger. That’s much the same here with Reeves playing the master assassin with an effortless cool and still managing to live up to his legendary status, though the anger this time is a lot more palpable, especially within the second act where John’s exasperations start eating away at him more and more, leading to a much more violent John than what even the first film offered. Reeves makes the role his own but it’s great to see that there is more to the character.
Directing duties return to Chad Stahelski who goes solo after his partner David Leitch (uncredited due to legal obligations) moves on to Deadpool 2. Not that that slows him down, in fact just the opposite, even with the sequel needing to be bigger this one knocks it out of the park on all fronts creating what is sure to be one of the most intense rides of the year, surpassing the first one on nearly every level. Right from the opening scene where John steals his car back through a barrage of violence using both himself and his car as weapons you can tell immediately what tone the film is going for and if you’re not into it then why are you watching a sequel to a film you didn’t like?
It does take a little while afterwards for the film to reach its next action scene but the world building brought over from last time is still just as effective at showing just how expansive and creative the universe of John Wick is with the Blood Oath being an interesting new feature that fits in with what we’ve been shown so far. Of course once the action hits again it just does not stop, all leading from one set-piece to the next and the next and the next. John’s escape from Rome is an all-out firefight within the Italian catacomb, tight, dark, claustrophobic, loud, but with more than enough long-takes that in a culture of ultra-fast editing, being able to actually see and follow what’s going on makes for a much stronger and more brutal showing thanks to the blood splatter being clearly shown from headshots, gutshots and any-shots you can think of.
Apparently about 23 seconds of a suicide scene were trimmed to make the UK release a 15 certificate and I can believe that it came that close to an 18 rating, there is some real harsh violence at play here.
The catacombs is followed by a montage of John facing off against multiple other assassins which includes a pencil trick to rival The Dark Knight and leads right into a fight on the subway between John and Cassian with both men clearly bringing their personal hatred of each other into the tightly packed and fury-fuelled encounter – though one moment where John and Cassian trade silenced gunshots at each other in a crowded station with no-one noticing is a little silly even for this series. The final act contains the best set-piece with John chasing Santino to his museum and ending up in a mirrored maze, aside from the logistical nightmare it must’ve been to shoot such a scene, the disorienting effect and uncertain placement of character made for a unique sequence that showcased just how effective John is at gaining the upper hand.
John Wick as a film didn’t necessarily need a sequel, let alone three of them, but for the world that was set up it would’ve been a shame never to see it again, now with Chapter 2 we get that sequel and it more than lives up to the name. Fans of the original are going to be delighted that everything has increased and improved, from the scale and scope to the violence and intensity. Reeves continues to build this world and this character exceptionally well creating not only a brilliantly follow-up, but arguably the best film in the series to date.
8.5/10