As long as villains keep making the absolute worst choice
imaginable, messing with John Wick—seriously, never fuck with the guy the
movie’s named after—and as long as the result is even a fraction as great as
the franchise has been thus far, I will continue to drool over these films. I
hope they never leave him alone.
John Wick blindsided everyone in 2014,
and while I’m not 100% comfortable saying it’s the best movie since—we did,
after all, get Mad Max: Fury Road in that time—it’s easily
one of the peak action movies of the modern era. Stuntmen-turned-directors
David Leitch and Chad Stahelski eschewed the ubiquitous shake-y cam and
lightning quick edits so prominent in American genre offerings for long takes
and steady frames full of elaborately choreographed action and visceral,
jaw-droppingly badass stunts.
In short, John Wick: Chapter 2 has a lot
to live up to. And it does.
We can debate whether or not it’s better than the original. (I
witnessed a good-natured Twitter kerfuffle about whether John Wick: Chapter 2 is 98% as awesome as the first or 135% as awesome.) And while
firmly I believe there are sound arguments on both ends, it’s completely
irrelevant. It’s awesome, incredibly awesome anyway you look at it, and that’s
all that matters.
Chad Stahelski flies solo at the helm this time, but doesn’t
miss a beat. John Wick 2 has the same raw energy, heightened
color palette, and, most importantly, raw, gritty action. The story is simple:
the titular, bad-at-retiring hitman (Keanu Reeves) gets called back into the
life he left one more time in order to repay a blood oath to an ambitious crime
lord (Riccardo Scamarcio). There’s betrayal, murder, and when John Wick finds
out he has a price on his head, he goes revenging and kills…well, everyone. Sound
perfect, right?
John Wick introduced us to a shadowy
parallel world of assassins and criminal, and John Wick: Chapter 2 tears that world wide open. Beginning with scene that resembles in
onscreen D-derby, Derek Kolstad’s script creates a labyrinthine underworld of
blood debts and boogymen, where everyone in New York City appears to be an
outlaw, and Laurence Fishburne can become hobo royalty.
John Wick: Chapter 2 has a lot of fun
digging into this world, at times perhaps too much fun. Which is my only knock
against the movie—though it’s not that big a deal. Gearheads will delight over
John Wick’s visit with the “Sommelier” (Peter Serafinowicz) to explore the lengthy
gun menu, or his discussion of tactical evening wear. (It’s less a traditional gearing
up scene and more of a getting awesome scene.) The flourishes are clever and
inventive and help sell this pseudo-comic book realm, but it momentarily
borders on too much, leaning heavily on the myth of John Wick. We get it, he’s
a legendary badass, a bedtime story hoods tell their kids at night, it’s time
to move on.
Though John Wick: Chapter 2 may dawdle
just a bit, once it lights the fuse, watch the fuck out. Our hero tears through
legions of faceless goons with his gun-fu, rolling arm bars, and headshots—oh
so many headshots. Stahelski and company coherently stage, shoot, and edit the
action, nodding to its predecessor as well as the classics like Enter the Dragon and ultraviolent grindhouse fare.
People don’t necessarily think of Keanu Reeves as a
delicate, nuanced thespian, but he knows where his talents lie, what he’s good
at, and, especially at this stage of his career, how to pick roles that fit him
to a tee. And in John Wick, he’s found maybe his best John yet (seriously, he’s
played countless Johns or Johnnys). His charismatic nonchalance is a perfect
delivery system for tough-guy dialogue that could easily sound stilted or
cheesy—an earnestness exists alongside an obvious level of enjoyment and
gallows humor that keeps the character from devolving into an over-serious
caricature.
And at 52, Reeves brings an impressive physicality that’s
fluid and grounded and anchors the character. Small movements drawing a gun or
blocking a knife blow appear easy and natural on-screen and belie the extensive training. Stylized as it is, the violence carries an authenticity rarely found
in modern American action cinema—especially a movie released into theaters, though
there’s more of this to be found in the DTV realm. You won’t find grand,
sweeping gestures, every movement is practical and calculated.
It doesn’t hurt matters that the collection of supporting
players is enough to make hardcore action heads giddy. Ian McShane is back as
the take-no-shit hotel proprietor, Winston; Lance Reddick’s Charon comes around
again, doubling down on the descent-into-hell metaphor; Ruby Rose, who’s become
the go-to sultry female badass, plays Ares, a mute assassin (in addition to
Russian and Italian, John Wick is apparently fluent in American Sign Language);
Common’s Cassian picks a fight he shouldn’t have; and the list of stunt performers
reads like the roster of an all-star team. And, of course, Franco Nero, Django
himself, shows up with a dope-ass tiny ponytail and an old man swagger like no
other. I may or may not have cheered.
Religious imagery is less prominent in John Wick:
Chapter 2, and there’s less tormented moping about his dead wife,
though the existential dread still factors in. He also has another dog, a
beautiful blue nose pit bull this time instead of a beagle. Spoiler: the dog
lives in case you were worried about this becoming the dog-killing franchise.
(I totally did.)
Basically, unless 2017 is this is an insanely good—and I’m
talking historic—year for movies, with action, horror, and sci-fi all firing at
high levels (which is possible, there are a ton of movies in all three genres
I’m fiending hard for), John Wick: Chapter 2 has a safe slot
on my 2017 best-of list. Plot wise, it’s not light years different from the
previous chapter, but it’s everything fans want it to be, and if they crank out
one of these every few years, I’ll be there every damn step of the way.
[Grade: A]
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