This post may contain affiliate links. Please check out my privacy policy and disclosure policy.
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
Starring
Keanu Reeves – John Wick
Riccardo Scamarcio – Santino D’Antonio
Ian McShane – Winston
Ruby Rose – Ares
Common – Cassian
From comingsoon.net
Summary
“Legendary hitman John Wick is forced back out of retirement, and this time, he must face off against a shadowy international assassins’ guild and more of the world’s deadliest killers.”
-From Amazon.com
Review
Holy. Cow.
Okay, so Keanu Reeves is probably one of my favorite actors, just because how much he dedicates to his movies (more coming on that), so this has replaced my all time favorite movie, 47 Ronin. Don’t worry, it’s still in my top 5, but this movie, and probably the first John Wick are now my favorite movies.
One of the first things that gets me in the series is the music. It fits so well as to what the scenes are, they remove all forms of music during an intense fight scene so it doesn’t distract you from the pure talent of the actors, and it all a little different the music. Since this movie had bits based in Rome, some of the fight music had an Italian kind of chord structure, one example being the track La Vendetta. It really has an old Italian feel. However, when you go to club scenes, they’re avant-guard kind of club music, which then transitions into the fight scene club music, as seen in the track John Wick Mode (all of which I love to listen to as it’s great music to have as background music, or workout to even.)
Now on to the movie itself. Visually, it was absolutely stunning and outdid the first John Wick in every way possible. There was more action (if that is even possible) and even though it was a 2 hour movie, I wasn’t bored during a single moment of it. There were explosions from start to finish and it kept you guessing as to who was going to turn against who and who was next to die. Also, I really do like how Mr. Wick isn’t invincible. There were times that he was shot, and had the life beaten out of him, and came close to death. However, he always just survived. So he didn’t always get away without injuries which is nice to see. Makes it more realistic. I was quite impressed with the pencil scene, where you were able to see Mr. Wicks skills with a pencil, and see the talent of those choreographing the fight scene. That brings me to my other point.
The choreographing of the entire movie was completely out of this world. One of the reasons I like Keanu Reeves so much is his dedication to his movies. He doesn’t just fake it ’til he makes it. He really learns everything and all of those fight styles. He doesn’t do his own stunts, like falling out of buildings or being hit by cars, but all of those hand-to-hand combat scenes are really him, and that impresses the hell out of me. According to one source, The Seattle Times, he went into 3 months of “John Wick boot camp” which included “intensive training in martial arts, gun work, fight choreography and stunt driving.” His fighting styles are extensive and he becomes the best at them, in all the movies he’s been in, and this one was no exception. He went through months of gun training so all of that action that you see in the movie with him using dozens of types of weapons, un-clipping the mag and reloading it in about 2 or 3 seconds is really him. Now that’s skill and part of the reason I respect him, and his movies, so much. And hats off to the choreographing team. They were incredibly impressive and choreographed some beautiful fight scenes.
And there was a large amount of weapons in this movie for you weapon buff people. It was another thing which really impressed me because the amount of weapons which Keanu Reeves can use is extensive. From his traditional array of Glocks, to dessert (knives), to something with a little more flare (Benelli M4) and beyond, he is able to anything in his reach from non-ballistic to explosive. That shows talent and ability to improvise.
From indiewire.com
As for the movie itself, it did have a lot of similarities to the first movie in story, so while it may have been slightly lacking in the story (lacking I’m using loosely as I know some people look for a unique story), it most certainly made it up in action. And stunt driving. So I personally don’t see the lack of new and original story as a big issue. It had it’s own uniqueness and wasn’t too similar to the first movie, especially with some of the events happening through the movie.
As for the violence, it was through the roof. I mean, it was R, so there was a LOT of blood. With the shooting, it wasn’t people just going down. There was realistic splatter which was impressive as well. It all looked realistic. Not like Expendables 2 where it was clear that it was fake blood. This looked 100% genuine and it was quite impressive. Of course, there was language as well however that’s really the least of your concerns.
I’ve seen this movie twice in theatres, once the day after it came out and again a few days later. I generally never do that as most movies, I feel, don’t deserve paying twice to see. However, this movie I wanted to support and really did truly want to see again in a threatre and was willing to pay for.
John Wick: Chapter 2 is, by far, the best action movie out there that has ever been created. If you enjoyed the first movie, then you will definitely love this one more. As for those who haven’t even become part of this series, if you love ass-kicking, good driving (his baby 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 >cries at what happens to it<), and a bad-ass story, then this is for you.
I do recommend seeing this movie in theatres and not waiting…because this contract may just run out.
Today is “a new day to kill”, so you might as well start it off well.
Happy Watching!
