2014’s John Wick was one of the best stripped down action films I had seen in years when it arrive. It was economical, to the point, well-executed, and well cast. Furthermore, it was set within a wonderfully intriguing, colorful world of assassins that almost seemed to be pulled from the pages of a hard-edged (but still fun) comic book. At the center of it all was Keanu Reeves, bringing to life what is now my favorite character of his since Neo from The Matrix trilogy.
John Wick: Chapter 2 lacks the economy of the original, but what it loses in simplicity, it makes up for in enrichment. Director Chad Stahelski, producer David Leitch, and writer Derek Kolstad have taken the mysteriously enticing world they laid out in the first one and expanded it in ways that still leave you begging for more. I walked out of the theater as the credits rolled not only wanting to see what this creative team can conjure up in (the hopefully inevitable) John Wick: Chapter 3, but also to see what Wick and the world around him might have in store for us in another tale. That, my friends, is the very definition of a good sequel.
If there’s something you loved about the first one, chances are it makes a return here in some fashion. The same goes for characters. Well, at least the ones that John Wick didn’t kill the last time around. Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, John Leguizamo, Bridget Moynahan, and even Officer Jimmy (Thomas Sadoski) are all back. The only notable omission I can think of is Charlie the Cleaner (David Patrick Kelly). It’s a shame he didn’t make an appearance, but that just gives us something to hopefully look forward to in another one.
On the new end of things, we have Laurence Fishburne, Peter Serafinowicz, Ruby Rose, Franco Nero, Common, and Riccardo Scamarcio, among others. All of them are great as the latest additions to the world of Wick. Hell, everyone in the film is great. I would watch this cast walk through the most boring crime thriller imaginable, so the fact that they are all starring in a fantastic one that’s firing on all cylinders is enough to keep me grinning for days.
Make no mistake, this is a fantastic action film. From the opening car chase to a brutal catacombs-set gunfight to a wildly inventive finale involving mirrors, if you love action cinema, you’re going to get a kick out of it. All too often these days, filmmakers have great set pieces that are marred by bad camera placement or super shaky photography. Lucky for us, Chad Stahelski and his team actually know hat the hell they are doing. Instead of trying to wow us with flashy and chaotic camerawork, they are content to let the stuntmen and the editors do their job. As a result, the majority of the action scenes are clean, coherent, and impactful. You feel every single last brutal hit, stab, and gunshot because you can actually see them happen as they occur. One would think showing what is actually going on would be a no-brainer, but the last decade of American action cinema says otherwise.
If you liked the first film, I’d be incredibly surprised if you don’t like this one just as much. I’m not sure if I like it more than the first one, but that’s only because it has a slightly different vibe to it. In that regard, the title is apt. This isn’t John Wick 2. This is simply the second (but still standalone) part of one huge, badass John Wick movie. There had damn well better be a third, because I want more. I want more of this world. I want more of Reeves just tearing through every challenger that comes his way. I want more of what is promised at the very end of the film. Come for me, Baba Yaga. I’m waiting!
