Needless to say I had high expectations for John Wick Chapter 2. This is something I generally try to avoid, but I enjoyed the original John Wick so much that I couldn't help it.
John Wick gave us a glimpse into an interesting hidden world of organized crime. Chapter 2 built on that, drawing us deeper into this world of connections, rules, and obligations. The world-building in this movie is interesting and impressive.
It also made it a little harder for me to buy into the premise. It's always been my understanding that criminals are generally not too big on following rules, so the idea of a massive criminal underworld that is pretty much built entirely on rules and codes of honour was a bit of an obstacle to my suspension of disbelief. Yes, I know that such things do exist in real life to a certain extent, but the degree to which Chapter 2 shows them as being organized highly functional and ever-present hierarchies was just a little much for me.
Perhaps it wasn't necessarily that I couldn't buy into the concept, but rather that to me it didn't exactly feel consistent with the first film. There John and his adversaries operated more or less as they wished. There were hints of structure, but overall my impression was that the Continental Hotel was an independent oasis of order in a sea of chaos. But in this film, we find out that the Continental is part of a criminal organization that seems to rule all with an iron grip, it's agents on every street corner, it's rules followed to the letter. Well, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but my point remains: I find it hard to imagine the events of John Wick 1 happening in the world of John Wick 2.
My other hang-up was that I kept looking for something like that little moment the original had that revealed what was really happening inside John, but I just never saw it. I didn't really feel as if I understood what was driving him through most of this movie; he seems so motivated, but I saw no indication that his motivation ever went beyond anger at being double-crossed. Consequently I just never felt as if this one had the same depth as the first.
Of course the John Wick films are first and foremost action movies, and the action in Chapter 2 does not disappoint. Keanu Reeves has genuine action chops, which the movie is eager to show off (as perhaps is Keanu himself...). The camera work and editing are great, the environments are stylish and colourful, and the cast is a great deal of fun.
Overall I give it a 7/10: if you're here to see Keanu Reeves punch, stab, and shoot his way through a medium-sized army, you won't be disappointed!
#####SPOILER WARNING#####
Santino tells John to kill his sister Gianna. My hangup here is: why did John actually go through with it? I know that he owed Santino a debt, but he has no issues saying to his face that he wants to kill him. And killing Gianna is clearly against the "rules". So don't the rules trump his debt, at least in this case? Plus of course he clearly suspects he is going to be double crossed (it was pretty much guaranteed in fact; can't leave witnesses lying around right?). Why not just tell Gianna that her brother is forcing him to kill her? Maybe even ask her to pretend to be dead for a short while to lure out the brother or something? Surely that works out better? I guess John is just really big on honour and paying your debts and stuff.
Keanu Reeves is really showing off in this film. He pretty much just straight-up runs a three-gun course in the sewers, complete with fancy shotgun reloads, then at one point he pulls a one-handed press check on a pistol... even though there's nothing wrong with or filling his other hand. But hey, I'm not complaining!
