My Review of "John Wick: Chapter 2"

John Wick: Chapter 2 came out back in 2017. It was a bit of a surprise that it came out but it wasn't at the same time. I don't think the movie studio expected the first movie to do quite as well as it did because this movie took 3 years to come out after the first. Still the first one ended off pretty open ended and warranted a sequel. We just never thought it would actually come out.

This movie starts off pretty much directly after the first movie had ended off. John had just gotten his revenge for the man that beat him in his own home, robbed him of his car and killed his new puppy. Not only did he take down the perpetrator but he took down the whole organization that the perpetrator belonged to. At least that's what we though.

The uncle of the perpetrator still lives and he's got John's stolen car. He knows John is coming for it and prepares for John to take it back. This storyline is a bit of a throwaway in this movie just so that the audience can get accustomed to what has been going on. It's a little flashback as to what had happened in the first movie. The significance of the scenes are not really that important in the movie overall.

When we see the fight scenes in this first act it seems a little weird. I had mentioned before in the original movie that there was no wasted movements and everything John did was super efficient. These first scenes were a bit of a departure and didn't quite feel on brand because you can clearly see guns everywhere but John opts to use his fists to take his opponents down. It doesn't quite make sense as they continually attack him. The first movie he was a lethal killer and yet this movie is based a day after and he's changed his mode of thinking.

It's not really important anyways since this is kind of a throwaway scenario. The real meat of the movie starts off when a new character by the name of Santino comes into the picture. He recognizes that John has been out killing and he wants to cash in on an old deal that he had made with him. It's a pretty huge task and John of course is reluctant as he wants to get back to sedentary life.

It isn't until a series of threats and disrespect that John agrees to begrudgingly take on the task. It's really a job that no other person could do other than John. So of course John accomplishes his mission and then we have a whole slew of bad guys coming after him as a consequence for his actions. He obviously knew it was coming but doesn't really have a choice in the matter.

The whole movie is about him coming back and clearing out all the loose ends that prevent him from living his old life again. Obviously there's no movie is that was going to be easy. Really we're here to see action anyways so they could have really had any story.

This movie doesn't really disappoint in the action category. The fights quickly ramp up in stakes and intensity as there's a few call backs as John shows why he's a legend in the assassin business. The old pencil story that they kept on repeating in the first movie gets reenacted in this movie and there's a few other references as well!

One of the surprises that will catch a lot of viewers is the addition of Lawrence Fishbourne's character the Bowery King. It will have all action fans giving a standing ovation as it's a beautiful nod to the Matrix movie of yesteryear.

This movie is really a huge fan service for everyone. It's a departure from the first one because the first one was all about efficiency. This one kind of put in a ton of tropes that we've seen in a lot of other action movies into a sequel. There's scenes like an obligatory mirror scene, shots of people bleeding in big tubs of water and even a loud music concert/club scene where all the action takes place. That's just to name a few.

Still it's a ton of fun and the movie gives us more of an understanding of the rules and laws that govern the assassins of John's world. These rules are quite simple and even more fascinating as everyone kind of abides by them for the most part.

It's also convenient that they have this all happen around the time when the first movie had happened too. This kind of but not totally explains why the patrons of these action sequences don't pull out their phones to take videos. You know for sure that stuff would happen if it happened today. The phones are kind of archaic but not totally. You kind of accept that they don't do that sort of thing in this world.

Overall, I still enjoyed this movie but it's more of a setup for another sequel. It's a little uneven and I would say it's a big departure from the first movie. The first movie was more realistic whereas this movie goes a little cartoonish sort of the way the Fast and Furious franchise went. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's an obligatory movie to watch because better things are coming in the sequel.