BurtonReviews John Wick Chapter 2: 360 No Scope

(Image sourced from http://screenrant.com/john-wick-2-keanu-reeves-training-video/)

 

With DVD shelves full of by-the-numbers action films that are 2/3^rds boring exposition and 1/3^rd sub-par fighting, the action movie genre needed waking back up and reminding of how awesome it can be.  And that’s exactly what it got in 2014 with the glass of ice cold water thrown at the genre to shock it’s systems back into overdrive being in the form of John Wick, an unassuming film that had the goofy concept of killing a whole Russian mob over the death of a dog, but the film knew exactly what it wanted to be and it excelled at it with ferocious action, a perfect lead in Keanu Reeves, and an extremely cool world for Mr. Reeves to kick, duck, and shotgun-boom his way through. But now with such high expectations on this action-movie’s shoulders, will it buckle under the weight of its unexpected success, or do what it does best, blow our minds with a perfect pistol shot.

(Video sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_p8QeWry4)

After the explosive events of the first John Wick, the annihilation of the Russian mob after they killed the last gift from his dead wife, an adorable dog, John Wick is looking to get out of the killing game. But when an old ‘friend’ comes to Wick’s house looking to make good on a favour Wick owes him, John is rapidly flung back into the world of pristine suits and automatic machine guns as he desperately tries to get out of the job he is just so-damn-good at.

Obviously the main aspect of this franchise that anybody talks about when refereeing to this movie is the bodacious and exhilarating action this movie puts on show. And that is for a good reason. With the film coming from the stunt team of the Matrix, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, with Stahelski staying on to direct this sequel, the action was obviously going to be immense, but for Stahelski to make his action feel so fresh and revolutionary every single time he commits a scene to film, it is truly astounding and a true joy to witness.

While you may be scared that with so much action the film can devolve into a boring sequence of just random shooting and guys falling down, you really shouldn’t be for this movie. John Wick somehow, in every single one of the many, many frantic, nonstop, heart pounding fights of the film, manages to keep the action fresh and new. With inventive kills that leave you grimacing in your seat through just how awesomely brutal that shot was, extremely impressive and tight choreography that if you blink, you may miss Wick effortlessly and incredibly take down 3 guys with just his hands and 1 bullet in the chamber of one of his many, many guns, and innovative settings for such epic and exhausting fights, not only are you amazed by the mastery of action that is displayed in these sequences, but you feel like your right there with John Wick, breathless from  taking down 20 guys in a matter of minutes, and still with 40 more to go before the night is through.

(Image sourced from http://screenrant.com/john-wick-2-plot-synopsis/)

And what adds to the impressive quality of these action extravaganza’s is that most of the way through, for every actor in this movie, but especially for Keanu Reeves, you can see it is actually them that is being flung through a glass wall, or is sliding past a barrage of bullets and hellfire. Reeves is the perfect fit for this film. A man of few words, but when he does speak, his effortlessly cool delivery of typical action man lines that in any one else’s hands any feel cliché, but here just feel so damn satisfying to hear after seeing the trials of hell Wick has just had to go through just to get a bourbon.

In-fact, pretty much every character in this film feels effortlessly cool, and that in no small part is because of how much weight and history it feels like every character on screen feels.  From the deaf assassin Area, played by Ruby Rose, or the ice-cold professional killer Cassian, played by Common, no character feels like they were just plucked out of thin air to be in this film, instead they feel like, living, breathing killing machines that just happened to get in John Wick’s way. Every character perfectly fits into this dangerous universe and brought another cool and interesting piece of the universe to the forefront.

One of the most interesting things that the first John Wick did was bring a cool mythology to this world of vicious killers, and this is an aspect that is embraced even more in its explosive sequel. With the safe-zone hotels: the Continental, being explored even further through Wick’s visit to an international branch, the quirky and fun reveal of how hits are made on a person in this world, and even more secrets of how this worlds inner working tick revealed, nothing in this film feels just flung in to advance the plot, but instead a well thought out and cool new aspect of an already strangle captivating and interesting world.  

(Image sourced from http://collider.com/john-wick-2-ruby-rose-common-interview/)

It is the depth in each character, and the effort the film does to build out this unique and wonderfully bloody world, all add up to creating this great professional atmosphere of ‘honour among thieves’, or is it hired killers in this case? But the point still stands, the strange but completely believable professionalism and class this movie brings to being an international assassin not only feels so right, but is just cool to see when a searing rivalry is allowed to escalate and become even more tense, not through a fight scene, but just the two rivals sharing a drink in one of this world’s many Continentals.  

Overall this film was a non-stop thrill ride of intensely cool and brutal kill shots, mind blowingly well-choreographed hand to hand combat, excellent world building, and characters that actually feel like living, breathing murderbots and not just set dressing.

John Wick 2 = 9.5/10

Why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews, where I upload awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every Sunday. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.