John Wick: Chapter Two. A mild-spoiler review

It’s rare to see a sequel raise the bar on its predecessor as effectively as John Wick: Chapter 2, which right out of the gate stakes a claim as best action film of the year and probably the best action film since Mad Max: Fury Road. If that idea doesn’t excite you, or you didn’t on some level enjoy John Wick 1, John Wick 2 might not be for you. For everyone else, lets explore why John Wick 2 is a film you should be very excited about.

Note: This review will outline the first half or so of the film’s plot as well as MILD SPOILERS for the rest of the review, but nothing too specific.

John Wick 2 begins by picking up the threads left dangling by the first film, which largely consists of beating the absolute shit out of people – some of them literally with his car. (Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the first film – you can fairly easily jump into this one and pick up the necessary info quickly). Clearing this business up, John returns home, cements his weapons back into his floor and then, just as he finishes, is promptly dragged back into the fold by a man who John owes a debt to (a debt symbolised by a circular marker with a bloodied thumbprint in it). Having fought through a small army’s worth of mob goons in the first film in order to carry out vengeance and secure peace after the death of his wife and dog, John is not desperately thrilled to get back to work again. He demonstrates this fact by being unbelievably and increasingly pissed as the film progresses. John does reluctantly agree to carry out this ‘one last job’, which involves travelling to Rome to eliminate the sister of the man who has hired him, thereby opening up a power vacuum and allowing the brother to fill in the void. That’s where the story starts. I won’t spoil where it goes.

It’s great, though.

Unfortunately, outlining the plot in the most basic terms misses the quirks of John Wick’s universe that makes this character such a joy. John Wick’s world is one of rules and codes and special gold coins used as currency and Ian McShane owning a hotel that kills you if you fight on its premises (side note: Ian McShane as Winston is impossibly awesome in this film and for some reason I don’t see this get brought up enough). That marker that brings John Wick back into the fold is treated with deadly seriousness, as demonstrated when John Wick gets his house blown up for refusing to honour it and then is told by Winston that he should have seen it coming. All of these quirks are treated with complete formal sincerity that is often both pretty funny and utterly serious at the same time. What’s great is that John Wick 2 takes all of these elements from the first film and expands upon them, so not only do we get Rome as well as Manhattan, but we also get more of a peak as to the extent of this crime-world that John Wick is so desperate not to inhabit. This is all largely communicated through exercising a fairly economical use of exposition. We’re explicitly told very little about this world, instead we get what we need to know from the way people act, the way they talk, the way that a suit is as important a battle accessory as a switchblade or a pump action shotgun and so on. It’s incredibly satisfying and never feels cumbersome or clunky.

As for Keanu Reeves, John Wick 2 continues to establish these films as his greatest role. He fully commits to the part, both in terms of the constant air of sadness that pervades the character, as well as physically. There’s a pinpoint precision that Keanu brings to choreography that’s completely brutal but also ever so slightly balletic. It’s weird to think that some people thought Keanu Reeves was a bad actor after seeing him sell a role so completely as he does here.

Keanu Reeves also undertook some pretty extensive training for the fight and stunt scenes, which is handy as John Wick 2 ups the ante on the first films action in every possible way. The film’s opening set piece consists mostly of car chases and fistfights – an interesting move given how John Wick 1’s weakest action moments were its limp final fistfight and car chase. Happily, John Wick 2 gives us fight scenes that are punchier, more suspenseful and more creative than anything in the first film. There’s a great sense of visual inventiveness throughout the film, with fight scenes taking place in catacombs, on subway trains and in a house of mirrors art exhibit (that last one I still can’t get my head around how they planned it out). That inventiveness extends to the specifics of the fight scenes as well. One moment sees John push a man against the wall with a shotgun, realise the gun is empty, reload whilst the man is still pushed against the wall and then pull the trigger. Another kill involves a pencil and is so astonishingly brutal that, even in our incredibly loud screening, you could still hear the audience gasp out of shock. It’s hard to argue that John Wick 2’s action is unmemorable and it’s all aided by cinematography that is notably sharper than the first film’s occasionally hazy approach.

On top of all this, it’s not a stretch to argue that John Wick 2 is funnier than its predecessor. The sly ridiculousness of John Wick’s world is pushed further than before as the mythology (and deadpan delivery) is expanded. One of the films biggest laughs comes when John Wick crashes through the window of the continental mid-fight and is politely (yet menacingly) suggested that he break up the fight and instead have a drink at the bar. I would rattle off other moments but A: they’re less funny if you don’t see them on screen and B: I won’t spoil them here for fear of ruining the fun. Just know that John Wick 2 is structured perfectly to continually surprise, delight (and occasionally, horrify) you.

Don’t mistake John Wick 2 for a comedy, however. It’s humour is placed in contrast against an arguably darker and more brutal film than John Wick 1 – which is impressive given that the film contains approximately 100% less wife and canine fatalities. Not only is the film violence escalated to greater levels (again, the pencil kill), there is also a sense of helplessness to John Wick’s situation, as he’s forced out of retirement yet again and then later made the target of every assassin of New York. When John Wick looks at his equipment before setting off and abruptly screams with rage, it hurts more than you might expect it to. Indeed, it’s rage and anger that permeates John Wick’s actions throughout the story, which might not seem like a great departure from the first film, but here the sense of love he felt for his deceased wife and dog that fuelled his vengeance is less immediately felt. His dog hardly features in the film; instead he is placed into the care of the Continental’s concierge whilst John completes his task. John Wick’s state is angry and brutal; a state that escalates throughout the film, from his Rome job (completed largely out of duty) through to the final, devastating crescendo of a kill. It would be tempting to criticize this as a case of John Wick having little agency, if that didn’t appear to be exactly the point. I’m going to state definitively that this film is in fact darker (I watched the first on Blu-Ray and the second in an incredibly loud cinema screening which probably contributes to this reaction) but it’s certainly not a film that you could say pulls its punches.

It’s worth noting that John Wick 2 has its problems: namely, a cliffhanger ending as well as a marginally less singular and focused narrative that might prove irksome. The film manages to transcend these problems, however, fully cementing John Wick as one of our great modern action characters and movies. I’m not going to labour the point much more here: go see John Wick and see it in cinema if you can.