2014 was a strong year for action films with the likes of Edge of Tomorrow, Kingsman, and The Raid 2. But for me, the standout was John Wick, featuring a storming return to action from Keanu Reeves, dazzling gun fu fight choreography and stunt work, and some subtle but intriguing worldbuilding as we are introduced to a whole secret society of contract killers.
John Wick: Chapter 2 forces Wick to face a repercussion of his decision to come out of retirement. This takes the form of an old friend calling in a favour. So it’s one more one last job for our hitman antihero.
Chapter 2 gets a lot of things right. Its streamlined story never gets in the way of the action, but is never too simple as to be tiresome. I actually enjoyed many of the stage-setting scenes, looking beyond some of the lame dialogue and quickly immersing myself in the John Wick universe.
Also, the action is to die – by a headshot – for. This couldn’t have come at a better time for me. While Hollywood circlejerks over the choreography and dance scenes in La La Land, Wick clears a room full of henchmen with pistols, fists, grapples, pencils – whatever. And it’s just as impressive, if not more so.
The camera motion is tailored to great action – patient for clarity, kinetic for excitement. Steady editing and carefully selected shots further enhance these scenes – never are you disoriented by choppy cuts, the likes of which you’ll find in the Taken sequels that the honest trailer for John Wick recently made fun of. My only gripe is one scene which – while I otherwise love the dark, neo-noir aesthetic of John Wick – was poorly lit, obscuring some of the action.
All of this is possible because of the exceptional stunt work, and Keanu’s commitment to this role. There’s no need for shaky cam and rapid editing when your lead guy is actually doing all this shit. So while Ryan Gosling learned how to tap dance and play the piano, the fifty year-old Keanu dedicated four months to this performance. (And I don’t mean to dump on La La Land – I love it but it’s a tad overpraised at this stage.)
Perhaps the best thing about Chapter 2 is how it continues the worldbuilding established in its predecessor, which is what made me fall in love with John Wick. Where the first introduces the killer’s code, currency, and network of contacts, the second gives us richer rules, coin minting, and reveals deeper layers of the society.
I loved this stuff in John Wick because the story could have gone without it, but putting it in gave John Wick its own flavour and tone. But its greatest boon was that, while it worked as a self-contained story, it quietly set the scene for further instalments. And still, it’s rarely shoved in our face – we’re shown some goings on of how the society functions but when the plot doesn’t depend on it, it isn’t a distraction.
That said, there’s a groan-inducing, poorly timed scene featuring Laurence Fishburne that introduces a few new elements but left me wanting the film to just get on with it. In fact, much of the second half misses the frenzied pacing of the first John Wick, feeling a bit more stop-and-start.
My biggest flaw with Chapter 2 is that it’s a huge missed opportunity. Impeccable though it may be, the action feels like much of the same of that seen in the first. It’s hard to find the balance. I frequently criticise sequels for confusing bigger with better, but there was a certain lack of creativity in many of the sequences in Chapter 2.
More than that, I take issue with the premise. John Wick works so well because his entire motivation is totally emotion-driven. In Chapter 2 he’s roped into the story because he owes a debt. It’s not the same.
Minor spoilers here, but in the opening scene of Chapter 2, we see a baddie describe Wick’s cool, clinical discipline. A short time later, Wick arms up then screams with frustration at how he’s being coerced. Clearly, we’re going to see a more unhinged Wick who can’t focus on the job because of his rage. Nope. Back to the same old stuff.
Let me reiterate – those same old action scenes are glorious in their own right. But it is a shame to see more of the same when the story was staged perfectly as to give us something different. So I’d say that Chapter 2 certainly lives up to John Wick, but does not surpass it. If you’re a fan of action filmmaking like I am, definitely check it out.
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