 Tagline: Never stab the devil in the back Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat - Fortune Favors the Bold John Wick is forced to back out of retirement by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to help him, John travels to Rome where he squares off against some of the world’s deadliest killers. Storyline: After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life. Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, June 3, 2017 As covered in even one of the supplements adorning the Blu-ray release of John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick was a rather unexpected sensation when it was released in 2014, reinvigorating Keanu Reeves' career and providing action adventure junkies with a pretty steady supply of adrenaline pumping sequences. Some curmudgeons (ahem) found some elements in the first film to quibble with (receiving lots of disparaging messages for their trouble, it might be added), but even those dunderheads (ahem) couldn't help but appreciate the breathless quality to the virtually nonstop array of fight scenes, all choreographed to within an inch of various participants' teeth by co-directors Chad Stahelski and an uncredited David Leitch, both of whom earned their stripes (and/or bruises, as the case may be) in the stunt industry, experience which was more than apparent in John Wick's astounding array of set pieces. John Wick: Chapter 2 picks up from more or less literally where the first film left off, with an extremely angry John on the hunt for his epic Mustang Mach 1, which he finds in a chop shop being run by Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare), part of the Russian gang which ran afoul of Wick in the first film. Suffice it to say, Wick marauds through a cartwheeling series of attackers as he attempts to reclaim his car, all while Tarasov listens with an increasingly frightened and/or resigned look on his face from his locked office. Neither the Mustang nor Wick himself make it through the carnage unscathed, but in an interesting moment that recalls the first film's depiction of Wick attempting at least to lead an ordinary life, once Wick finally makes it to Tarasov's lair, he shares a shot of vodka with the hoodlum, toasting potential "peace". Yeah, right. Now it's notable that this frenetic sequence all unfolds for fourteen minutes or so before the film's credits are trotted out, perhaps one indication that even Stahelski, who's back on board as director, knows where the fans want to see John Wick—namely in the center of an action adventure whirlwind, kind of like the eye of a hurricane. One of the sidebars to that opening sequence is a moment of apparently intentional humor, something that the first film was in short supply of, when Tarasov laments to one of his henchmen that all of the mishegos the Tarasov clan has been experiencing is because they were stupid enough to mess with Wick's car and (deceased) dog. As I mentioned in our John Wick Blu-ray review, the whole "dead wife and dog" angle, while understandable in terms of giving the character motivation and providing at least a modicum of a humanizing element, struck me as needlessly maudlin, especially when it was obvious the whole point of John Wick was to simply see the character kick some serious butt. The over serious depiction of these supposedly traumatizing events has been largely dropped in this follow up, as evidenced by Tarasov's kind of cheeky commentary on his gang's "issues", and in my estimation that's a very smart evolution in screenwriter Derek Kolstad's approach toward this evident franchise. Now that's not to say that this film doesn't have its own stumbling blocks, albeit probably fairly minor ones. The biggest one is a completely needless episode that introduces Italian gangster Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), who shows up at Wick's gorgeous ultra modern mansion to collect on a "marker" that D'Antonio had gotten from Wick back in the day when Wick was trying to get out of the hitman business so that he could forge a normal life with his wife Helen. In a series of events that is rote at best and pretty hackneyed at worst, Wick of course demurs to help D'Antonio's request for "help", leading D'Antonio to destroy Wick's home on the spot. Then Wick turns to mentor Winston (Ian McShane), who tells Wick that a marker's a marker and that Wick has no choice but to honor it. That then leads to another interchange with D'Antonio, where Wick tacitly agrees to perform the requested task, which it turns out is killing D'Antonio's sister Gianna D'Antonio (Claudia Gerini). Now, some inquiring minds may want to know what exactly the whole initial scene between Wick and D'Antonio served to provide the story other than a chance to have a luxe mansion go up in flames. Suffice it to say that plans don't go, well, according to plan, leaving John in desperate straits once the true levels of D'Antonio's villainy are revealed (wanting to have his sister killed is only the tip of this particular iceberg). As with the first film, once the pieces have been set into place, Stahelski simply flicks the first domino (so to speak), leading to a cascading series of awesomely staged fight scenes as John has to take on one adversary after another. There's an obvious tip o' the hat to the famous closing sequence of Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai, with a fantastic scene that is very similar to the hall of mirrors sequence in the Welles film, but which offers a near hallucinatory level of color. (Kind of weirdly, another film I just reviewed, Jacques Rivette's Duelle, had another visual reference to the Welles film—see screenshot 10 of that review for a little clue.) The subtext of John Wick: Chapter 2 might well be something along the lines of "those who live by the rules die by the rules," with John circumventing some of the assassin's creed (so to speak) leading to pretty calamitous consequences. I'm not quite sure what I think about Laurence Fishburne's character of The Bowery Lord, who kind of comes off like Morpheus appearing as Franz Liebkind in The Producers, but otherwise the film offers some nicely done supporting roles for everyone from Common as one of D'Antonio's bodyguards to Franco Nero, manager of Rome's Continental Hotel, where all the best hitmen stay. As with the first film, the story may not ultimately offer incredible depth, but it certainly supports one of the most fearsome assortments of set pieces in recent film history. This second chapter in the John Wick saga still has a series of events which defy logic, but this film has at least the hint of a sense of humor at times and it also has an easier time overcoming any narrative deficits simply because the set pieces are so staggeringly effective. I got quite a bit of heat from various readers here when I didn't give John Wick an out and out rave, but maybe John's manic moves have finally kicked some sense into me. Highly recommended. [CSW] -3.9- I liked John Wick Chapter 2 better primarily because John kills twice as many would-be assassins as he did in Chapter 1. The gun-play is spectacular and the martial arts sequences are even better this time around. Chapter 2 also gives a more in-depth look at the hidden world of the professional assassin. It's a great backstory. Solid performances were turned in by all, but I especially enjoyed up and comer Ares (Ruby Rose) the deaf assassin. Keanu put in the work on how to load, clear and carry the weapons. It showed in how he handled multiple assailants from multiple angles. Keanu gets put through the meat grinder here. Definitely thought was a great movie, better than first one. If you enjoyed the first, let's just say when you're done watching the second you're gonna already wanna see the third which has yet to release. [V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box Cast Notes: Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Riccardo Scamarcio (Santino D'Antonio), Ian McShane (Winston), Ruby Rose (Ares), Common (Cassian), Claudia Gerini (Gianna D'Antonio), Lance Reddick (Charon), Laurence Fishburne (Bowery King), Tobias Segal (Earl), John Leguizamo (Aurelio), Bridget Moynahan (Helen), Thomas Sadoski (Jimmy), Erik Frandsen (Numismatic), David Patrick Kelly (Charlie), Perry Yung (Doctor). IMDb Rating (12/25/16): 6.7/10 from 117,739 users
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