John Wick: Chapter 2

Movies to watch on Valentine's Day can lead to either the traditional romance genre or something completely different depending on your interests. In terms of this years Valentines Day, I have decided to go with the latter as I haven't found anything interesting currently in theaters with the former worth watching. During my time at SJSU, one of my clubs had introduced to me an action movie that I would fall in love with for what it is: John Wick. A retired hitman who is pushed to his lowest after losing everything dear to him and seeks revenge on the perpetrator, no matter how many headshots he'll make to do it. I loved its action (especially the nightclub scene), simple story, the intrigue of the assassins network, and Keanu Reeves being immune to bad dialogue while being somehow immortal (similar to action star Tom Cruise). A few years later, the trailer to John Wick: Chapter 2 has arrived and ignited the hype train yet again. This movie has a chance to prove whether or not Keanu Reeves can have a sequel in an action movie franchise that doesn't suck (like the Matrix sequels) and if John Wick was just another one trick wonder. After hearing all the good buzz about it, I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with John Wick: Chapter 2. I entered the theater excited to find out and left it thoroughly impressed at its effort as well as anticipating the next entry in the franchise.

Plot: The story starts after our protagonist takes care of one more piece of business that carried over from the first film, which reminds the audience a little summary of it and a taste of what he's capable of. John encounters someone from his past who requests his skills for an assignment as part of an old debt. Through combination of the circumstances behind this request and the outcome of the assignment, he ends up in a tense mission with a bounty on his head. His struggle to return to the peaceful life he retired to becomes even more distant due to the actions taken by his enemies using the advantages of the assassins network. The journey John takes exposes more resources and expanded reach of the organized network in how they operate. The story is wonderfully paced with enough story development and action pieces to balance each other out. As he gets closer to completing his mission, the lines of his pride and/or moral code are tested with the rules and consequences of the assassin organization in whether both parts can see eye to eye. Overall the story works well in creating more circumstances for John Wick to overcome in his quest to return to a peaceful retirement while expanding on the lore and organization of the assassins network with a great balance of story development and excellent action pieces.

Characters: The three characters to focus on are John Wick (Keanu Reeves), Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamario), and Winston (Ian McShane). John Wick is our titular protagonist whose quest to return to a peaceful retired life following his late wife death has been a magnet for the scum of the crime world to threaten all that he has left. Keanu Reeves does an excellent job portraying of the legendary former hitman that doesn't need much dialogue to make his enemies regret their life choices and allowing his charisma to work well with some of the characters in creating some nice moments of humor that demonstrates his humanity he holds onto, regardless of the number of people trying to kill him. Santino D'Antonio is an acquaintance from John's old life with a pompous arrogant personality and his own hidden agenda. Riccardo does a great performance of an slimy character that's not only easy to hate but helps expose unseen pieces of the assassins network. Winston is a calm focused manager for the Continental Hotel, one of the assassins outposts. Ian McShane is great in showing a no-nonsense attitude in the manner assassins conduct their business, upholding the rules at all times no matter what. Honorable mentions go to Common and Ruby Rose in their assassin/bodyguard portrayals and entertaining interactions with John Wick. There's a special honorable mention that has limited screen time in the movie but fans of Keanu Reeves movies will recognize this once they see the individual in question and also does a great performance with the main character. What's great about these characters is what can be said with a little dialogue and the glares they share with each other while trying to best one another. There's nothing complex or deep about them but rather the lengths they are willing to go in order to reach their goals. Overall the cast and characters in John Wick: Chapter 2 blend perfectly well in the intriguing assassin world with simple goals to accomplish while using the rules and resources to their advantage.

Action: The action, much like the first entry, is tightly choreographed and brilliantly shot. With this being the sequel, however, the sequences are given more variety in terms of the style and location. There are a plethora of headshots spread throughout, possibly even more than the first one. Keeping up with the kill count would be more exhausting than before and would probably require more than one viewing to do so. There are a few scenes that are on the same level as the infamously beautiful nightclub sequence in the first movie in terms of the lengths the actors went through to bring back the intense situations only the Boogeyman can get through. A special honorable mention goes to one particular method that connects to one of the stories in the first movie that has actually been performed in one of the Batman movies that deserves to be seen for being performed in a rated R setting. Overall the action in John Wick: Chapter 2 reminds the audiences of the fantastic choreography and sequences they loved before elevated to new environments as well as new creative means to keep the adrenaline rush flowing from start to finish.

Overall Consensus: John Wick: Chapter 2 acts the best way an action sequel should by matching and improving upon the wonderful qualities of its predecessor with great casting, an intriguing expanding environment, and an adrenaline rush of action in. ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2 🍿

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You watched the first movie and enjoyed it. You want to see how much physical pain John Wick will endure. You want to see whether or not John Wicks dog will live. You love great action movie sequels. You like movies with great action choreography. You like movies with simple characters, a simple story, and an interesting environment. You like movies that travel to Rome and/or New York. You like action movies with headshots and gore.

Reasons to avoid it: You don't like any of the aforementioned actors. You don't like John Wick. You don't like action movies. You are sensitive to gore.

Coming up next: Just when I thought was done for the month, February Frenzy continues with the newest entry from Studio Ghibli: The Red Turtle! Keep an eye out for that review after this coming weekend!