Film review of John Wick 2 (2017)- by Chris Stuckmann

Full text transcript of the film review of John Wick 2:

John Wick, chapter two, I’m thinking he’s back again, except this time his dog’s alive, thank God.

Stop doing that to me, movies, I like the I don’t want to get too much into the plot of John whereto because the trailer actually mercifully doesn’t really let us know what the movie’s about. You just know that John Wick is back and someone is in his sights. And it’s not a good stare that he’s given them. He’s angry. He’s mad. It’s mean he’s going to kill him. And that’s John Wick, chapter two. There’s something else going on, of course. But I just want you to discover it the way I discovered it, because I went in not really knowing the undercurrent of this movie. And I’m pleased because it was really fun to uncover as the film progressed, because this is yet again another extremely bad ass movie from the opening scene of this movie where we see an old Buster Keaton movie in black and white being projected onto the side of a building. And then we’re immediately transported into this action scene that tells us that we are about to see a stunt lover’s heaven. Buster Keaton, if you know anything about the history of film, is one of the best stuntmen ever. He pioneered a lot of stunt work in movies, and he’s known as one of the best of all time.

And so right from the beginning of this movie, the filmmakers are letting us know that that’s what they’re going to be focusing on here. And my God, it is an action movie lovers, wet dream in every possible way. If you appreciate amazing action scenes, if you like good stunt work, if you like, when they’re well filmed and well choreographed, when you can see everything happening and you can look the main actor in the eyes and know that he’s actually doing 95 percent of it himself, then you are going to love this movie. And I had a total blast with it from start to finish. One of the things that I loved about the first, John Wick, was the organization that you learn exists in this world that John Wick was once a part of. And it seemed like this really awesome world that was just waiting to bloom and waiting to blossom. And a lot of people commented on that. And you can tell the filmmakers heard that when you watch this film because it really beautifully explores the ins and outs of what is essentially a modern day mob. John with two is very much so a modern day mobster movie.

We don’t have people sitting in suits behind a desk going to you enough.

We give you been in the first film you saw the Continental, the hotel where business was not to be conducted. Everything was very sacred there. And in this movie, you get to see that as well as a lot of background politics with the way all of it works. And it’s actually kind of fascinating. This movie has a longer run time in the first one, and a lot of that is dedicated to exploring this underground world more. I would liken it to the raid to when compared to the raid with the first one was just a straight up action movie. The raid, too, was like, hey, let’s have a lot of action, but also explore this underground world of this criminal organization a little more. John, with two does that while also having a lot more action than even the Raid two did. And again, I can’t heap enough praise on the way these action scenes are filmed. Keanu Reeves is just a fucking badass. The stunts that he does in this film and the entire stunt team, the way it’s all assembled, it’s beautiful. It’s gorgeous to watch, even though it’s very violent. It’s extremely well choreographed and very well filmed. The finale action set piece reminded me quite a bit of Enter the Dragon, the Bruce Lee film.

There were a lot of callbacks to action films that are famous. If you are someone who’s well versed in action movies, this film is also not just a mobster movie. It’s sort of a modern day Western as well. There’s quite a bit of standoffs. There’s even a guitar riff that goes through the score quite a bit. That reminded me of music that’s commonly in Westerns where the film faltered for me a little bit is towards the end when you begin to see more of this organization and you begin to see how many people are really involved with it, I think it pushed the boundaries of realism to the point where it got a little cartoony and it was a little hard to believe a friend of mine who is with me felt the same way. Up until then, I didn’t really have any major issues with it. Save for one, which I’ll get into in a second. But there’s a sequence towards the end of the movie where I just kind of went, no, no, I don’t buy it. Sorry, you lost me. You lost me there. And that’s never a good thing to be reminded that you’re watching a movie when you’re kind of locked into the grit of it all and then be like, oh, that was a really big movie moment that I just don’t buy.

All that being said, John Wick is essentially a guy who has a one hundred percent aim, perfect head shot cheat code installed into his brain. So I can’t really take it that seriously. And the motivation in the first John Wick was so clear and so streamlined, it was a very emotional motivation for why he goes back into action in this film. He’s kind of forced and he just sort of has to he doesn’t really have much of a choice. And what makes characters and movies interesting is the choices they make. And when your character is just kind of like, hey, you, you’ve got to do this, you just have to. The emotional reason for him being there wasn’t as impactful as it was in the first film. All that being said, what they accomplished with the stunt team in this movie and what Keanu Reeves has done with consistently putting forth an absurd amount of effort into his films. And if you don’t believe me, look up his combat training video from the first on wicket’s on YouTube, it’ll blow your fucking mind. This guy is so dedicated and what they’ve all done is to be praised for one specific reason.

Nobody’s hanging from a helicopter. Nobody’s jumping off of rooftops onto another rooftop. Nobody’s, you know, flying through the air at mock speeds. This is all in camera. Insane, amazing stunt work on the ground, hand-to-hand combat, gongfu. All of this stuff is is things that you can do on a very low budget. And the fact that it’s so mind blowing, what they can accomplish without doing any of these major superhero type stuff that’s to be praised. I’m going to give John Wick chapter two A B plus. I really had a blast with this movie. I feel like it’s a more focused story than the first film. But the one thing that kept me from liking it just as much as the first, if not a little better, was his emotional reason for being there this time around. It was more of a, hey, you just have to do this and deal with it, which is kind of cool. But also towards the end, it does kind of push the limits of believability. Beyond that, this is a total blast. I can’t wait to see it again. I hope you guys check it out this weekend. As always, thank you very much for watching. And if you like this, you can click right here and get stuck mineralised.