I missed the first John Wick film in theaters. I missed the second one in theaters, too… because I hadn’t seen the first one yet. I don’t plan to repeat that mistake when Chapter 3 comes out this year.
Because it was so long before I got around to the first film in the series, I bought the second one right after I watched the first. And I’m just now, many months later, getting around to the second one.
I really shouldn’t have waited that long.
John Wick: Chapter 2 picks up shortly after the end of the first movie and the just keeps plowing ahead like an out of control freight train of hurt and precision killing.
The Plot
If you saw the first movie, you know that the titular John Wick is a legend among assassins. They call him The Boogey Man because he can get in and out of places no one else can and his marks never see him coming.
In the first film, Wick is retired. He performed an “impossible task” in order to get out of the life and settle down with the woman he loved. She died. Then some random punks stole his car and killed his dog.
The first move ended with a lot of dead Russian gangsters and Wick picking up a new dog from the pound as he walks off into the night.
This move kicks off with him getting his car back… and then retiring again.
And then getting pulled back in, because of a promise he made long ago.
Things get (more) wild from there.
There are double-crosses, massive groups of professional killers, fights in iconic and dazzling places, and even more fleshing out of the world of the Continental (where all the hitmen are members and there are rules that need to be followed) and its associated network of n’er do wells.
By the time everything is over, rules have been broken, friendships and professional relationships have ended, and John Wick is set for a whole lot more action in the next chapter.
“You working tonight, John?”
The thing that struck me most about the writing in the first John Wick film was how they subtly fleshed out the world. Nothing got really deep, but you know there was a global network of professional killers, you know they all know each other, and you know they’re all (or probably all) members of The Continental (and that Ian McShane’s Winston is The Man in Charge). There’s not much beyond that because there didn’t need to be.
Much like the generally stark and precise way Wick takes out those he’s up against, the exposition was direct and quick.
In the second film, there’s a lot more world building, but every bit of it still directly serves the plot. Since Wick is a whole lot more “back in” this time around, there’s a lot more interaction–on a global scale–with the services offered to the members of The Continental network and a lot more (non-killing) interaction with other members.
And, again, everyone knows who John Wick is. And they all know that if he’s working, they probably don’t want to be around… or that they’ll have to work against him, in some cases. Few actually enjoy the thought of that prospect. It’s played very well.
Just like in the first film, the action and super well choreographed. The camera may move around a little too much in some scenes (which I don’t remember bring a problem in the first film, but actually gets distracting and obscures some of the great fight technique on display in this one). Every movement that John Wick makes is razor sharp and snappy.
Well, until he really gets the crap beat out of him. Which happens a few times in this film. But it’s always from things like dozens of attackers or, y’know, being hit by cars multiple times. Then things start to get a little more loose.
Even at his worst, though, he’s still better than just about everyone else. Keanu Reeves really sells it all fantastically. The hard training he’s done for these movies (and, likely, stuff going back to at least The Matrix) really pays off.
Which makes me wonder a lot why they wrote the character of Ares, played by Ruby Rose, the way they did. I don’t know if she was supposed to be some up-and-coming young killer, maybe a prodigy, or just someone who wanted to run with the big dogs and would never have been able to hack it.
It seems like they were kind of trying for the former… but in practice it all just ended up looking like the latter. I know a lot of people blame Rose for that, but I don’t think the entire weight of the utter failure of that character can rest on her shoulders. I mean, it was basically a gender-swapped version of David Caruso’s Kit-Kat from Hudson Hawk (except that character was supposed to be ridiculous).
The Verdict
One weak character aside, the second chapter of the John Wick series is most certainly worth watching. It’s basically more of the same of what made the first one great.
When the third one comes out, we’ll likely have one of the greatest action film trilogies around. A set that will be talked about for decades to come and be what many that come after will be compared to.
It’s not a complex film. It hints at the complexities of the setting, but doesn’t get preoccupied and tangled in them. There is economy of character, economy of story, and, most importantly for a film where the main character is a professional killer, economy of motion in the action.
While you could jump right in without having seen the first film, being aware of what happened before adds a bit more depth and flavor to some of the interactions. Especially the first dozen or so minutes of the film (before the title shows up).
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