Hollywood makes out
two types of sequels. First, those sequels that aren’t as good as their forerunners.
Second, those sequels that surpass their predecessors. Basically, sequels are
either better or worse than what spawned them. “John Wick: Chapter 2”
(***1/2 OUT OF ****) belongs to the second category. Stunt double
Chad Stahelski and scenarist Derek Kolstad respectively return as director and
writer for the bullet-riddled bloodbath “John Wick 2,” and Keanu Reeves reprises
his role as the invincible, sharp-shooting assassin who doesn’t aim to please.
No, Wick’s new pet pooch doesn’t die in this installment. Moreover, no other animals are harmed.
Anybody who saw the original “John Wick” knows the villains spoke in awe about
John Wick’s lethal use of pencils. Appropriately enough, Stahelski stages
a pencil scene for the sequel, and you will have an entirely new respect for
yellow number two pencils. We’ll have to see if something like this
doesn’t ultimately winds up as merchandise to advertise the franchise.
This unbreakable pencil preserves its point throughout a slam-bang combat
encounter that would shatter a regular pencil. Audaciously preposterous,
hopelessly predictable, but thoroughly captivating nonsense, “John Wick 2”
pushes everything to the limit except the number of lines uttered by Keanu
Reeves. Tired of gun shy, shoot’em ups that confine their mortality rates
to single digits? “John Wick 2” boasts a triple-digit body count with an alarming
number of head shots. Typically, our bruised and battered hero pumps two
slugs into an adversary’s torso and then polishes them off with one in the
noggin. When he exhausts his ammo, he resorts to battlefield salvage and
appropriates another man’s weapon so he can keep on killing. Meaning, if you require
discretion in the depiction of violence, you may have complaints about this
exciting, atmospheric, and elegantly lensed action thriller with lots of
colorfully illuminated settings. Incidentally,
“John Wick 2” reunites Reeves and “Matrix” co-star Laurence Fishburne for a
couple of scenes. Were it little more than the original, “John Wick 2” wouldn’t
be as memorable, but it is something more with some imaginative tweaks that its
predecessor lacked.
“John Wick: Chapter
2” picks up where the previous epic ended.
Since Wick has acquired a new dog, he searches now for the car that his enemies
stole, and the film opens with an over-the-top, car-smashing, body-crashing
encounter in a rival mobster’s garage with our hero relying on wits, fists, and
martial arts. Like a respectable sequel,
“John Wick 2” reminds us what was at stake in the first film as well as the character
of our hero. A relative of the mobsters
who shot Wick’s puppy dog and then beat him senseless, Abram (Peter Stormare of
“22 Jump Street”) is preparing to clear out since he fears Wick is coming after
him next. While Wick dispatches Abram’s
army of thugs and mechanics, Abram’s eyes bulge with abject terror, and
Stormare gives a great performance by his reactions to the arrival of his
adversary. When they finally meet after
our hero has cleared a gauntlet of killers, Wick pours Abram a drink and
proposes peace with a toast. The two gulp
their liquor and forge an armistice.
Abram bids Wick a happy retirement.
Naturally, however, nothing of the sort is going to happen either for
Wick or the audience. In a bit of backstory,
we learn that John Wick indebted himself to a treacherous, high-ranking
mobster, Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio of “Loose Cannons”), with a
blood oath marker so he could retire and live peacefully with his wife Helen. Now, after wrapping up his revenge, Wick
discovers to his chagrin that Santino is calling in that marker! Although Wick is in no position to refuse an
assignment from Santino, he refuses to accommodate Santino because he is weary
of all the shooting and killing. A
disappointed Santino leaves Wick’s house and then shoulders an awesome incendiary
weapon and fire-bombs our hero’s house, blasting Wick off the premises but not
killing his dog. Resigned to his fate,
Wick sits down with Santino and agrees to carry out one final mission. The evil Santino wants the seat on an
international crime council that his late father willed to his older sister, Gianna
D'Antonio (Claudia Gerini of “Deceit”), and he stipulates that our hero must ice
her. Off to Rome flies Wick where he acquires
an arsenal that James Bond would envy, a dark tailor-made, bullet-proof suit,
and the blueprints to infiltrate Gianna’s inner sanctum and surprise her. What Wick doesn’t plan for adequately is
Gianna’s steadfast bodyguard Cassian (Common of “American Gangster”), and these
two titans tangle in a blood and guts tango that ends abruptly after they crash
into the sacred Continental Hotel in Rome, run by Julius (Franco Nero of
“Django”), where mobsters must cease and desist because it represents the
equivalent of a gangland church that grants amnesty. At this point, Wick realizes that the
scheming Santino has double-crossed him.
Santino points out he wouldn’t be much of a brother if he didn’t avenge
the murder of his sister. When his own
gunmen cannot liquidate Wick, Santino offers a $7-million-dollar bounty, and
hitmen from every corner of the globe swarm after our resilient hero.
Aside from Keanu
Reeves’ typically stoic performance, “John Wick: Chapter Two” features a sturdy
cast, with Ian McShane reprising his role as Winston, the manager of the New York
City Continental Hotel--where mobsters are prohibited from fighting with their
adversaries, and Lance Reddick as the accommodating desk clerk Charon. John Leguizamo appears briefly as the body
shop repairman who helped Wick locate his Mustang, and Bridget Moynahan appears
in a flashback as Wick’s late wife Helen.
Director Chad Stahelski, who once earned his living as Keanu Reeve’s
stunt double, need never look back. Slated to helm the new “Highlander” reboot,
Stahelski keeps things thumping throughout this two-hour plus neo-noir
thriller. The hall of mirrors scene
where Wick stalks Santino rivals the original scene in Orson Welles’ iconic
thriller “The Lady from Shanghai” (1947).
