Following the modest success of the original John Wick, director Chad Stahelski quickly got to work creating a sequel. Whilst the first film didn’t exactly leave many hanging threads, there was enough world building done for the franchise to expanded if the desire arose, and that’s exactly what John Wick: Chapter 2 latches onto. The danger of creating a sequel to a film like John Wick is that you run the risk of diluting the experience by bogging it down with needless story expansion, or you run the risk of being the same thing but just bigger and louder. What you need is to find the perfect middle ground, where the world and characters are expanded in interesting ways, whilst escalating the action in accordance with sequel expectations. Like lightning in a bottle, Chapter 2 delivers just that.
Having inadvertently returned to a life of organised crime, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is contacted by a former employer of his, Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) in order to fulfil his ‘marker’, a blood oath to repay a debt. Santino wants his sister, Gianna (Claudia Gerini), dead so that he may be able to assume her position at the ‘High Table’, the members of whom control all aspects of organised crime. This request acts as a death sentence to John, if he declines then a hit will be placed on his head for failing to fulfil his oath, but if he accepts then killing a member of the High Table will place John in the crosshairs of everyone in the criminal underworld.
Having inadvertently returned to a life of organised crime, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is contacted by a former employer of his, Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) in order to fulfil his ‘marker’, a blood oath to repay a debt. Santino wants his sister, Gianna (Claudia Gerini), dead so that he may be able to assume her position at the ‘High Table’, the members of whom control all aspects of organised crime. This request acts as a death sentence to John, if he declines then a hit will be placed on his head for failing to fulfil his oath, but if he accepts then killing a member of the High Table will place John in the crosshairs of everyone in the criminal underworld.
The first John Wick was light on story but put every ounce of effort it could into its impressive action sequences. With a story that could be summarised with ‘guys dog gets killed so he gets revenge’, John Wick needed to lean on the action as much as possible to make the film worthwhile. Whilst John Wick: Chapter 2 certainly sounds like it has put more of a focus on story, it does so in a way that doesn’t detract from the simplicity of what made the original so fun, and the action sequences remain just as frequent and are dialled up to eleven. To be honest, this is about as perfect a sequel to John Wick as you could hope for, because there’s just more of everything, and all of it is better than what the first film offered.
The world of John Wick is what is expanded the most. John himself is still a man of few words whom we know little about, but we know what we need. In Chapter 2, we spend time understanding how the High Table pull the strings from the shadows, controlling everything from the Continental hotel chain down to the currency used by the criminal underworld, and their strict code of conduct. It’s not delivered in shonky exposition either, this new information is delivered organically through meaningful dialogue exchanges, or visually where possible.
The world of John Wick is what is expanded the most. John himself is still a man of few words whom we know little about, but we know what we need. In Chapter 2, we spend time understanding how the High Table pull the strings from the shadows, controlling everything from the Continental hotel chain down to the currency used by the criminal underworld, and their strict code of conduct. It’s not delivered in shonky exposition either, this new information is delivered organically through meaningful dialogue exchanges, or visually where possible.
Whilst the expanded story will certainly pique your interest in the downtime between action sequences, John Wick: Chapter 2 delivers expertly on that front either. It knows that you come to see some expertly choreographed and clean action sequences, and Stahelski gives you exactly what you want and then some. From the opening motorbike chase to the final nail-biting race to the Continental, Chapter 2 is bigger and better in every single sequence. The standout being a party held in Rome’s Colosseum that turns into a trance music fuelled shootout.
Similarly, to the first film, if you like action movies then John Wick: Chapter 2 is essential viewing. It presents some of the best fight choreography the industry has to offer, with some extremely clean camerawork to show it off to the maximum. For those put off by the first film’s threadbare story, Chapter 2 may offer up enough worldbuilding to lure you in, and it presents an almighty cliff-hanger that’ll leave you leaping out of your seat in anticipation for the third film. The perfect sequel? It just might be.
Similarly, to the first film, if you like action movies then John Wick: Chapter 2 is essential viewing. It presents some of the best fight choreography the industry has to offer, with some extremely clean camerawork to show it off to the maximum. For those put off by the first film’s threadbare story, Chapter 2 may offer up enough worldbuilding to lure you in, and it presents an almighty cliff-hanger that’ll leave you leaping out of your seat in anticipation for the third film. The perfect sequel? It just might be.