John Wick Chapter 2
starring Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ruby Rose, Lance Reddick, Peter Stormare, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo and Ian McShane
written by Derek Kolstad
directed by Chad Stahelski
Rating: ◊◊◊◊◊
John Wick is so bad I thought maybe I had made the mistake of renting a film that was based on a comic book. Superhero films like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, etc., always make for indescribably awful, stupid movies. But no, it is not based on a comic book. It’s just a bad movie, probably made by immature geeks who are Japanese anime fans, or something.
I watched John Wick Chapter 2, the sequel to John Wick (2014), because I watched the first one - a neo-film noir story of a retired hit man who gets back in the game to take revenge on the people who killed his dog and stole his car - and I wanted to complete the set. In this next chapter following the 2014 hit, legendary hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is forced back out of retirement by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassins' guild. Bound by a blood oath to help him, John travels to Rome where he squares off against some of the world's deadliest killers.
“John Wick is a man of focus, commitment, and sheer fucking will. ”
Both movies feature fairly senseless, non-stop Hong Kong-like martial arts action. The martial arts fight sequences are all nearly identical: the same fighting style, the same manoeuvres and moves repeated again and again. It was stupid. It was boring.
Keanu Reeves has a really bad haircut and an even worse beard. Is that awful excuse for a beard his natural beard, or did some idiotic makeup person design it? His acting feels stiff and awkward, like he’s perpetually on the edge of forgetting his lines, or forgetting the staging of the scene he’s already in.
I liked Peter Stormare’s little bit at the start of the movie. Peter Stormare is a weird kind of guy. He looks evil and tough, although I know that’s not at all what he’s like in real life.