Review of John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) by Saintdecky — 26 Feb 2017

John Wick, is in no way, an amazing, thought-out, well-told narrative with a good plot. But it does have amazing action sequences and realistic shooting (for the most part).

Acting: Don't walk into the theater expecting amazing Oscar-worthy performances, or even great performances. Keanu Reeves is not a good actor, but he gets away with it in this movie. He doesn't really say much, which is probably a good thing, and his line deliveries are usually just...off. But it does add to the feeling of him being an every-day average Joe who got caught up in a mess. Laurence Fishburne doesn't really do anything; his scenes in the trailer were basically his only scenes in the whole movie. Common was also pretty good in his scenes.

Plot: Let's face it: there is not really a plot. Any hint of a plot is just a pretty basic story-line. However it gets an excuse by making up for it with amazing, well-shot action. I think it could've been at least 20 minutes shorter, those 20 minutes being scenes that barely add to the little plot there is, but aren't too necessary. The first John Wick also had a basic plot, but still felt original and new nonetheless. This one is really nothing new, but still has great action.

Script: I've seen plenty of people saying the script is terrible, and it sort of is. The movie doesn't rely on the script and works fine without it. I just sat back and enjoyed the action, which was great, so I didn't look too hard into it or criticize it too much when watching; instead I just enjoyed.

Action: The attention to detail in this movie is astounding. Of course, the enemies still can't hit him from 5 feet away, but it makes up for that by having him actually run out of ammo and have to reload realistically among other things. The gunshots actually sound like real guns. They crackle and pop and ricochet and don't sound like paintball guns. The fight scenes don't rely on quick cuts and multiple angles; most cuts go on a long time before switching angles during fight scenes. You can actually somewhat see what is going on during the fight scenes. There's not as much shaky cam and quick cutting, so you can see what's what. This movie is also significantly more violent than the first. A larger budget equaled a lot more blood squibbs and headshots.

Overall, John Wick is an enjoyable, action-packed flick with a forgettable plot that is excused by the pure amazingness of its action sequences.