Review of John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) by Witt R — 23 Jun 2017

While the action, locations, and visual set-pieces are an improvement upon the first, I can't quite say it's better than the first purely on the basis that the story and driving narrative of the first film is stronger.

Chapter 2 succeeds in being a tight follow-up on the events of the first film, but is only slightly hindered by what effects most current blockbusters: sequel setup. The third act and ending are heavily reliant upon setting up a third film which, while not a poor decision by any means, effectively weakens the conclusion of this film, leaving it open ended and saying "tune in for next week's episode".

But as these films are clearly "chapters" of the same book, it does not take away from what will be the overall book, it just slightly weakens this as a stand alone film.