Review of John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) by Dave C — 28 Apr 2017

In the first film, John Wick, a legendary hitman, is pulled out of retirement after some shadowy thugs inadvertently steal his car. But of course, this was about more than just getting revenge for a car. This was about coming grieving the realization that the life he is attempting to leave behind has resulted in the loss of everything that he once valued.

All of this is brought back to the surface in a stellar opening sequence that reminds us that whatever John Wick is trying to chase- atonement, retribution, peace- he can't outrun his past. It will always catch up with him, and so it is best to face it head on, with a gun (or two, or three, or four), and with a "I've got nothing left to lose" abandon. Thus begins a sequel that travels fairly straight in the footsteps of its predecessor, just with a little bit more weight to its game. We know the character, we know the world in which he lives, and in John Wick 2 we find this world pushing him head first back into the political mess of an international power struggle for the underground. And John Wick is about to find out just how big this power struggle actually is, as what begin in the shadows slowly begins to play out in the light of day.

What was great about the first film was the way it provided us with this untouchable, unbreakable gunman who also happens to be incredibly vulnerable. What was most unexpected about the breakout hit a few years back was the way the relentless and stylized violence never felt contrived or polished. It just kind of unfolded half=hazardly, always leaving open the possibility that Wick might not survive past the closing credits. Of course, he does survive in the first film, but in the sequel, we find all of this hanging in the balance once again. We see him fighting for his life while this life seems forever on the cusp of losing the fight to survive.

Which is really what we find sitting underneath all of the blood and the mess (and there is a lot of blood), the uncertainty of John Wick's motivation. As the opening scene puts it, he asks for peace, but whether he can ever find peace is the real question. He is driven by love and loss, but he also seems unable to step away from the endless cycle that revenge seems to facilitate. This is what keeps the underground power game going round, and round, after all, this idea that an eye for an eye is the only true retribution. But someone always seems to end up owing someone for something, and the only truth we really know is that you don't want to end up owing John Wick anything (or having John Wick owe you something either).

John Wick is a man who seems forever lost to the weight of his own emotional baggage. There is something that drives him, that keeps him getting up, but even he remains uncertain as to what this motivation really is. He is a man fighting for something and nothing all at the same time. When he is at his best, his most aware, he is fighting someone else's fight. But, as a scene that pits Wick against a maze of mirrors helps to illustrate, he is at his worst when he is left to himself. This is where all things that haunt him are left to fester, and this is why the freedom that he pretends to find in the isolation of retirement never seems to feel free at all.

Sequels don't alway live up to their predecessor. In this case, it does, and I would argue that it even manages to do some things that are unique in and of itself. It is familiar, but the familiar questions are framed somewhat differently. The stakes are the same, but the stakes are also raised. It is about an individual, but here the individual faces something altogether bigger than himself. And it all comes together in one of better films of 2017 to date.