John Wick 2 (2017)

There are few sequels who grow beyond the original. "T2: Judgment Day" and "Aliens" are two examples that just crossed my mind (no connection with having the same director). However, I don't seem able to find something to be at least two classes better than the first part... except "John Wick 2".

I wrote around a year and a half ago an entry about what I still believe to be one of the most stupid action movies released this decade, in total contradiction with the praise it got at the time (which tuned down a bit a while after). It seemed so bad then that 1) it was really hard to decide on watching the second part and 2) while watching the second part it was really hard to convince myself that I'm not losing time. I was effectively trying to find reasons to confirm my expectations that I'm watching yet another movie with a rating artificially inflated on every movie site. Well, it's not perfect but, they learned ... I don't know how since there were not many complaints on the first movie being bad, but they did. And the director is the same stuntman who didn't direct anything up to JW1, and the writer is the same guy who up to JW1 only wrote a couple scripts for bad B-series movies.

The story stays really simple. And still a bit more complex than last time = I. John Wick is brought back in the assassin business by an old debt that he has to pay, which he doesn't want to but "the rules demand it" and II. "The rules" do not exclude that after paying the debt to "pay" something extra. Well, it might not seem much, but we have an action line that moves between I and II and is more consistent than a linear revenge story in a stupid context that we had in the first movie. But the part that really matters in JW2 and brings it well beyond the first movie is not the story...

... It's the way the story is staged. We have an example here on how you can get maximum out of a simple subject, a violent one, without much to say. The dialogue is delivered sometimes in short lines, thoughtful, with pauses, which say little enough to keep just enough out of the ridiculous cliche area of the first movie but still have punchline effect, and overall it seems the movie's much more aware of not taking itself too seriously. The camera work gains a lot from locating the action in Italy, but leaving that aside we have some exceptionally composed frames, and a scene towards the end that seems slightly referring the classic "mirror fight" of Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon". The soundtrack is built upon a simple theme that fits perfectly with the action. Even the fights choreography seems much less exaggerated compared to the first movie. There are plenty technical nuances which bring value to what we see here. Or to put it shortly, you could say that it "finally has style". Remains to be seen in JW3 if it keeps it or this was just a fortunate accident ( yes, well, I'm still not convinced :) )...

Rating: 4 out of 5