“John Wick — Chapter 2” (2017)
The return of “Death’s very emissary”.
The return of “Death’s very emissary”.
With no opening credits whatsoever we are immediately propelled back into the world of John Wick via the staple ingredients of the series so far, as well as a future yet to be seen. Overhead crane shots brilliantly display a neon lit and brightly illuminated New York City from above as the camera pans down to street level via a hologram playing out on a skyscraper. It’s raining, naturally, and as your attention is drawn to the commerce of a Victoria Secrets shop a motorcyclist runs after his motorcycle sliding out of control on the wet streets. He’s quickly back on board, however, almost immediately, a black Mustang car screams around the corner in hot pursuit.
We cut once more to another overhead crane shot of the car twisting and turning through the narrow streets before returning to ground level, and the wet streets the motorcyclist will once again become familiar with as he crashes sideways into the pursuing car. Staying at street level, we see only the shoes of the driver of the car and his footsteps as he approaches the now prone motorcyclist. Taking what appears to be a mobile telephone or an elaborate rectangular device from the inside pocket of the motorcyclist, he returns to his car before loudly screeching away in a hail of wheel spins.
A further cut now takes us inside a huge garage or storage facility full with distinctive yellow coloured New York taxis, each one being stripped of the hidden booty inside including cash, drugs and gold bars. “Abram Tarasov” (Peter Stormare) is now seen for the first time as the camera slowly pans upward toward his face as he clips the end of a cigar before lighting it. Questioned by a trusty Mafia lieutenant as to why they are surrendering such enormous wealth in repayment of a dead dog and a car, Tarasov replies “It’s not just a car. It’s John Wick’s car”. Speaking of the anti-hero who just won’t be allowed to relax in his desired retirement from being a world renowned hitman, a shadowy figure is seen, both outside the storage facility and via brutal, revenge killing flashbacks as we return to a worried Tarasov: “John Wick is a man of focus. Commitment. A sheer fucking will. He once killed three men in a bar. With a fucking pencil. Who the fuck can do that? I can assure you the stories you hear about this man, if nothing else, have been watered down”.
Six minutes in and we finally see the “boogeyman” or the “Baba Yaga”, the man and the legend that everyone fears “John Wick” (Keanu Reeves) as he emerges from the shadows, and into the light of coming vengeance.
From the hunter we cut back to the hunted, and very apparently the now haunted figure once more of Abram Tarasov. As his underling and lieutenant continues to question the wisdom of relinquishing such a huge sum of money and wealth, the telephone rings. It’s the voice of the boogeyman on the other end of the line: “You have my car” he announces in Russian before hanging up. Tarasov, turning a worrying shade of white, drops the telephone. A quick cut reveals John Wick fully for the first time as after executing his way into the storage facility he locates his treasured car. After removing the cover and locating the keys, John speeds away from the storage facility, a host of cars and yellow taxis in hot pursuit. We cut immediately to inside the car as John attempts to escape as he’s battered and smashed from all sides by the pursuing vehicles. Making a partial escape, he is now pursued by a lone motorcyclist who, after an elongated and spectacular chase, he eventually defeats by opening the drivers side door and slamming on the brakes. The motorcyclist crashes into the open door, careering high into the air in a ball of flames.
John now returns to the storage facility with an increasingly damaged car as he spins into an anonymous bad guy before being thrown from the vehicle and then sent flying into the air by yet another pursuing yellow taxi. The cuts increase now between a bloodied and bruised John and an increasingly worried Tarasov as John fights off, dismantles and defeats all comers via a raft of blisteringly quick and brutal Kung Fu moves. There is not a weapon in sight until a man mountain of a bad guy arrives and throws John painfully to the ground. Oversized and overmatched, it’s now 11 minutes in before John pulls a gun and shoots his huge adversary in both legs.
The quick cuts return once more, of an even bloodier and bruised John and an increasingly worried Tarasov. All is quiet now aside from the sound of approaching footsteps before John levers open the doors to Tarasov’s office. With barely a word exchanged, John pours each man a single shot of Vodka before stating a single word in Russian “Peace”. Tarasov is taken aback before responding “Can a man like you know peace?”. John replies with a simple “why not?” before Tarasov, with more than a hint of relief at being spared his life in the name of such peace announces “Enjoy your retirement Mr Wick”.
John leaves the storage facility in the treasured car he came for, now a battered, creaking and crumbling wreck.
Welcome, to John Wick, Chapter 2!
This taster article should be read as such and in league with a similar opening breakdown afforded to the first in the series as linked at the denouement to this publication. I will be giving a similar treatment to the third instalment in this series, and this, in cinematic parlance, is coming soon!
But rest assured, this incredible series continues in the safe hands of director Chad Stahelski and as noted in my previous review for the original in the series, as an ex stunt co-ordinator, the stunts and set pieces are more and more daring and visually spectacular. The themes of the original film continue in the guise of John’s overwhelming grief for the loss of his wife and if you’re familiar at all with the legend that is John Wick, his grief is assuaged a little by a recurring and burning desire to stay alive with the memories and flashbacks of the wife he adored and of course, his new canine companion!
What also continues is his desire to finally retire amid the “markers” or “blood oaths” that agonisingly prevent him from doing so. He may very well be “death’s very emissary” but with such markers and blood oaths come a bounty upon his head now totalling $7,000,000 as around every corner and in the shape of every known assassin in New York is the desire to cash in such a bountiful reward.
There is also a pleasing continuance of characters such as “Charon”, “Aurelio”, “Jimmy” and of course “Winston” (who still can’t resist calling John “Jonathan”) and all these characters have a vested interest in ensuring their long time friend stays alive and well in the guise of Lance Reddick, Thomas Sadoski and the magnificent as always, Ian McShane. There are a multitude of new characters and actors and actresses to the series including Peter Serafinowicz as John’s new weapons supplier, Riccardo Scamarcio and Claudia Gerini as John’s main adversaries, the beautiful Ruby Rose as the main assassin on John’s trail as well as a headline role for the legendary Franco Nero as the owner of Rome’s Continental hotel. Two further additional roles are particularly noteworthy for Keanu Reeves Matrix friend and guide Laurence Fishburne (who returns in a much larger role in Chapter 3) and American Rapper and Actor by the name of “Common” who portrays a valued bodyguard and another of the many adversaries John has to tackle and defeat to simply stay alive.
With every “marker” having to be “honoured”, Chapter 2 veers away from the familiarity of New York to Rome and here is where this particular film comes into its own with spectacular set pieces, incredible stunts and whirlwind shoot-outs taking place within the catacombs of The Coliseum or within its grounds and another touchstone of the series, bloody gun running battles within a heavily populated disco. Continuing the theme of The Matrix you have the shattering masonry of the violent shoot-out inside the catacombs as well as numerous stand-offs and hand-to-hand combat fights with the aforementioned “Common” as well as the more visually arresting scenes shot inside John’s burning house, a candlelit showdown, a rooftop meeting with the enigmatic Winston or the ultimate showdown of all, a Bruce Lee house of mirrors type set piece.
The original in the series remains the purest in terms of a cohesively told story but Chapter 2 here is far more visually expansive, explosive and violent.
Chapter 3 would take both the story and the manic violence to a whole new level!
Coming soon.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 250 blog articles (with 500+ individual film reviews) within my film library from which to choose:
“John Wick” (2014)
The Legend begins.medium.com
“The Lobster” (2015)
A Brave New World of dystopian madness.medium.com
“Bones and All” (2022)
Fancy a cannibal horror love story?medium.com