John Wick Chapter 2--Blu-ray Review--Keanu returns

John Wick Chapter 2 Blu-Ray

I didn't watch this in theater.  I got this is as disc rental from Netflix.

The first John Wick was an unexpected thrill of a movie, here was a movie about a talented hitman who took revenge because some people took his car and his dog.

Chapter 2 isn't as original as the first.  It lacks the connection that made the first so fun.

But it creates its own world and it lives in that world fully.

Wick is a former member of the Continental Crime organization.  He got out in the first movie, which allowed him to marry and have a life.  

But he is approached to come back into the life by crime lord Santino D'Antonio and asked to murder his sister Gianna, so that he could have a seat at the High Table, a group of crime families.  And to get Wick to do this he hands him a Marker.  A Marker is an antique pendant with blood markers from two different people inside.  A reminder of a blood oath.

Wick turns the blood oath down.

So D'Anonio burns his house down.

Now under normal plot structure Wick would hunt down D'Antonio right away.  Instead he discusses his issue with Winston, the head crime boss, played perfectly by Ian McShane.  Winston reminds that there are two unbreakable rules in this crime world, first no killing on the Continental Hotel Grounds, and no turning down a blood oath.  With no house to go back to, Wick visits D'Antonio to make nice and take the job.

And we briefly see Lawerence Fishburne reunite with Keanu.

That's all the plot that is needed for the movie.

After he does the job of killing, he doesn't leave in the secret manner that got him into the room to kill his mark.  Instead he walks through a crowded music concert/party.  He runs into Gianna's bodyguard, Cassian, played by Common.  So of course the shooting starts.  Again, why he didn't leave through the secret passages?  Well, I don't think we're supposed to ask that question.

The action scenes are well orchestrated, they function more like gymnastics with guns and blood.  Wick kills dozens of people in a few minutes despite being outnumbered.  But Wick does get injured, he limps and bleeds, and needs help, which is different from say James Bond.

(Neo, I mean, Wick getting help from Morpheus, I mean The Bowery King.)

The Strength of the movie is in its art direction.

The Continental was clearly created in the 1930s and still uses technology from then, and somewhere in the early 1980s it upgrade to computers.  But it hasn't since.  Which makes for a fun idea of how it works.

Rule Breaking Wick

Wick broke one rule of refusing the Blood Oath, so of course he needs to break the other rule.  He gets revenge for his house when kills D'Antonio on the grounds of the Continental.

This actually makes for the most interesting part of the movie.  Winston excommunicates Wick from his protection and puts out a world wide hit on Wick.  Winston in his magnanimous manner informs him that he has an hour before the contract becomes open.  This is the most scary and interesting part of the movie.  Wick leaves his meeting Winston, and begins seeing all the people around him looking at their phones apparently seeing the news of the contract being sent to their phones.  

For the first time in the movie you can sense true fear in John Wick.  

I guess we'll have to wait for chapter 3 to see that fear play out.

Blu-Ray details

Video:

2.40:1 MPG-4 AVC

Audio:

English: Dolby Atmos and Dolby True 7.1

Screen Grabs courtsey of Blu-Ray.com