Essentially that's what John Wick 2 represents . It's a film that continues the reluctant assassin story from the first film, but lumbers around much more than the sleek original film. Wick (Keanu Reeves) has just completed his out of retirement rampage and plans to withdraw back into the normal life he had created for himself. He barely gets a nights sleep when Santino (Ricardo Scamarcia) knocks on John's door demanding him to honor the marker he had used to get out of the business in the first place. Santino proves to be persuasive by blowing up John's home (the dog survives), forcing him to uphold his code and perform one final job.
John Wick is filled with action. Tons of it. Cargo ships loaded to capacity of it. What I'm saying is that 1. there's too much and 2. it gets repetitive. There are more double taps in this film than in most films from the last 20 years combined. The disposable henchmen tend to have hipster beards and man buns, making easily excusable fodder for Mr. Wick. The film continuously bombards you with these high octane action sequences to the point that they get kind of ridiculous. It makes the film dull and that is not what you want in an action film.
The only time the film finds itself is when the characters interact with more than fists and bullets. Ian McShane returns with another good performance, though some of his lines are drivel and you can almost see it on his face. Cassian, played by Common, was a great addition to the film. I was disappointed that he didn't have ,ore to do in this film. An underutilized asset. Of course there has been a ton of discussion about Laurence Fishburn and Reeves having a Matrix reunion of sorts. Hype it up to push the film it seems because the Fishburn role is quite disposable and bogs the last act of the film.Remove this and the opening sequence I discussed earlier and you go from a bloated 122 minutes to a tight and lean 105. Overboard isn't a good thing.
You can say that John Wick Chapter 2 is a disappointment and truthfully it really is. The performances are strong and carry the picture, but it's an overblown rehash of the first film. There's nothing new here; a shame after the first film was such a breathe of fresh air. There is a soft set up for a third film, which will probably show up in a few years, but how many more man bun double taps can an audience take?
