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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  John Wick Chapter 2
Posted by: Heretic, February 11th, 2017, 1:21pm
Keanu Reeves shoots everybody in the head again, and some variations on the Joker's pencil trick.

Some fancier locations and a few more driving stunts than last time, but basically, once again, a no-frills action showcase. The fights feel a bit more rough and tumble, kinda like the move from the first Bourne to the second. But overall, more of the glorious same.

Every bit as good as the first.
Posted by: AnthonyCawood, February 11th, 2017, 2:54pm; Reply: 1
Thank god, loved the first one!
Posted by: TonyDionisio, February 11th, 2017, 7:38pm; Reply: 2
What gets killed this time, his cat?
Posted by: albinopenguin, February 15th, 2017, 12:26am; Reply: 3
I really enjoyed the first film. It was a pleasant surprise, especially since it came out in the month of January. It wasn't amazing, but it was solid and fun.

I wish I could say the same for the sequel. It's currently sitting at a 90% on RT and I have no idea why.

This film isn't dumb fun. It's just dumb. The filmmakers trade aesthetic for reason and 90% of the film makes no damn sense. The dialogue is cheesy, cryptic, and simplistic. But worst of all, the action pieces are a huge let down. Not only does nothing happen in the first hour (with the exception of a decent opening), but the ending is incredibly anti-climatic.

Show me something new. Something fun. Instead, John Wick just walks around in a musty catacomb shooting people with CG blood.

And don't get me started on Ruby Rose's character. Virtually pointless.

Honestly, you should just watch the 5 minutes worth of highlights on Youtube. Don't waste your time or money on subpar dialogue, story, and worst of all, action.
Posted by: TonyDionisio, February 17th, 2017, 1:12am; Reply: 4
Heisenberg? Is that you?
Posted by: Demento, February 21st, 2017, 6:27pm; Reply: 5
This movie really is dumb. The first one was dumb as well. But are they bad? Hmm.

I'm giving these movies a pass. They know what they are. And, that's important.

However, the dialogue is bad, a lot of the scenes are cheesy, corny, feel like they've been lifted from subpar action movies from the 80s. The plot is garbage. But... both movies were watchable.

Would rate this one slightly higher than the first one, which I felt lost steam in the last 20 minutes.
Posted by: Dreamscale (Guest), March 8th, 2017, 6:00pm; Reply: 6
AWESOME MOVIE!!!!

Great in really every way.  Dialogue was what it was, but you have to remember that this is a created world...not a real world.  Acting was just fine across the board.

But what obviously made this what it is, is the fight scenes...the gun play, the exquisite choreography.  Absolutely beautiful and downright brutal at the same time.

So glad I saw this on the big screen, the way it's meant to be watched.  Looking forward to Chapter 3!

Grade - A
Posted by: JonnyBoy, March 11th, 2017, 9:32am; Reply: 7
Yeah, I thought this was a blast. Even better than the first.

Two things I thought worked particularly well, are worth learning from, and gave the whole thing a real sense of momentum:

OBJECTIVES: beneath the main narrative, in any sequence John always has a clear goal in mind. He's always going somewhere, doing something, trying to find someone - he's always active. As an audience member, we always know something is at stake, and that what he's doing has a purpose. The main plot is quite simplistic, but in a way that doesn't matter because within any five / ten minutes there's a new thing us for us to follow and focus on. He's the most active of characters, always on the move, and the film benefits hugely from that.

CHANGING THE PLAN:
this is mainly a fight choreography point, but as that F. Scott Fitzgerald quote says, 'action is character', so it becomes a writing one, too. While we see John planning things out - planting the different weapons at certain points in the catacombs for instance - small things always go awry. Guns won't fire, he needs to reload at an inconvenient moment, someone pops around a corner whom he wasn't expecting.

Little details like him stretching out the tails of his body armour suit jacket to give himself a bit more protection, his exit being blocked from the garage at the start forcing him to turn back and fight, that bit where the shotgun jams so John pushes his assailant against the wall with the barrel to pin him while John reloads - they make the whole thing feel more real and less like we're seeing something predetermined play out, but also reinforce the character of someone who's adapting, skilled enough to improvise, and who we're on board with because he's not perfect. Same with him getting wounded, like John McClane in Die Hard: if he bleeds, it humanises him, raises the stakes for us ('oh shit, he can get hurt'), and therefore makes us more invested.

It's definitely not without flaws - Ruby Rose's character was a huge anti-climax, and they bizarrely put some of the dialogue from the very last scene in the trailer so I knew to some extent how things would play out - but I thought it was really fun, and like Jeff sign me up for Chapter 3.
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