Details: Released in 2017. About two hours long. Stars Keanu Reeves.
I loved the first John Wick movie. I just didn’t expect the amount of incredibly well choreographed action nor the relative realism that the movie had. Accordingly, John Wick 2 is perhaps one of the only movies I was truly looking forward to this year.
The movie takes place about a day after the end of the last movie. John has gotten his revenge, his car, and a new dog and seeks to retire again, when a person from John’s past as a hitman returns to call in a favor. Now John must dive back into his old life of murder and death in order to free himself of the obligations held against him.
If you came to this movie for the story, you will be disappointed. This is an action movie. This is gun porn, knife porn, jiu-jitsu porn, car porn, and just action movie porn. There are few movies where you get to hear the audience gasp with you as incredibly fun, violent things happen on-screen. This is one of those movies. Lots of gasp inducing things happen that I won’t spoil.
Acting was fine, but definitely no Academy Awards here. It was nice to see Laurence Fishburne make an appearance and see The Matrix crew reunite, even if it was for only a little bit.
Overall, I may have enjoyed the first John Wick movie more, but I still enjoyed this movie nonetheless. Like the first film, this movie knows what it is and achieves what it sets out to do. If you are a fan of action movies, then you should watch this movie.
Details: About two hours and sixteen minutes long. Stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving.
I watched this movie again the other day and I decided to write a review. I thought a lot about whether or not to include spoilers in this review and decided that this movie had such a profound impact upon me, that the reveals in this film were so integral to the film that this needed to be spoiler free.
I first watched this film back around the year 2000. I did not watch it in theaters, but on video. Somehow, despite the ridiculous popularity of this film at the time, no one spoiled it for me. When I eventually did watch this film, it was in it’s whole, unspoiled glory. I then understood why everyone I knew was buying Matrix sunglasses, wearing black trench coats, and admiring overpriced cell phones. This movie was transformative for me. I must have watched this video over one hundred times. I watched this film to the point where I memorized every single word of dialogue spoken by any character. It was insane. I had never seen such a movie as this. Fast forward to a few nights ago when I decided to give it another watch and this movie still holds up wonderfully. Despite its age, this movie is still one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen.
The premise is this: a hacker (played by Keanu Reeves) is contacted by a mysterious figure named Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne) who offers to reveal the truth about this world. That’s really all you need. There are so many reveals in this movie that anything more might take away from the film.
It’s been so long that many people likely forget the impact this film had on the movie industry. This film was one of the first films to truly show what computer generated effects are capable of. This film coined the term “bullet time,” where we not only go into slow motion, but the camera moves around while the characters are moving in slow motion. This was something that before this point had never been done nor been done this well.
However, where this film shines and truly elevates itself to a timeless classic is in its practical effects. I’ve watched the behind the scenes featurettes on this film and what they went through to create some of these scenes is amazing. Reeves, Moss, Fishburne and Weaving spent months with legendary fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping and his team training in martial arts and wire work in preparation for this film. Their efforts are apparent in this film and add an authenticity and realism that is often done wrongly in other films. There are not a lot of Western films that can portray Chinese style martial arts action well, but this is one of them. It is a joy to watch these action scenes.
I’d love to talk more about the action but I don’t want to spoil this film if I can help it. All I can say is prepare yourself for guns and kung fu.
And we haven’t even gotten to the performances. While Keanu is certainly a wet blanket, the rest of the cast do an incredible job. Most notably, Hugo Weaving does one of the most iconic performances of a villain in cinema history. His performance reminds me of Carl Sagan with a little more evil added in.
It’s just such a great movie with such a unique, memorable tone. This movie oozes style and throughout the film, I was reminded of ideas and images from comic books and anime that I’d seen before. It just attempts so many things and had so many imitators subsequently try to copy what this film achieves.
If you have any doubt whether or not you should watch this film, don’t. Go watch this film. Do no ask anyone about their opinions nor should you go and search the internet for anything regarding the film. Rest assured this is a great movie and one of the greatest action movies ever made. It is so good, so forward thinking that it easily holds up, even now.
I was a huge fan of the first movie. Like many, I did not walk in with any preconceptions and I walked out ecstatic with a big smile on my face. The new trailer above has me electric again and I cannot wait until it’s release date on February 10, 2017.
I watched through the New York Comic Con panel where they revealed this trailer and here are some bullet points of new information they revealed on the movie:
The panel consisted of the writer, director, and stunt coordinator (I think, the directors in this movie might also be the stunt coordinators), Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, and Common.
As I said above, the official release date they mentioned was for February 10, 2017. No new John Wick until next year unfortunately.
When discussing what the movie is like, Reeves described the movie as similar to the first film, but with more.
A quick consolidation of narrative tidbits they disclosed: the movie takes place four days after the events of the first John Wick movie. In order to retire, John Wick needed to make a blood oath with someone so he could leave the killing business. Now that he has returned, the blood oath is called in and he need to suit up again.
Keanu mentioned that more of the assassin’s world that John Wick inhabits will be shown, but not too much. He also mentioned an organization called the “High Table.”
Common plays another assassin. They made it clear that he wasn’t necessarily an enemy, but a fellow assassin who disagrees with John Wick. As you can tell from the trailer, they have a fight scene.
According to Common, this is the highest tier of action movie he has ever made.
As was previously revealed, Laurence Fishburne will make an appearance. Reeves, Fishburne, and the director (I think) worked on the Matrix trilogies together so it was kind of a reunion for them.
Some of the training they went through includes more stuff with cars, “gun fu,” jiu jitsu, and sambo.
When asked about what will happen to John Wick’s new dog, the panel was very quiet about it… suggesting that the audience will like what happens there. The crowded gasped at the idea of another dog dying.
And that’s all I can remember. Can’t wait until next year!
Muse Bank 