‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ Blu-Ray Review: Keanu Reeves Assassin Series Comes Back Strong

John Wick, the most brooding assassin in the history of mankind is back, just as stone-faced as ever. And he’s still killing everyone and everything in his way – to be fair though, everything and everyone is trying to kill him.

John Wick: Chapter 2 picks up only moments after the first film in the series, John Wick, ends. The opening scenes of the second film find John (Keanu Reeves) retrieving his car from the Russian mob and its leader Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare). After killing at least twenty hit men, John gets his car and lets Tarasov live after the two of them agree to leave the other alone. Tarasov wishes John a happy retirement even though they both know it wont last long. John’s car is wrecked from the fight and he barely makes it home.

Back at home with his new puppy, yet to be named, John remembers his dead wife, staring with a furrowed brow into a picture frame. A knock at the door reveals itself to be from Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), a dastardly colleague of Wick’s, who urges the assassin to accept a new job. Wick says no, so in response, D’Antonio blows up his house with a grenade launcher.

Without a house and without a car, Wick realizes that he must accept D’Antonio’s job. He finds the evil man and learns that he has been tasked with killing D’Antonio’s sister.

He heads to Rome, finds the sister and murders her – with great grace, though, the two respect each other. To save face, D’Antonio puts a hit out on John, knowing that he can’t be blamed for his sister’s assassination. The rest of the movie is a mad dash of assassins attempting to kill John, who is undoubtably better than all of them combined.

John Wick: Chapter 2 doesn’t necessarily boast the strongest plot and the acting isn’t anything to write home about – although it is fun to see Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne together on the screen again. Nonetheless, the action film is stunning to watch.

The “gun fu” fighting Reeves has perfected is the coolest cinematic fighting form today, all thanks to John Wick – be warned, it does get a bit gory at times.

The campy dialogue, plot points, and character motivations are all made up for by the intricate action scenes. Additionally, the film never seems to take itself too seriously, which helps the audience really get behind Wick even though he only cares for three things in his life, his girl, his dog, and his car.

You’d be hard to pressed to find a better action movie this year than John Wick: Chapter 2.

The Blu-ray edition of John Wick: Chapter 2 is loaded with entertaining extras including featurettes on training Reeves for the role, a break down of one of the film’s best fight scenes, and a kill count for the film. There is also a featurette about John’s dog, aptly titled “Dog Wick.”

Watch the trailer below.