Movie review: Action spectacles in 'John Wick: Chapter 2' lift it out of B-movie misery

So many things have happened in the world that it's hard to believe that it's been three years since Keanu Reeves' first outing as darkly brooding hard-ass-kicking professional assassin John Wick.

In the first instalment Reeves's less-than-expansive acting chops were perfectly suited to his incarnation as a one-man Old Testament retribution machine. Retired from the hitman game and mourning the loss of his wife, Wick was reactivated when some stupid young Russian thugs stole his car and killed his dog. Cue beautifully photographed, Asian-style choreographed fight scenes full of blood, punches, kicks and guns.

John Wick: Chapter 2 opens at the end of the action of the first. It's almost refreshing to think that you could have pushed the pause button on the world in 2014, skipped Brexit, Trump, post-truth and the rise of the right, to arrive in 2017 - where John Wick, after having killed most of the men responsible for the death of his dog, is still in search of his beloved 1969 Ford Mustang.

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After running over a motorcyclist, totalling the car and ending his business with the Russian mob, an exhausted but satisfied Wick returns home only to have his peace interrupted by the arrival of a fellow assassin - the elegantly dressed, smirking Italian Santino (Riccardo Scamarcio) who needs him to honour a blood oath.

Cue a return for Wick to the elegant hotels, shadowy bank vaults and shining gold coin exchanges of the murky world of the brotherhood of professional assassins before he heads off to Rome to kick hundreds of asses and take many names.

While the sequel delivers more of the dazzling choreography and cleverly executed aesthetics of the original, it's still all just a glorified man-with-no-name-on-a-mission-for-vengeance B-movie that provides a slicker version of those "skop skiet en donder" movies your best friend's dad used to rent from the video store in the 1990s.

How much you appreciate its gory but action genre-satisfying simplicity will depend entirely on your mood. If you're having one of those days where everything is going your way then perhaps you might find yourself tiring about an hour in, when the blatant absurdity of the film is no longer funny but dull.

If you're in the mood to kill the boss and your co-workers then perhaps you'll find this the fantasy-realising, adrenaline-releasing two hours you need to stop yourself from doing something you'll regret.

It doesn't have the political or psychological depth of the first couple of Bourne movies or the visual daring of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Western trilogy or even the jarring conservatism of Charles Bronson's Death Wish, but John Wick: Chapter 2 certainly delivers on high thrills and action spectacle. Whether or not you'll be able to pause it just before the credits roll and block out the next three years remains to be seen. 

sub_head_start Other reviewers said... sub_head_end

• Two major improvements on the original: First, no animals were harmed in the making of the film. And second, the human body count was significantly higher. - Peter Debruge, Variety

• By doubling down on its idiosyncrasies, Chapter 2 justifies the existence of more Wick without overstaying its welcome. It's a lesson most Hollywood sequels could stand to learn. - David Sims, The Atlantic

• Smartly keeps the focus on this universe's crazy culture. - Amy Nicholson, MTV

• This article was originally published in The Times.