John Wick: Chapter Two - Digital HD

I'm not a big fan of over-the-top action movies. I was a police officer for 7 years, and I've been in a lot of fights and dangerous situations. Most of the movies I see are so fake, they're hard to watch. When you watch John Wick, you'll see the main character wrestling with foes to get their guns away, running out of bullets mid-fight and having to reload, and most fights end up on the ground, just like they do in real life. When he suffocates someone, it takes them a while to die, and the actors struggle for their lives in a believable way. It's all-around good acting from the main cast and everyone that's just there to get the body count higher. The stories in John Wick and John Wick 2 are great. In the first, John Wick tries to retire from his assassin career after his wife dies of an illness. She gives him a dog so he can love something when she's gone, and he finds a way to have hope through his relationship with the animal. That is until someone breaks into his house to steal his car and kills the dog, causing him to get back into his old ways to get revenge. It's a believable setup and the love and loss of his wife and then dog are heart-wrenching. There is a main set-piece that deserves special mention as well: the Continental Hotel. It's run by the shady element John Wick comes from, and is filled with people like him, but there's one special rule to the place, that no "business" can be conducted on the premises. This makes the hotel a sort of sacred ground and gives it its own life, as it features prominently in both the first and second movie. What also makes the world of the John Wick movies feel real are the use of gold token coins. John has a lot of them, and they're accepted as currency in different places and by different people. When he pays someone in a coin, it makes the world feel like it has existed long before we see it, that the ecosystem didn't just start when the viewer arrived to see it like some movies do. The second movie's plot involves John Wick having to repay a debt he owes someone from when he first started his career. This forces him out of retirement until his debt is paid. The plot of the second movie isn't as motivating as the first, but the action is even better. There are more fight scenes, and the quality and duration is higher. The gunplay in both of these movies is outstanding. John Wick has supernatural aim with weapons, and it's not like other action movies where the heroes spray bullets everywhere and no one can ever hit what they're aiming at. Keanu moves like a police officer or a soldier, always aiming down sights and prepared for what is coming around the corner. He shoots people in the foot or chest to cause them to drop their guards so he can finish them off with a headshot. He's also not a "good guy", so he kills the people that are trying to kill him without a second thought. I often watch movies where the hero lets the bad guy go and regrets it later. This would never happen with John Wick, and I appreciate him more for that. I rented the John Wick movies at Redbox, and after I had returned them I found myself thinking about the action sequences again and again. I had to buy them to add them to my collection, and they were just as good during the second and third viewings. They've topped my list of favorite action movies, and I recommend them to anyone who likes expert gun-fighting scenarios without being unrealistic or over-the-top with gore and explosions. I recommend both movies. You don't need to see the first to appreciate the second, but you really should see both as they're that good. Eleven out of five stars if I could.

John Wick is one of the biggest surprise hits of the last few years. I don't think anyone saw a trilogy coming when they saw trailers for the first film, but it's become a pop culture phenomenon even. Chapter 2 sets out to follow-up John Wick in every way and make it bigger, badder, and better than ever. In the rare case of successfully following up a hit movie, Chapter 2 does everything right. From sticking with the same world and characters, to amplifying all of the correct choices from the first film, it hits every single beat that it needs to. Keanu Reeves has stumbled upon this role of John Wick and really owned it. I don't think anyone else could capture the tone (whether intentional or not) that this film puts out there, and his ambiguity and vague range of emotion help paint this world that David Leitch and team have created. Keanu is un-phased by the world of assassins around him, especially after all that he's been through since the first movie. Chapter 2 picks up a few days where we left off from, and in trying to "get out" he has one more favor to fulfill. In doing so, John Wick sets off a fateful set of events that cause his world to collapse around him and leave him with no choice yet again. Betrayed by the very world of assassins that he wants to escape, he finds himself hunted by a select few that now want him dead. Common joins the ranks of John Wick actors and does a great job of being Keanu's main antagonist and plays it with the cold but calculated approach in only the way Common could. He matches up against him very well, as well as Ruby Rose who plays a mute assassin that adds to the flavor of the world. The universe that has been created for this series is very loosely structured and presented, so it never quite becomes about the world and only John Wick. However, it's the perfect backdrop for all of the gratuitous violence and action to take place and is one of those choices that make this film so fun. There are a few points that set off a sequence of intense sequences, all of which have very little time on either end of them so it makes for a pulse-pounding action thriller. I don't recall watching a movie that is as "pedal to the metal" as this since something like Jason Statham's Crank, or the more recent The Raid series. John Wick: Chapter 2 is the definition of fan service, but does it successfully in every way. It never strays too far away from the basic story to become just mindless violence, but pretty much is the equivalent of a theater marquee lit up in neon. It's brilliantly paced and is truly non-stop. I would say that John Wick is a great film and has a pretty decent story, where this just manages to have enough of one to bring the character back and just up the ante. It does so perfectly and avoids the pitfalls of the aforementioned Crank's sequel, Crank 2 where it became very unbelievable and comical. I think I would watch this sequel over the first film more often than not, just because it's phenomenal action sequences including all kinds of hands, gun, and weapon combat just make it so much fun to watch. Case came in great condition with foily, shiny slipcover. 4K, Blu-ray, and digital copies included in this release.

Watched for the 3rd time last night. Each time it gets better. I think this film is very lavish. Most people won't see beyond the ultra-violence, but there is a lot of grand luxury in this film and it's nice to see. Battle sequences are top notch. I like the garage scene where Wick is fighting bad guy after bad guy, and he's beating them all in hand to hand combat. when he beats the last one down and great big giasnt guy comes and picks him up, twirls him 360 degrees and drop him hard on the garage floor, it looks like wick will meet his end with this guy, but no, he pulls out a gun and shoots the guy in both his knees, and that guy is done. it was just a surprise, but you'll cheer. The plot is wick is an assassin the best in this world he lives in. In the previous movie his wife passes, and after she dies, a puppy is delivered to him, and she says she doesn't want him to lonely. wick's has a special souped up Ford Mustang. He's out on the highway at a gas station, where some son, of a mob thug, asks him if he wants to sell his car, Wick says no. Later that night, the thug son, and some of his men come to take the car from Wick. They beat him and kill his puppy, and then take his car. this where it begins, the search, the find, the gun battles, the fights, the chases, and it all takes place in a world were the are rules, rules the bad guys have to follow, or they themselves are killed by the organization over them all. Well this movie finds Wick having to do a favor for a man who helped him. In the rules Wick must honor his word and assist this man. Wick refuses. The man leaves, and and before he drives off, he pulls out some kind of rocket grenade and blows Wick's house to smithereens. Wick survives and this where the story begins. It's pretty good, but It is not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for children, young children.

This is the sequel to the unexpected hit, John Wick. It is titled "Chapter 2" because it is a continuation of the story from the first movie. It actually starts out with Wick getting his car back from the brother of the mobster whom he killed at the end of the first movie. Then it takes a turn that is reminiscent of the line in Godfather Part III, "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" when another member of the group tries to cash in a favor that Wick owes him. Of course, everything goes sideways (ending up with Wick's house burned down) and mayhem ensues. The movie continues the over-the-top violence of the first movie, with lots of martial arts, gun-fu, and chases. Laurence Fishburne has a great extended cameo in the movie, in scenes that make not so subtle winks and nods to the Matrix movies. Ruby Rose is the badass female character who has a great fight scene with Wick at the end of the movie in a sequence that overall has a very Enter The Dragon feel to it. The movie ends in a way that sets up the next one, not quite a cliffhanger, but more like setting up what comes next leaving the fate of some characters up in the air. For those who get the 4k disc, the movie looks and sounds great in the UHD format, with some great visuals. There are a decent amount of bonus features including about 45 minutes or so of behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, the trailer, and a commentary track by Reeves and the director of the movie. And, all the bonus features are on the UHD disc so you do not have to switch to the regular blu-ray to watch them. Overall, like the first movie, it does not try to be anything more than a violent, fun, and sometimes funny action movie. It does not take itself too seriously, but it does not try to be campy and stupid either (which movies like this can easily become). If you like the first movie then you will probably like this one. On the other hand, if you did not like the first one, there is most likely not anything in this one that is going to appeal to you.

This was a good movie of John Wick. Plenty of action and great acting.

Love the series of movies.

Love John Wick movies

A magnificent sequel to an already magnificent action movie. John Wick 2 will have you at the edge of your seat with intense action and suspense at every corner!