John Wick: Chapter Two Parent Guide

Following his murderous rampage against the Tarasov family, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) plans to return to his peaceful retirement. But having returned to the underworld, he soon realizes that it might be impossible to leave again…

The unscrupulous crime boss Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) owns a “marker” from John – a blood-oath which John is required to fulfill on pain of death. Despite warnings from John and others, Santino calls in the marker, forcing John to travel to Rome to kill Santino’s sister, Gianna D’Antonio (Claudia Gerini). Santino is infuriated that their father left his empire to Gianna, and plans to usurp her position, but that means he’ll also have to clean up loose ends.

One of those loose ends is John Wick and Santino soon learns that shooting the devil in the back is a fraught proposition. What if he doesn’t die? What will you do when he comes back for you? Desperate to shield himself, Santino puts an open bounty on John worth $7 million…but that won’t be nearly enough to stop the Boogeyman.

Fans of the original film won’t be disappointed by this sequel. The action is punchier, the fights are longer, and there are some quality car chases featuring classic American muscle cars. Petrol-heads should be warned that they’re going to see some grisly damage to Wick’s classic Mustang Mach 1, and the squeamish should be warned that they’re going to see considerably more damage to any of the people foolish enough to stand in John’s way.

The fight choreography in this franchise is one of the big draws, and Reeves’ commitment to doing as many of his own stunts as possible really sells the scenes. This film includes an incredible sequence in a heavily mirrored art exhibit, and even in the long takes, I didn’t see a camera reflection once. This is as polished as movie action gets.

This film also toned down the profanity of the previous film, but I think that has more to do with how much they cut the dialogue. John shoots first and asks questions…well, never, in most cases. They also tried to focus the plot more on the stylized criminal underworld we were introduced to in the first film, and I think that is where the movie struggles the most. It’s an interesting world, but much less personally driven than the original story, and that moves some of the focus off the titular antihero. Even with those failings, this is still one of the most high-octane action flicks I’ve ever seen, and a perfect choice for the adult adrenaline junkie in your life – provided they aren’t squeamish about seeing people murdered with pencils.

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Donna Gustafson

Donna Gustafson has been involved with her husband Rod's work since the beginning. Handling many of the behind-the-scenes tasks, she also creates preview pages for up-coming movies, acts as managing editor and occasionally writes reviews.