"John Wick" was a visceral, well-made B-movie. It is very hard NOT to enjoy what Keanu Reeves and the directing duo of Chad Stahelski/David Leich did in 2014 with the action genre. The story itself was so simple: A low-key, but lethal hitman gets brutally beaten up by gangsters and, more importantly, his dog gets killed which flicks off a switch in his head to exact the ultimate revenge. On a $20 Million budget it made $86 Million at the Box-Office, but, more importantly, it became an enormous hit on streaming services and home video.
Seeing Lance Reddick back as the concierge brings a breezy glee to my eyes. What a wonderful bit of casting that was. The first one worked so well because it dug deep into our senses with a tale about revenge and it didn't exactly demand too much acting from Reeves, who isn't the sharpest tool in the shed in that department.
Who doesn't love a movie about revenge? What Liam Neeson did in "Taken" was clearly an influence, in fact it's turning into the most influential action movie of the last 15 or so years. This "Chapter Two" looks good, but it hopefully doesn't run into the same problems as the 'Taken' sequels, which where, to quote Donald Trump, "completely disastrous."
Want to know about a possible disaster in the making? A third "Wick" film is already in the works. Director Stahelski, a stunt coordinator for "The Matrix" trilogy that put his stunt knowledge to good use in the first "Wick," mentioned at a recent Comic-Con that the studio is already asking for a third chapter.
“The studio has asked us to put our heads together and see if we can come up with something. Winston’s [McShane] is a big part of the next one, so is Lance Reddick. We’ve got some ideas.”
This is where greed could take over and destroy a series. A common practice in Hollywood these days, but, I assume, it will all depend on this second film's box-office.