John Wick: Chapter 2 [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD] [2017]

John Wick wasn't designed for a sequel. It began with someone killing John Wick's dog, and ended with the vengeance-bent uber-assassin stealing a new best friend from an animal shelter, after dropping 76 dead bodies along the way. The movie succeeded not on the strength of its story, but on the elegance of its action, and while it reaches at times to justify its own existence, John Wick: Chapter 2 boasts a reunion with Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne and two major improvements on the original: First, no animals were harmed in the making of the film. And secondly, the human body count is significantly higher. If the latter detail offends your humanistic sensibilities, then this isn't the franchise for you. Even for Grand Theft Auto junkies and those at the other end of the spectrum, it can actually get tiresome watching Wick eliminate a seemingly inexhaustible stream of henchmen at times. But there's a quality to the violence here that elevates it above the literal and reprehensible nihilism of movies and instead achieves something more akin to dance. John Wick: Chapter 2 pits Keanu Reeves' titular character against the mean and nefarious of the criminal underworld. Once again, Reeves proves that he is a force to be reckoned with in this ridiculous, over-the-top sequel that is every bit as fun as the original. These types of films are rarely known for their artistic value but sets the bar pretty high, not only in its action, but in it's set design and camera work. This is pure escapist entertainment and is exactly what you're looking for. The look and feel of the film is very much in line with the first. It has beautiful, vibrant colors that compliment the violence and chaos. The sound is absolutely amazing with each gun sounding the way they should instead of using the stock machine gun or pistol sound which is something the original was guilty of at times. The performances are incredible and the direction of the action sequences is beyond impressive. This is a bigger John Wick and one that does a nice job at expanding on his world. The only issue that the film may have depends on your taste in action films. This is considerably longer than the original but it moves so fluidly and frenetic that it barely feels like it.

John Wick wasn't designed for a sequel. It began with someone killing John Wick's dog, and ended with the vengeance-bent uber-assassin stealing a new best friend from an animal shelter, after dropping 76 dead bodies along the way. The movie succeeded not on the strength of its story, but on the elegance of its action, and while it reaches at times to justify its own existence, John Wick: Chapter 2 boasts a reunion with Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne and two major improvements on the original: First, no animals were harmed in the making of the film. And secondly, the human body count is significantly higher. If the latter detail offends your humanistic sensibilities, then this isn't the franchise for you. Even for Grand Theft Auto junkies and those at the other end of the spectrum, it can actually get tiresome watching Wick eliminate a seemingly inexhaustible stream of henchmen at times. But there's a quality to the violence here that elevates it above the literal and reprehensible nihilism of movies and instead achieves something more akin to dance. John Wick: Chapter 2 pits Keanu Reeves' titular character against the mean and nefarious of the criminal underworld. Once again, Reeves proves that he is a force to be reckoned with in this ridiculous, over-the-top sequel that is every bit as fun as the original. These types of films are rarely known for their artistic value but sets the bar pretty high, not only in its action, but in it's set design and camera work. This is pure escapist entertainment and is exactly what you're looking for. The look and feel of the film is very much in line with the first. It has beautiful, vibrant colors that compliment the violence and chaos. The sound is absolutely amazing with each gun sounding the way they should instead of using the stock machine gun or pistol sound which is something the original was guilty of at times. The performances are incredible and the direction of the action sequences is beyond impressive. This is a bigger John Wick and one that does a nice job at expanding on his world. The only issue that the film may have depends on your taste in action films. This is considerably longer than the original but it moves so fluidly and frenetic that it barely feels like it. Overall, John Wick: Chapter 2 is a very good sequel. It has everything a sequel should have and doesn't disappoint. If you loved the first one then you're going to love this one.

If you liked John Wick, then you will probably like John Wick 2. If you didn't like the first, you are unlikely to enjoy the sequel, and if you never watched the original John Wick, then you should definitely watch that first. In what I guess is the "modern classic action hero" movie, the leading male is a morally rather ambiguous guy who has no qualms about killing when he thinks it's required, and is not much of a talker. From there, plots branch depending on things like: does he have partners, is there a "romantic interest", and is he supposed to be fighting for some cause much larger than himself. I know that Keanu Reeves seems somewhat unlikely as an action hero. He doesn't have the physique of an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. But when he acted in the Matrix trilogy, he seemed to fall in love with the martial arts. Bruce Lee was not a large guy either, but nobody could doubt his prowess. In the Wick films, Reeves combines martial arts for hand-to-hand fights with a large amount of gunplay. He doesn't fight for "noble" causes; his character fights because that is what he does best, and because sometimes not responding to a provocation would be unthinkable. So the basic idea is much like the first film but of course they have to try to make this one bigger and better. That involves a lot more travel; interesting foreign sets; and frankly, pumping up the body count. They are not embarrassed by the body count--in fact they are proud of it. In one of the "specials", they tell you exactly how many people died, and count them one by one in scenes! As in the first film, Reeves has very little dialog but when he does speak, some of his lines are pretty funny, so that is something else to watch for. I mentioned Bruce Lee--one scene in this film seems very much like an homage to a classic scene from one of his films. There is another interesting and dramatic scene with a female character. I won't say more, so as not to reveal any spoilers.

Movie timeline is great if you watched John Wick immediately prior, sort of jarring if it's not immediately preceded by it. Movie picks up what seems like, immediately after John Wick 1; one of the best action movies in the last few decades, and start rolling from there. Less moments of drama, and some moments will feel like re-tread for the first half of the movie. After the big assassination, the movie then starts gaining some new ground, and it's pretty excellent. Shooting sequences are very well directed and shot, the mechanics of the weapons are a bit more sloppy than JW1, but still great. It's really an excellent film, with more things introduced from the universe than JW1, but still a lot of unanswered questions and a cliffhanger of an ending. Overall, the action is still great, but the first half of the movie is pretty weak, where someone filming must have been sent to a different dimension than the second half. Fight scenes are shot from across a few hundred feet away, making it hard to tell what's going on. Gun-fu from the first film is just copy+pasted into scenes, and overall the shooting just doesn't feel tight. Aside from the car fight in the first 15 minutes, it's almost like the person who shot and cut the first half had no idea that it was an action film. The second half though, absolute return to form. Tight action sequences, shot close enough to understand what's happening without too many cuts to remain coherent. Gun-fu that's actually sensible and a bit more slow, but more importantly, new for this film. Scene production that's really well produced and edited. TLDR; An excellent follow-up to a great film with a stinker opening, that eventually hits running speed in its second half.

The first John Wick is arguably one of the best action films released in the last decade (if not longer). Does the sequel live up to the original? Yes and no. The action is still a spectacular mix of realism and over the top insanity; only bigger. The story, like the action, also aims for bigger. Unfortunately bigger isn't always better. For every major step forward the film takes by aiming for greater set pieces, shoot outs, and plot twists; it takes a small step back by reaching a bit too far. Maybe the fact that former co-director David Leitch stepped out to direct "Atomic Blonde" is a factor. While Chad Stahelski still has a firm hand on action set peices (with the aforementioned mix of realism and insanity) on his own, David Leitch's visual style is sorely missed. Still a worthy follow up to a modern action classic. Bring on "John Wick 3". Movie Rating: 8/10 While the film may have it's ups and downs, the special features are darn near perfect. You will learn just about everything you could possibly want to know about the film. The choreography, the guns, the cars, the fighting styles, the training for all the aforementioned, personal stories about Chad and Keanu' s almost 20 year long working relationship and friendship. Add a fun commentary and you have 2 plus hours of solid, yet informative, entertainment. Special Features Rating: 9/10 Final Rating: 9/10

First off let me say this movie is a must for anyone who wants a spectacular action movie. I am a huge fan of both John Wick movies, and the fact that Keanu Reeves truly knows what he is doing really adds that extra appeal to the well choreographed actions scenes. The 4k release is good and bad. The bad is that the HDR settings on my 4k TV and Oppo 203 4k player don't work properly on this disc. I am unsure if it is a firmware compatibility issue or not with this 4k disc. The issue I experience is that when using HDR there is a flashing effect that happens very frequently. One minute the picture is crystal clear, the next the lighting changes in the movie and the picture gets washed out with a white haze. There is a work around I use, and that is to turn the HDR off. The picture doesn't have that extra pop HDR gives it when it works properly, but it does certainly look great. The audio on this this disc is great. The music is picked up with authority on this disc. The gun shots have weight, incredible accuracy to real life counter parts, and the direction cue's are extremely involving. If you have invested a good amount into your home theater system this disc will help show it off. Only reason why this gets 4 stars is because of the HDR issue, and if I could I would give it 3.5 stars because of the HDR problem i have experienced.

I purchased to go with my LG OLED65C7P. Overall, it's a great value for a small to midsize room. The biggest issue I had was setting it up correctly with my LG TV. You need to connect the HDMI to the TV's ARC HDMI port, which will allow it to pass through to the television connect HDMI devices. Make sure you have high quality HDMI cables. My original ones gave me issues, so I replace them with SecurOMax ones, which I highly recommend. Make sure you set the TV setting to output audio through ARC. I watch TV and 4K blu-rays through my Xbox One S and I had no problem getting Dolby Atmos with the soundbar. When setting up Dolby Atmos it will complain that the receiver doesn't support, but when you play movies the soundbar shows Atmos (the reason you get that error is Xbox hasn't added the soundbar to their Atmos list as of yet, but it does work). Worked with all my Atmos movies. The LG Netflix app now supports Atmos as well, so I tested the soundbar with Okja (which is the only Atmos title at time of writing) and the soundbar reported Atmos as well. The only other device I have is my PS4 and pass through works without any AV sync issues. The only other cons are sometimes when changing inputs there is a delay, no and the remote is a bit clunky. I use a Universal Remote, so not a big deal.

This review has nothing to do with the quality of the bluray, which is fine, but with the movie itself. Was not a huge fan of the first one, but given the reviews for this sequel I figured I'd roll the dice. Should have known better, as the first also received lots of praise. This sequel was even worse than the first. Childish screenplay that tries and fails miserably to be ultra cool, boring roster of forgettable villains - in fact for a movie with such frequent and frenetic action, its astounding how boring it is. And let me preface this last bit by saying that I love many violent movies, and have seen pretty much any grotesque horror film you can think of - but I find the violence/gunplay in this film to be straight up irresponsible and reprehensible. There is absolutely no morality to this movie, and no consequences. When the inevitable John Wick 3 makes its may to theaters, I won't be fooled again.