The Dog doesn't Die in This One

I'm currently experiencing a revelation of disappointment. You see, I had come to believe that nothing would top the pinnacle of modern cinema that is Captain America: The Winter Soldier; in terms of cinematography, story, and economy of storytelling I believed there was no much which stood up there with it in recent years. Sure, there was The Raid 2 which I consider practically perfect in terms of fight choreography and blocking, but that was perhaps the only contender.
Now, however, we welcome another challenger into the ring.

Or perhaps I should say we did. Back in 2015 John Wick was my mark for brilliant cinematography - the fight scenes were economical with cuts and crystal clear, easy to follow - if lacking in story. I mean, so lacking that they had a character die pretty much specifically to move the story on towards the end. But it was a small story well-told and beautifully shot.
And now its follow-up blasts it, and to my mind Winter Soldier too, out of the water.
John Wick: Chapter 2 boasts beautiful, clear cinematography, a much deeper story and a real entry into the world of underground hitmen that we missed in the previous entry. Last time we found ourselves faced with Russian mobsters on the run after Iosef Tarasov killed John Wick's dog (a final gift from his late wife). Now the sequel finds him back in New York, finishing some business with the Tarasovs. For five minutes.
The last threads of story hanging over from the original are dealt with quickly, and we get a minor heart-strings moment before Keanu Reeves brings the real pain - the emotional weight of having to bury his past once again. He buries his weapons, plasters over the hole he made in the first place, and the rest of the two hour runtime is spent learning how to love again by training up his pit bull pup. It's an emotional rollercoaster of a film, full of heartbreak and longing as John Wick not only remembers his late wife, but also the dog now buried in his garden, a reminder of his failures and the shadow that haunts him. There's one memorable scene where, after discovering that his new dog might not be long for the world either, he gets wasted and goes on a spiritual journey, full of gorgeous CGI and with a beautiful, full role for his late wife, as well as the puppy from the first movie, and he finally learns to let go...
PSYCH! Oh man, I hope at least one person fell for that, because I think that was a hilarious fake-out! Okay, seriously this time: yeah, it does get emotional as he buries his past once more, quite literally, and tries to return to a normal life, but not even a day passes before another remnant of his previous life turns up at his doorstep: Santino D'Antonio, a heavyweight within the Italian mob holding New York in the south. Turns out John owes him a blood debt, and he's come to collect! Things get ugly as John Wick reluctantly returns to the criminal underworld to perform one final hit, and double-crosses, dirty dealings and the usual ultraviolence abound.
But what makes this better than Winter Soldier? First, the fights: they are so well-shot, much like the original John Wick - although arguably they're shot slightly worse. With the original, the fights were claustrophobic enough that you could pretty much see everyone on the playing field; in Chapter 2 we have fights that are bigger in scope, at the expense of that foresight. Enemies seem to come from nowhere at times, and we wonder where all the bad guys are coming from, but it's never to the detriment of the fights, it just feels unusual in light of the original. At any rate, the premise leaves John with a bounty on his head and most of the hitmen in New York after him, and that gives us room for some beautiful one-on-one fights with the often unusual characters that make up the professional death service. Special mention, however, to ex-rapper turned actor Common, for his brilliant display as Cassian, the man with a reason to kill John Wick. We get some amazing fights with him, including the sublime and hilariously polite shootout in a crowded metro station, on which nothing more for fear of more spoilers.
What this chapter does well, however, is bring yet more depth to the world of John Wick. We glimpse further into the Continental in New York, and we are given access to the glamorous Continental Rome (which also serves as the spot for one of the most wonderful scenes in the movie). On top of that, the world of John Wick expands in depth; we are told about the blood debts people take out, and the mysterious High Table, where the heads of each gang in New York gather. If you go against the rules of the gangs, these are the people to whom you answer.
And within this world we are given more interesting and colourful villains. Ruby Rose's quirky, mute/deaf warrior Ares is a great Dragon to Santino, played by Riccardo Scamarcio in simpering fashion. In fact, that's what makes it such a great performance: everybody else plays their role as brutal killer with a quiet decorum, but for Santino it is an act to drop the moment there is trouble. He runs far easier than he fights, and this makes him so very easy to hate. No one else is as rules-lawyer-y as he is, no one else exploits all the loopholes he would be willing to exploit. He is a smug, smarmy, weaselly git and it's wonderful.
And I haven't even started on the sound editing! The guns are loud and vicious, and that's made all the more evident when we come to the dramatic crossroads in the movie. At each point, John gets a moment of silence, only to be startlingly broken when he fires his gun. Executions are given their bloody due, there are people in this one who die with ceremony and they play that up to the maximum with the gunshots. After the brutal, ignoble death of Iosef in the original, and Viggo following him, knifed to death, it's great to see brilliant, dramatic deaths for both heroes and villains.
There is one small problem with John Wick: Chapter 2, and it's that, in the end, it just doesn't feel like its own movie. It begins fine, for the most part it's amazing, but it ends feeling like a setup for the next one, like the stuff we've watched is just a gateway to the more impressive and amazing stuff that's gonna come in Chapter 3. Which is a damn shame, because the end is also one of the best parts, as we are given a true display of the sort of power these underworld bosses really hold. With that in mind, though, it's not a bad movie. As I say, I think it's up there as a modern action masterpiece alongside 1) what is arguably the best martial arts movie to come out of Indonesia and 2) what is arguably the best movie in the current Marvel franchise. John Wick: Chapter 2 is well-shot, well-directed, brilliantly-acted, and serves as the perfect set-up for whatever comes next in the series. We have all our major players. The stage is set.
I can't wait to see what comes next.

(Oh yeah, and the dog doesn't die in this one so there's that!)
Adieu!