Taking over a fledgling franchise as solo director (after sharing the first with David Leitch), Chad Stahelski’s immediate problem is keeping a lid on production bloat, the bane of sequels to modest-budget surprise hits. Suddenly, you’ve got twice the money to play with and company men ordering you to make the original film all over again . . . but bigger. Fortunately, JOHN WICK/’14 was no classic, merely a reasonable excuse for Keanu Reeves to reclaim an ultra-cool/ultra-violent hipster vibe as an ex-master hitman forced out of retirement and back into action. Here, he’s forced back to work after refusing to honor a ‘blood marker,’ then must take on the assignment (a rubout in Rome) to set things right. Of course, the film has been all OTT bespoke action/ fashion set pieces anyway, right from the opening, and technically up a notch from the first film. As Reeves takes down scores of ultra-buff killers with Fred Astaire’s elan at mowing down chorus line boys using tap shoes & walking stick; but with a techno-beat in for Irving Berlin’s ‘Top Hat, White Tie and Tails.’ (And nearly as realistic.) Stahelski only seriously drops the ball in the film’s over-cooked fun-house mirror finale (in a high-tech art museum), proving yet again that MORE really can be LESS. But before that, plenty of wicked funny cameos along with many amusing design details. Especially, at the swanky Hitman Hotel Club which has a positive fetish for passé technology: '70s computers & dot-matrix printers; rotary phones; pneumatic tubes; electric typewriters. Fun, if you’re in the mood.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: While much of the location scouting serves up spaces Vogue would have approved for a Fall Fashion Prada layout, someone slipped up badly on that Rockefeller Center garden terrace Ian McShane uses as a private rooftop hangout for his Hitman Hotel. You can see it used every few months on The Today Show. And just where are we supposed to be? That’s Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship store showing due east. Maybe McShane brings guests to his aerie each December for a bird's-eye view of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony.
DOUBLE-BILL: More than the first Wick pic, this feels like a deliberate parody of the BOURNE series. Best of the bunch, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY/’04.
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