John Wick Chapter 2 | What to Watch

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Keanu Reeves’ impossibly cool, impossibly deadly assassin is back for a brazenly entertaining sequel

Keanu Reeves’ impossibly cool, impossibly deadly assassin is back for a brazenly entertaining sequel.

In the opening minutes, Reeves puts his vintage 1969 Mustang through what appears to be a mid-air handbrake turn and the film keeps its foot on the pedal for almost the entire running time.

Following events in the first film, Reeves now has a giant bounty on his head that finds him battling all-comers, including a Mafia queen's doggedly loyal bodyguard, played by American rapper Common, and a mafioso's mute but deadly enforcer, played by Orange Is the New Black's Ruby Rose.

To be honest, the plot isn't the film's strongest suit. Instead, the movie's trump cards are the audacious wit of its bizarre criminal world and the elegant brutality of the fight scenes. From a gigantic gun battle amid the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and a bruising face-off on a New York subway to the film's climactic showdown in a dazzling hall of mirrors, the fights are choreographed with stunning grace.

As Reeves' remorseless avenger cuts a swathe through his enemies, there isn't the zoomed-in quick cutting that action movies so often deploy to whip up a sense of excitement. Instead, the camera simply hangs back to let us see Wick in full flow and admire his fatal handiwork - and it’s all the better for it.