It's still the holiday season and I still have time off. Not a lot of time off, but time off none the less. There are things I *could* be doing, and likely things I *should* be doing, but dang it, when do I ever allow myself the time to just kick my heels up and watch a pile of movies? Not that often. So with a week left to go in vacation time (from December 26 until Jan 1), I plan to cram in 20 movies in seven days. I'm not sure I'll be able to write about them all as I go, as that would certainly interfere in my movie watching/dog walking/puzzle building/game playing time, but, well, gotta give it the ol' angler fish try.
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(2017, d. Chad Stahelski - AmazonPrime)
I liked John Wick enough, but what I liked most about it was the cool, unusual world we're introduced to via the Continental, a hotel that's intended to be a safe haven from all the gangland and hired assassin killing. John Wick, is such a nothing as a character, that he's literally a killing machine still in deep mourning for the loss of his wife (and the dog she gave him). Why does he keep killing people? Because he has to in order to live? Why does he even want to live? What does he have to live for? Well, we don't find that out until Parabellum.
The opening of JWch2 is kind of ass. Picking up almost directly where the last chapter left off (John avenged the death of his dog but there was still the dangling plot thread of retrieving his car) we're thrust in the middle of a a dodgy car chase that's almost more demolition derby. It's a sequence that has some rather silly (many of them entertainingly silly) edits, stunts and effects, but the energy of it seems off. What are the stakes here? I forget where JWch1 left off. This sequence only takes off once Keanu exits the car (in kind of hilarious fashion) and starts into the hand to hand. Even then, the sequence goes on too long, and the intercutting between Keanu and Peter Stormare delivering heaps of clunky exposition that catches the audience up on the meager plot of the first one, and closes up the last dangling thread, being the recovery of John Wick's car.
After more action, followed by John Wick finally getting to take a breath and return home with his rescued dog-with-no-name, the film starts diving back into world building, which is more of what I came to see than the action. We're treated to the concept of blood oaths as a particularly nasty man from John's old life comes calling asking for his blood oath to be honored. Things go bad before they get better. He's tasked with a mission to kill the man's sister, as she took their father's place at the Table (the people who run the underworld), and now he wants it.
After consulting with Ian McShane over at the Continental he's off to Rome, to do his necessary deed. He is asked by the Roman Continental manager if he's there to kill the pope, which I thought was amusing. His mission is successful, but now he has the dead donna's goons hunting him for revenge, and the brother has turned traitor and is "avenging his sister" sicking his forces on him, and after escaping Rome, he's placed with a 7 million dollar bounty which puts every merc on his trail. How will the old Baba Yaga get out of this one.
Well, I'll tell you that he only does so by making things much, much worse for himself. It's actually quite thrilling to see him find himself in a hole, climb out of that hole only to find it's a hole at the bottom of an even bigger hole.
After consulting with Ian McShane over at the Continental he's off to Rome, to do his necessary deed. He is asked by the Roman Continental manager if he's there to kill the pope, which I thought was amusing. His mission is successful, but now he has the dead donna's goons hunting him for revenge, and the brother has turned traitor and is "avenging his sister" sicking his forces on him, and after escaping Rome, he's placed with a 7 million dollar bounty which puts every merc on his trail. How will the old Baba Yaga get out of this one.
Well, I'll tell you that he only does so by making things much, much worse for himself. It's actually quite thrilling to see him find himself in a hole, climb out of that hole only to find it's a hole at the bottom of an even bigger hole.
The film crackles with energy, running at a frenetic pace, and knocking John Wick around to the point that he should either have internal injuries, concussions, or both. But he's not exactly a superhero, the wear and tear on him are tangible, and for what Keanu lacks in emoting ability, he makes up for in physical performance (which is what the role demands most).
The film (and the series, I can say in hindsight) is at its best in Rome, when it slows down enough to explore the weird world of international organized crime, governed under one code. John Wick's visit to the continental there, plus his evening-out preparations with the sommelier (Peter Serafinawicz), the tailor, and the blueprints office all really flesh out some of the merits of this over-arching world of crime. I love John's bulletproof suit, and the explanation of the soft fibre that protects him... that it will stop any bullet, but he'll still feel the impact.
The film (and the series, I can say in hindsight) is at its best in Rome, when it slows down enough to explore the weird world of international organized crime, governed under one code. John Wick's visit to the continental there, plus his evening-out preparations with the sommelier (Peter Serafinawicz), the tailor, and the blueprints office all really flesh out some of the merits of this over-arching world of crime. I love John's bulletproof suit, and the explanation of the soft fibre that protects him... that it will stop any bullet, but he'll still feel the impact.
Oddly, there are a lot of foreign languages being spoken in this film but without translation (and sign language too), but when I turned on the closed captioning, I saw that AmazonPrime actually does the translations there. Neat.
There's an amazing sequence towards the end taking place in a updated house of mirrors. It's a modern art installation that spans room after room, level after level, with mirrors, monitors and glass. I don't know if this museum setting was fully constructed or if it was tear down of an existing piece, but it was gorgeous. I always love a good chase through a house of mirrors scenario and this one, with the addition of technology to the bit, tops them all.
The film ends with John Wick having gotten out of one pickle but fallen right into the pickle jar. It's a rather exciting crucible he's seemingly putting himself through, and it really begs the question "how's he going to get himself out of this one"?
There's an amazing sequence towards the end taking place in a updated house of mirrors. It's a modern art installation that spans room after room, level after level, with mirrors, monitors and glass. I don't know if this museum setting was fully constructed or if it was tear down of an existing piece, but it was gorgeous. I always love a good chase through a house of mirrors scenario and this one, with the addition of technology to the bit, tops them all.
The film ends with John Wick having gotten out of one pickle but fallen right into the pickle jar. It's a rather exciting crucible he's seemingly putting himself through, and it really begs the question "how's he going to get himself out of this one"?
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