Movie – John Wick - Chapter 2

Movies Nov 22, 2019

Overview:

John simply loves danger, what can I say. He conveniently *happened* to make a contract with somebody that was potentially in line to become part of the High Table. We know the truth though, he set this all up and is part of his intricate plan to finally find a situation that can end his misery of being the strongest around.

Beginning the movie wraps up the ending of the first movie with him getting his car back and ending the feud between the Russians and him with more of a non-aggression agreement. Due to the amount of havoc he has caused it is thought by others that he is back *in the game*… even though it was solely for personal matters rather than business.

With the assumption that he is back, a person who John had contact with in the past pays him a visit. With the assumption that he is back, and knowing he granted John a blood pact favor in the past, is in full right to request that he now completes a task for him. This person has alternative motives with his job that John is essentially being forced into completing. It is a job that no matter how it ends he would end up punished by becoming excommunicado or killed… which are near one in the same since being marked as that is supposed to be certain death. The rest of the film goes through 2 parts, one being the job and the rest looping back to Johns personal matters that has the film ending the moment John Wick Chapter 3 begins.

Spoilerish below, explains my understanding of High Table organization in John Wick verse to help clarify things without the need to rewatch:

Excommunicado, from what I gather so far, there is one way to become it and possibly another I’ll mention below but that is more speculative/not confirmed. One that is for sure, doing any sort of business on any Continental grounds means that you are marked excommunicado. Doesn’t matter how small or severe the act, if you conduct any business you will be marked and more than likely killed. The bounty is placed by the High Table who are the overarching control powers of crime in the verse. Not all crime of course, at least as far as we know, more of underground work being done.

The second way I believe somebody might be able to become excommunicado is refusal to honor a blood agreement they had made with a person that is directly linked to the High Table in one way or another. The people you would request from would be of high power rather than low due to the severity of what contracting would entail. So, it is safe to assume all these contracts are formed with people linked to High Table.

Becoming excommunicado means any High Table support and thus continental support will be cut off. This is due to all Continentals being owned by High Table.

With excommunicado out of the way, lets discuss the crime portion of this verse. I am still unsure if all crime is directly contracted through High Table. From what I have seen so far that is not the case. The High Table is more of an organization that deals with underground related tasks. The underground and High Table is known by the public though. Can think of it as a `living life on the edge profession`. As for who are on the High Table, nobody knows… sort of. There are links back to them but the only confirmed person is Santino, and once his sister. Both of which met their fate and have now put John in the situation he is in by the end of the movie.

There are 12 members on the High Table as confirmed by a line in the movie iirc. With 1 of the members killed that puts the total left at just 11. It is unknown or not if the Russians he took out were only supported by the Russian High Table member or one of them was a High Table member. Assuming none of them were, then 11 left.

There is more information given in the third movie but ill leave that out since this is only for the second one. Since Chapter 3 has a review already made/posted, have to wait for Chapter 4 review to get more information regarding the other parts :D. The verse is developing nicely though, really liking the progression that has been happening.

Visuals/Music:

Visuals are on par with the first and third film. Has the action color palate to it and it matches and works well with what they are going for. A visual and camera view that I was really enjoying was the mirror room. The mirror play they do at the end of the movie I highly enjoyed due to the avoidance of shaky cam... for the most part and for how it gives several different perspectives without the need to jump cam. The way it is done still allows for a standard view but offers several perspectives at the same time yet does so without the screen feeling too cluttered or having the feeling that there is too much going on at a single time during the scene.

Music keeps the immersion and does its job throughout. Same situation with the sound effects as the other 2 though. They feel out of place at times. I believe it is due to the film doing more realistic combat and in real life doing what they are doing doesn’t cause much noise. With the way it is filmed it seems like more of an afterthought hence why they don’t meld well with the audio and camera positioning at times. Still isn’t a bad thing but, same as before, is something to note. Would it be better not including them? Possibly but it doesn’t matter either way imo.

Final Thoughts:

Not much to say that hasn’t been already, it’s a solid film and can’t wait for more to be made in the verse. Anybody who wants a good action film will not be depressed, I highly recommend it. You go in for some action, you get the action but with good plot and a world that is slowly being crafted into something that makes the films even more enjoyable.