John Wick: Chapter 2

John Wick: Chapter 2

The highly anticipated sequel to a very popular action film has arrived. John Wick as sort of a sleeper hit that came out of nowhere and really blew a lot of peoples minds. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the film but it was a solid action film that was very sleek and really established Keanu Reeves as an action hero. If you have any doubts about his credibility as an action star, you should probably see John Wick: Chapter 2.

This time, no one kills John Wick’s dog. Thank god. Wick is visited by a gangster who wants Wick to serve him because of a blood oath taken years ago. When Wick refuses, his house gets blown up. Wick then goes out for revenge and must face bounty hunters and a bunch of trained assassins. I’d say the sequel has more going on storywise as it involves much more involving a crime lord and the underside of what it entails. The sequel does a good job of maintaining fantastic, frenetic action with a balanced story and dialogue (or lack of it in Ruby Rose’s characters instance).

The film doesn’t always flow strongly as characters sort of appear without question but this is an action film and you shouldn’t worry too much about what makes sense and what doesn’t. As you’d expect, the film is very sleek and has eye catching action. The scenes are shot with flashing neon lights and plenty of sick shooting with blood. If this is your sort of thing you will absolutely love it. The car chases and hand to hand combat scenes were fantastic. The whole exchange between Common and Reeves in the subway was just hilarious.

My main complaint is that the film is longer this time and sometimes feels its length. Its not such a bad thing. This film is a really solid sequel, I may just prefer the original but its close. The action, blood, and style is really turned up in this edition and you just know we have an action star and franchise in our hands. I don’t mind it, Keanu Reeves can rock the three piece suit and he’s even better kicking major ass in it.

7/10

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017)

 

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Thank god that its finally over. I hope. Paul W.S. Anderson finally closes out the film series based on the very popular survival video game series. The video game series is actually excellent and tons of fun, the same cannot be said for the film series. I did enjoy Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse as far as the films go, but I cannot say that I liked the rest at all. I wasn’t very keen on checking this film out but there was a curiosity to watch it be put out of its misery.

The film starts off with flashbacks to young Alicia Marcus and the creation of the T-Virus. I think this was necessary for people who may have forgotten how the outbreak and destruction even started. We then see Alice walking the streets of a desolate and ruined D.C. while fighting some monsters along the way. I immediately got annoyed by the headache inducing, rapid, editing. Its awful. It takes so much away from the action sequences as you can’t fixate on anything on the screen. You can’t even get a good look at the monster designs so its a real downer.

The situations are absolutely ridiculous. I know you have to suspend beliefs sometimes for action sequences but my god we get some really ridiculous fight scenes that are not only cliched to hell but ridiculously improbable. Alice maneuvering her way out of the moving laser beams had me rolling my eyes multiple times. The film introduces a side cast that nobody will ever care about. Ali Larter as Claire Redfield returns but she remains so underdeveloped that you won’t care to see her. There are multiple moments where Anderson tries to produce jump scares but they are so horribly predictable and out of place in this type of film. We’ve seen all of it a million times before and this film basically comes off as cheap. The editing will do your head in.

The films passages aren’t always interesting. The picture quality is mostly dark, dull and ugly. I don’t really rate Paul W.S. Anderson as a filmmaker but this was TV SyFy movie levels in terms of quality. Some questions are answered and I guess some loose ends are solved but its not anything amazing and remains cookie cutter. If you enjoy all the other films you will be satisfied with the film series’ conclusion. For me however, this film was the worst of the bunch but the silver lining is that the series has finally closed itself off.

5/10