John Wick slowly crept its way into being my most rewatched movie of 2014. Its simplicity, streamlined action, and comic book universe clicked on every level I love. While I’m certainly happy to see that the film has been warmly accepted and was profitable enough to warrant a sequel, I do have to admit to some trepidation. John Wick felt like lightning in a bottle, and recapturing that is going to be an uphill battle.
Luckily, there looks to be a lot of returning characters in John Wick 2 (I really hope they keep that title. I’m somewhat numb to all these numberless, subtitled sequels). Ian McShane is back as Winston, the head honcho of the hitman hotel The Continental. We also have Lance Reddick’s hotel manager Charon (yup) and John Leguizamo’s chop shop boss Aurelio coming back for some more fun. I’m happy about all of this as the world that John Wick inhabits is ripe for exploration. I only hope to hear that David Patrick Kelly’s body disposal master Charlie shows up as well.
But there will also be some new faces that I’m stoked for. The always enjoyable Peter Stormare has been announced (I hope he’s riffing on his henchman character from The Last Stand) as well as rapper turned surprisingly good actor Common (whose hitman in Run All Night feels more appropriate to the world of John Wick than that movie). Plot details and character descriptions are being kept under wraps, but with filming underway in New York, I’m sure we’ll start gleaning a little more about the next film’s story.
John Wick was such an out-of-nowhere surprise that I have to completely temper any expectations for John Wick 2. I wish it nothing but the best, but I won’t be getting overly excited any time soon.
Source: Deadline
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