Cinepals - JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Kristen & Michael continue on with the John Wick series, watching the sequel to "John Wick: Chapter 2," where John Wick is forced back into the underworld of assassins to honor a blood oath, only to find himself marked for death after completing the task.  This film is directed by Chad Stahelski (John Wick series, Deadpool 2, & The Matrix) & it stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix series, Speed, & Point Break) as John Wick, Riccardo Scamarcio (Burnt, Loose Cannons, & Romanzo Criminale) as Santino D'Antonio, Common (Wanted, Selma, & Smokin' Aces) as Cassian, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix series, Man of Steel, & Boyz n the Hood) as The Bowery King, and Ian McShane (Deadwood, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, & American Gods) as Winston. Join our Patreon www.cinejump.com or become a YouTube member for access to full length watchalong reactions! You can find us on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@cinepals   SOCIAL MEDIA: ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals   ~KRISTEN STEPHENSONPINO~ Insta: @Kris10Kesp   ~MICHAEL~ Insta: @booseisloose

Sina. Pals. What is up, everybody? It is Chris and Steves Pino, joined by Michael Boone. Hello, hello. I love your last name. It never gets old. We are back in action, getting to watch John Wick, Chapter 2. I'm really excited.

I'm a little bit nervous to see how our writer, is it the same writer? Give me a second. Double check, double check. This is the same damn writer. Yes, it is. You, Derek. You, Derek Colson. You damn old Derek Colson.

I don't like you All right, Derek, you're back in action with us So we'll see what you do This time I'm excited, I'm a little bit nervous Because I'm like, how much darker can we get, Mr. Derek? We're going to learn today We're about to learn

Wow, another very solid Wow Another very solid installment In the John Wick Chronicle You think so? I think so. I thought it was really good. Explain, go ahead.

I like, so I like the, I guess, broadening of the world. I know that was a big thing we talked about in our reaction to the first one is we wanted to know more about the continental, the way the rules worked, and like this society of underground, organized crime and things like that.

I liked the fights. There was one fight towards the beginning where I was kind of like, ah, this feels a little slow and kind of clunky, but they got tighter as things went on, especially a fight with Common. Common was a really, really good fight, and I liked the back and forth

before they leaped into the window and landed on Continental grounds and then after on the subway was such a good little build of tension and everything like that. Keanu, as John Wick, isn't necessarily my favorite, but I'm warming up to his character. I think in this, I was seeing a bit more

of like character choices to be flat rather than just this is Keanu because, again, I'm not the biggest fan of Keanu, who's acting, but in this, it read a little bit better, I guess. And of course, he's playing across from all these really exceptional actors, so it's like, it's easy to, you know, get a little bit more energy out of that back and forth, even if John Wick as a character is pretty flat. The Return of Lawrence Fishburn and the reunion of Neo and Morpheus, I thought was a fun little, like, nod to the Matrix movies and everything like that. That made me happy.

and I'm interested to see where the rest of this story goes. You seem like you have opinions. I do. Go on. Thank you for noticing. Yeah. To me, this one does not make me excited for three. No?

No. And I'm going to tell you why. Okay, go on. I felt like this was very redundant. It was like the same thing as number one, but the first one was better. Okay. Yeah. I felt like, okay, we get it.

You can fight. Okay, you're, you know, you're destroying all these people. to me, the storyline was weak. Okay, I see it, yeah. The first one I liked because it was fresh. Predictable but fresh. This one was too predictable of like I felt like they just copied and paste it and they just tweaked a few things, but it wasn't anything that wowed me.

Right. So I was kind of disappointed in that because I was hoping for a better storyline in this one. Okay, yeah, I see it. To like unf it up because I feel like you have so much potential with this. film and the first one was done so well that yes everything like to the eye looks beautiful and great but it was just kind of just full of action that's it like all you saw was fighting you know what I mean the best thing that I did like was the scene where you know Cassian I liked how him and you know they're walking like blah and they're like you know it was funny like they had like little moments but

I also think later on he's going to come into play on part three right because he's you know, okay, here we go. Kianu, he also saved the Bowery King, yeah, yeah, Lawrence Fishman's character, right? And it's almost like his move, right? Because, and it's almost like, I pardon you, but guess why, now you kind of owe me in a weird way. And I think the Cameron, I think he...

Common. Or common, sorry. I think he respects that and he understands because I think John didn't really want to off him off. You know what I mean? Right. Because there is some type of friendship there, which is pretty cool.

and there's like, I think he's going to come into play and probably help him because now he's like, all right, you kind of owe me. But I just felt like the only scenes that were great was like, you know, where they ended up fighting, they came into the common grounds and they had to like separate.

The ones that like, what's the word, subverted what we expected from this movie? Yes. We're kind of the ones that you enjoyed. I just, I still like that, you know, it's like the holy ground and makes everybody come to whatever, but it's kind of a bummer that John Wick

ended up breaking that rule. But I'm interested to see where we're going to go from this because it almost seems like an impossible task, but I think that that token is going to be like his pass, a whole pass to get back in because he's going to end up owing him a favor, which is why he's like, it's your choice. You might need it. You know what I mean?

And then you're kind of back in, looped around because everybody's going to need somebody like John Wick on their side. But like I was saying, I felt like the storyline was very weak. I think everything looked beautiful. I think the filming was great. I think the action shots was amazing. But it was too much of the same. And I feel like it was just kind of...

I was waiting for something more. And I'm like, all right, I'm a little bit bored. That's fair. That's fair. I was actually very bored in this one. And I felt like I liked Ruby Rose's character toward the beginning. But I also feel like they could have had more fun with her. Right.

She was kind of underutilized. Exactly. And so it was almost like, I almost wish they didn't have her. there because it was kind of like just to have a name in there like she was kind of fluff and she should have been utilized a little bit better right you know I like the comedy scale I liked when she gave him the finger you know like it was like he's like oh okay no no loose string stature I did like that right and then after that then they kind of lost me and I'm like dude you you're what happened to the storyline it just kind of fell short right yeah this one and and I wonder

mr. Derek mr. Derek mr. Derek Colstad writer of the John Wick movie Mr. Mr. Derek, I wonder if this is you trying to, you know, make up for the first one because you destroyed the puppy. I like how you made a sink and question the dog was still in the house. We really, we really were like on the edge of our seats until that dog

showed up. If you did that, I was going to be like, you know, this is like, this is kind of like, it's redundant, you know, so I'm glad you changed that up, but at the same time. Derek, what happened? You fell short. You fell short. You fell short. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm like, normally I'm like, yeah, but you fell so short and you not utilize these characters to their like full potential and it was just i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm not sorry it is what it is i didn't care for john wake two chapter two there you go there

you go i mean i i loved the first one and and this one i was just kind of bored because i'm like okay there's cool it's exciting but yeah what what can what else can you bring to the table to make it more exciting to take it to that next level. And especially for someone like me who I normally like, you know, I'm like, whoa, I haven't seen this. It's weird for me to say this, I feel like personally. I think it's weird for me to say, wow, like you fell really short. Like, what were you doing?

I've seen all this before. Yes. Now, if this was like, even if this, this, I feel like even as one, right, like if this was the only film they made, I feel like it still doesn't, like it's kind of a cool concept, but it still doesn't hold up to. the first one. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. I don't, I don't know if it's, it's a perfect successor to the second one, or to the first one, excuse me. Not at all. But I mean, you know, this potentially gives me the draw to see the third one because I want to know how things are different. Now that

he doesn't have his resources. Because I mean, like in the first and the second one, he relied very heavily on the Continental's resources and things like that to execute whatever he was doing. Right. And that's, that's kind of the same through line that you're talking about. And in, And in this one, very much so the story was more a vehicle to get the action out there rather than the action being an element of the story. So I totally respect that opinion because beat for beat, this was largely the same. You're 100% correct. And so, like, I understand why that would be dissatisfying 100%. Because, again, you go to the John Wick movies and they're revolutionary because of how they do their action sequences, not necessarily because the writing is incredible.

But here's the thing. Why do it half-ass? That's fair. When you have something that can be so amazing, I just, I'm disappointed in that. Which makes me curious for the third one is like, do they bring it back? Do they bring an interesting story where we have to see him overcome not having the resources that he's had for so long? I also, I love that they utilize different aspects of the people. Right.

Okay. However, this could have been so good. Right. Okay? So good. That I'm really, I'm just, I'm very. beautifully done looks amazing

like if I was in the film yeah I'd be psyched obviously because it looks really good yeah definitely but however it doesn't hold up that's fair and I'm gonna mic drop that

and on that note because I also feel like there's other characters in here that we saw again that could be utilized I don't know it may also suffer from the fact that they use this one one to establish more of the characters that are going to be paid off in like three

and potentially four. I'm hoping it's going to pay off. Right. And I'm hoping that maybe this was just a buildup. But come on, man. We had what? I think this was like a two hour. Yeah, it was a two hour film.

Okay. You have a two hour film and you gave me a bunch of like, I felt like there was a lot of fluff to it. Okay. Okay. Like it was almost like, let's just do cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, all right. Which is like what the John Wick movies are. Yes, but it should be cool.

cool with substance. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. You can't just be cool. Like it's like you going on a date with some guy. You're like, yeah, he's so cool. What else is there to him? I don't know. He's just cool. Yeah. He's just got a lot of muscles. There's no depth. There's no substance. And then you're like, yeah, okay, whatever. Bro, okay, you're a pretty face. I respect it. And I feel like this film is a pretty face with nothing else to offer. I see it. I know I'm being really harsh. And this is probably the harshest I've ever been in any of my critiques. No, that's okay. You know, that's the purpose of watching and critiquing is sometimes you got to be harsh. I respect it. I

think... I still love the... I still love the actors. I love the characters. The acting was great. The filming was amazing. The action was insane. The parts just didn't come together into a good whole. And that's a frustrating part. Yeah. When you have all these key elements

to be great and it is like visually. And like it's so I feel like they had every ingredients in the palm of their hand and they missed the plot. Like, I'm like, dude, you had, you were rich. They forgot the salt. You, you could have had the planet.

And you were like, just kidding. And it was like, okay, who didn't do their job? Derek. Derek. Sorry, Derek. I'm always going to come from you because you killed the puppy, dude. You will never recover from that. Ever. Ever. He's not getting that one back. No. Mr. Derek, the writer, how do you say his last name?

Colstead. Colstead. Mr. Derek Colstead, like, I have eye expectations from you, especially if you're going to start off part one. the way you did. And then you're going to come in with this? No. I'm not accepting that from you.

I'm sorry. I'm not sorry. Like, I hope that Mr. Derek, you come in harder with three and make me change my mind so that I can go back to this and be like, okay, it makes sense for the buildup. But you did not need two hours to fluff. You had so much greatness. You literally had gold in the world in your palm and you let it go. I'm done Anyways

Anything else you want to add No no no I don't On a better note I think this was the next one I'm obsessed with every single character They are powerful Actors they are strong They are amazing

They are lovable No matter what they are The villains are outstanding You couldn't ask for a better cast I do think Keanu Reeves And this one I wish he was a little bit more powerful However

You know he is staying true to his character I just wish he was a little bit more like, oh, like, give me a little... Like a little bit of nuance. Like, give me a little... Let me, like, switch it up. Just a hair for me. Yeah, yeah.

Other than that, I think, this was a gold. And then, and you dropped it. It's like, it's like, it's like Titanic. The woman dropped. She dropped the most valuable thing in the ocean. And that's what I feel like. I feel like we were on Titanic. She said, ah!

And I'm like, why? I love how bats your gripe with Titanic. Not, not getting into that. That's a tangent for an entirely different day, but I love how that. That's your gripe with Titanic. You know, I mean, okay. You want another one?

Never let go, Jack. Never let go. I will never let go. Jack, you can't get on the door with me. Yeah, he could have. You could take turns, girl. Okay? This is what you did.

You didn't take a turn. You promised something. You couldn't deliver and you dropped it. Anyways. Anything else you want me to say? Nope. Nope. Nope.

I'm great. All right. I think that's cool. We've got it for hot takes, ladies and gentlemen. this is the hardest critique i've ever done i love this in um i've so here for it on the channel history and uh i'm not even sorry that was amazing no no sorry i will stick around for the next one and i hope that it pays off and makes me change from my i i just i love the first one so much you let me know what you think in the in the comments um go for it go wild

If you guys haven't done so already Please hit that subscribe button, bell icons All notifications, and pretty free please About this video If you've already done so, thank you so much For all your love and support I'm Kristen Zavino I'm Michael Boose

And we out Bye