I watched all three of the John Wick movies and I liked them.  No, the word is not like; I LOVE them.  These are GREAT movies and it is very seldom that the follow-up to a good movie is also good.  The three John Wick movies are all good and amazing.

The story starts out very simple (as all good stories usually do).  John Wick is putting petrol in his car, a 1969 Ford Mustang, when a young man comes over and admires the car.  He offers to buy the car, which Wick of course refuses.

That night the young man and his friends break into Wick’s house.  They assault Wick, kill his puppy and steal the Mustang.

And this is where the whole franchise starts.  Throughout the whole franchise you will hear people say: They stole Wick’s car and they killed his dog.

When this young man – who happens to be Iosef the son of Viggo Tarasov, one of the most influential gangsters in the city – tries to sell the car – he finds out the workshop owner will not help him.  The owner even assaults Iosef for bringing the car to his establishment.  When Viggo phones him later on to enquire why he hit his son, the owner tells him:  Because he stole John Wick’s car and killed his dog.

From the look on his face, it is clear that Viggo immediately understand the implications of this.  When Viggo parleys with his son later on, we find out that John Wick is one of the top assassins in the world.  He even killed three men in a bar with only a pencil.  Viggo tells his son that their whole organization was built on the foundation that John Wick created for it, by killing all their enemies.

“You will do nothing, because you can do nothing.”

Out of desperation to save his son, Viggo sends men to kill John Wick in his home.  In this fight scene John Wick’s excellent fighting and killing skills are illustrated beautifully.  He kills twelve men efficiently and cruelly.

And then the real magic of the movie comes to the fore.

Wick makes a phone call for a “dinner reservation for twelve people”.

This is the code to call in a cleaning crew.  Led by Charlie, these men clean up the whole mess, removing the bodies, the weapons, bullet casings, cleaning up blood and other residue.  When they leave, the place is as spic-and-span as it was before the fight with no forensic evidence.

For this Charlie is paid twelve golden coins by John Wick.  These gold coins are another part of this strange world the movie is introducing us to.  The coins are an essential part of the world in which John Wick lives.  As we find out later, anything can be bought with it.

Then another part of this world is beautifully revealed. 

His house is not safe anymore, so John Wick goes to a hotel.  This is a special hotel for assassins.  This one is the New York Continental.  It is managed by Ian McShane.  In the later movies we learn these hotels are all over the world.  In them we are introduced to the Rome Continental and the Morocco Continental.   One managed by Franco Nero, the other by Halle Berry.  How cool is that?

Inside the Continental the assassins are safe, as no “business” is allowed to be conducted inside the hotel.  Lance Reddick is the desk clerk.  He speaks with a strange accent, which makes the already cool Lance Reddick seem even cooler.  In John Wick Two we find out his name is Charon – you know, the ferryman who transports the dead over the river Styx.

“And as always…it is a PLEASURE having you with us again, Mister Wick.”

This is one of the coolest things in the movie.  Later on it seems that all the “service” people talk to John Wick as he is leaving them.  So far no explanation had been given for it, but I find it extremely cool.

Now, the deeper you go into the movie, the cooler the story becomes and the more you learn about this strange world of which John Wick is a resident.

Wick gets the information he needs about the whereabouts of Viggo’s son from the Continental’s hotel manager.  Wick goes to the nightclub where it was reported that Iosef is and a big fight breaks out there.  Once again it clearly illustrates the extreme fighting skills of John Wick, his commitment and his sheer will.  Iosef escapes, though, but at a great cost.  A lot of his father’s men get killed cruelly and efficiently by John Wick.

Back in the Continental, Wick is attacked by another assassin.  Even heavily wounded and tired he overpowers her in the intense fight they have.  He knocks her unconscious and ties her up.  He leaves her in the care of a fellow assassin. 

Doing business on Continental grounds is an extremely serious offence.  You get excommunicated; which means none of the usual services are available to you and anyone can kill you.

Wick next goes to a church where Viggo’s money and other valuables are stored.  He burns it all.  This drives Viggo insane with rage and he takes it out on Marcus, the assassin he hired to kill Wick.  Marcus, who is Wick’s friend, is killed.

A lot of action follows and Wick finds out where they hide Iosef.  He kills all the men who were protecting Iosef and finally he shoots Iosef as he tries to run away from an enraged Wick.

“…it was just a fuck’n…” Iosef screams out before a bullet explodes through his skull.  Wick is a man of few words.

Viggo now wants to take revenge and in a huge action scene by the harbor Viggo and all his men are killed.  There’s a lot of very good action in this scene, from cars and SUV’s to fist fights, to gun fights.  But I didn’t really like this scene.  The actor who plays Viggo is Mikael Nyqvist.  He is one of my favorite actors.  It is obvious that Viggo has no chance against John Wick, so for me it was almost as if they humiliated the actor.  (Yes, I know it is not so, but still.)

Wick and Viggo fights in a strong downpour of heavy rain – at night.  You know, almost like in that other movie. 

Perkins, the assassin who tried to kill John Wick in The Continental, is dramatically killed by the Hotel Manager and his men.  Then Charlie and cleaning crew appear as if out of nowhere to clean up.

The Continental gives John a new car, a 2011 Dodge Charger.  John finds a new dog when he breaks into a veterinarian surgery to get some medicine.

Everyone lives happily ever after, but only until John Wick Two…

John Wick is a great movie and definitely worth seeing.able��{Gf�P