John Wick: Chapter Two

#StokerScore 6/10

Do you ever find yourself eating in a restaurant that you occasionally like to go to because the food is usually good and it's one of the best places to get a specific dish that you like? Not the only place that you can buy it, just a preference? Yeah, me too. That was what I was doing just before watching the highly anticipated second outing for Keanu's latest franchisee. 

It was a Thai-themed place that does pretty good Som Tam. For those of you unfamiliar with Thai food, this is a vegetarian, shredded papaya salad that is mixed with tomatoes, green beans, peanuts, chillies and fish sauce. It's pretty fiery and I think it goes really well with grilled meats or other finger food. If I was going to review the meal and the restaurant, I'd probably tell you that they didn't meet my expectations. The salad wasn't as spicy as usual, there was an obvious lack of attention to detail with the shredding of the papaya - some of which had come off the mandolin in a whole, slightly serrated slice rather than the individual julienne. The grilled chicken also seemed half-hearted with some bits being a single bone with no actual meat on it. Top that off with the waiter's apology that they'd run out of beer and I left feeling decidedly underwhelmed. The Som Tam was still Som Tam, just not the kind of Som Tam that leaves me with a big smile on my face (trust me, it does when it's good).

Remarkably, this was pretty much how I left the movie too. Chapter Two ticks all of the boxes that made Chapter One such a huge success; guns, mixed martial arts, sartorial villain and this time even reminded me of a couple of Bond set pieces which if you're familiar with classic Bond movies will hopefully stand out to you as much as they did to me. But it lacked the heart, the soul that made the first one so fun and not as predictable.

Maybe I'm too cynical. Maybe I should try to be less subjective and not allow my frame of mind or mood to cloud my judgement. Maybe if the Som Tam had been better I would have enjoyed the movie more, but I doubt it.

Keanu is still Keanu, Peter Stormare makes a great bad guy and is one of two characters to resume an on screen relationship with Reeves (Stormare played Lucifer in Constantine and Morpheus makes a return, or at least Laurence Fishburne does) and the transfer to Rome, highlighting that the crime syndicates are global, is a nice touch. Yet still I felt underwhelmed. It was like watching a chef make something he's made a thousand times and, rather than be interested in investing the dish with his enthusiasm, he just looks at the finished article and says "yeah, thet'll do".

As I said, the boxes are ticked and at times there is enough excitement to put you closer to the edge of your seat, you'll just never quite reach that far because something inside tells you it isn't really worth it.

Spectre

#StokerScore 9/10

The much anticipated culmination(?) to the current run of Daniel Craig -starring Bond movies finally arrived in cinemas last week and I was blown away by it. Well, most of it anyway.

I should point out that I'm a massive fan of Bond movies and I've seen every one at least 3 times, so it's fair to say that I'm biased. I even love the bad ones. The ones that seem to get less love for numerous reasons. 

Where the question of "who's the best Bond?" is concerned, I have always listed them; Connery, Dalton, Lazenby, Brosnan, Moore, Allen! But on seeing Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall, Craig went straight to the top.

In an interview I saw recently, Craig was asked for the main difficulty with making Bond movies and he cited Mike Myers' creation of Dr Evil. He suggested that so all encompassing was the character, so many of the absurdities of being a Bond villain did he mock, that creating a worthy villain was the biggest task. In that respect I think this run of movies has done so well. They've continued to get top-drawer acting talent and generally left Bond's gadgets out and so with good scripts they've been able to look at the wear and tear of being the ultimate secret agent.

Skyfall left us with lots of broken pieces. M's death but Mallory waiting to take over, the potential effect those would have on Bond, are just some. Spectre starts with none of those things, instead we're treated to another exceptional, action-packed start which seems to show Bond right back where he belongs, on task.

That Spectre is able to still find new twists and turns, to outdo it's masterful predecessor is a credit to the writers, director and actors. As a viewer, you can't help but be influenced by the sheer frustration of an enemy who appears to be so many steps ahead and all-pervasive in terms of just how many pies they have fingers in.

Yet it is also the writing of Bond's love interest in Spectre that I found the most unbelieveable. There is a moment where we seem to go from one extreme to another without ever explaining the steps needed or the characters motivation. Small thing as it is, it's the reason why I'm knocking a point off.

If you love Bond movies, you won't be able to help yourself from enjoying this one. I just hope that when the character returns, with or without Daniel Craig, that they continue in the same vein, although how they're going to top this is hard to imagine......