FMC 063: John Wick Chapter 2 Directed by Chad Stahelski

Full Episode Transcript
This episode of Filmmaker Commentary "John Wick Chapter 2," directed by Chad Stahelski, providing insights into its production, visual style, and impact, alongside discussions on recent film news and practical filmmaking advice.

Opening Discussion and Film News
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary episode 63. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaking commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVD and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with...
Casey G. Smith: Casey G. Smith. Welcome back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Good to be back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Today we are covering John Wick 2, directed by Chad Stahelski, written by Derek Kolstad.
Reginald Titus Jr.: This was in, what, 2017, uh, distributed by Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment, which is a label under Lionsgate, had a budget of $40 million, uh, box office, $92 million domestically, $79.5 million internationally, which is $171.5 million worldwide. That's a win. Winning!
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's how you guarantee a sequel. Oh, this is a sequel. Another one.
Casey G. Smith: Another one, a third!
Reginald Titus Jr.: It wasn't released for 77 days, that's about 11 weeks, and released from February 10th, 2017, and closed April 27th, 2017. Wow, a moneymaker.
Casey G. Smith: Oh yeah. And they went into that third one pretty, pretty quick after that, and they were like, "Hey, we got something here. Let's..." I mean, obviously, this one definitely, spoiler alert. Yeah. It definitely sets up for a third, which, of course, is, according to this, is already out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That one dropped when?
Casey G. Smith: Uh, it dropped last, it dropped in May.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They're turning these babies around. Is the third one, how does, are there flies in it? Maybe. The third one, I, I, I liked a lot.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Is there a closer?
Casey G. Smith: Maybe.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's only right, in my opinion, I haven't seen it, there should be closure. Stop it. Stop the bleeding. There should be closure.
Casey G. Smith: Stop the insanity!
Reginald Titus Jr.: I'll tell you this, people die.
Casey G. Smith: Oh, people die in gloriously violent fashion.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There you go. Before we dive further into John Wick 2, let's talk about news and movies watched.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So what do we have for news?
Casey G. Smith: Uh, just one particular piece of news as of the recording of this podcast. Uh, Toy Story 4 has the largest opening of any Toy Story film, but still falls short of expectations, according to The Playlist. Uh, box office problems for the sequels in North America continue this weekend, uh, according to them. Uh, they say, uh, Pixar's Toy Story 4, uh, made an incredible amount of money, $118 million domestically, during its opening weekend, but the figure is far down from early estimates that had the film opening up at around $150 million in North America. Uh, so again, it's the largest opening for a Toy Story movie ever, and in its, um, excellent news, but, uh, as far as 2019 goes as a whole, it, it feels like people are seeing, um, a bit of a slump. Some are saying maybe it's fatigue for moviegoers. But yeah, so Toy Story 4 falling a little bit short, or a lot short of initial tracking expectations, but still biggest opening for a Toy Story film in the franchise.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There you go. Cool with that one. They should have led with that one. Expectations based on what?
Casey G. Smith: It's whatever formulas and things that they they they're using, but it's, it is fascinating. Again, but Disney's going to be all right again. They have great films.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So much coming out. Again, also Avengers: Endgame is being re-released, uh, into theaters next weekend. Uh, they are releasing it with some additional footage. There's also going to be a post-credit scene added into it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh dear God.
Casey G. Smith: I will be there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I bet.
Casey G. Smith: You know why? 'Cause I want it to beat Avatar. I want this one to be number one all time.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So that's what the news was about. Oh, they're doing this in order to beat Avatar. What was Avatar?
Casey G. Smith: Uh, 2.7 billion.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And what is uh?
Casey G. Smith: Endgame is probably sitting at 2.6. It's real close. But here's the thing, people are like, "It's just a cheap move because they blah, blah, blah, blah."
Reginald Titus Jr.: What are they, what does that mean?
Casey G. Smith: "It's just a cheap move blah, blah, blah, blah." But the reality is that Avatar also re-released in theaters, uh, definitely during its its Oscar run, it re-released, and it may have done it a third time. So, I'm like, I don't want to hear that mess. So, right now worldwide, Avengers: Endgame, according to IMDb Pro, is at 2.745 billion. Okay? 2.745 billion.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I thought I just assumed it was still in theaters. See, I thought so too. I thought it was still at some places as well. Since it was such a moneymaker, like just keep it there all year. That's what I felt like. So, um, Avengers 2.745, Avatar 2.788.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Ah, that's going to happen. Especially since they're adding footage to it. People are going to go just to see the end. I just want to see the end. Thank you.
Casey G. Smith: I just, I just want to bump Avatar into that spot. 'Cause I'm like, yeah, it was, that was lightning in a bottle and who talks about Avatar? Unless we're talking about the record. That's what Avatar, to me, is what they know, they're known for their, that, that, the record that they hold.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Who is talking about it?
Casey G. Smith: People will be talking about it soon.
Casey G. Smith: Cameron's working on his sequels, but we'll see, you know, hey, I always want films to do, to do well and he's exclusively...
Reginald Titus Jr.: We're talking about it now. How about that?
Casey G. Smith: Because of the record. That's true. It's the record. The record's the record. The record is the record. For now. But we'll see, next weekend, what that happens to be. Endgame's going to...
Reginald Titus Jr.: I mean, if, if you're re-releasing, of course. I mean, we all know what this is and then the fans are going to do it just like you just said, like, just to beat Avatar.
Casey G. Smith: Absolutely. I'm there. I'm there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Avatar is a-comin'.
Casey G. Smith: Whatever it takes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So what, what did you watch this week, Reginald?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Movies watched. Uh, I only had time for, so, the Black Mirror, Black Mirror Season 5, it's only three episodes. Uh, we watched the final episode, Episode 3. Um, it's the one with Miley Cyrus in it, and, uh, man, like the whole season...
Casey G. Smith: Oh, that's disappointing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It is very disappointing. I'm like, man, it seems like America rubbed its American hands all over this series.
Casey G. Smith: That's an American, Reginald. An American.
Reginald Titus Jr.: As an American, got to be able to admit when you're wrong and, uh...
Casey G. Smith: You mean look at ourselves with a critical eye? What ever do you speak of?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, yeah, man, I was kind of disappointed in this, this season of Black Mirror. Like the first four were great. I, I would expect high expectations this year.
Casey G. Smith: So you've seen any of the, you've seen the pre, the first four seasons. Gotcha. Okay. I was like, I was like, you only seen...
Reginald Titus Jr.: The first four seasons. Yes, I've noticed you've seen the rest.
Casey G. Smith: Yes. Yes. Oh, well, I, I, I feel like I still should watch it just to, just so you know, but I'm like...
Reginald Titus Jr.: The first, I would say the first episode, watch the first episode of the season. Watch that today.
Casey G. Smith: I'm like, trust me.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Trust me, 'cause I want to hear what you think about it next time we talk.
Casey G. Smith: All right.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, but yeah, watch that one today. Yeah, there's, it's a lot to talk about. I want to, I want to hear what you have to say.
Casey G. Smith: All right. Hot takes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hot takes. Um, so that one was, that one was pretty decent but it leaves you like, man, like, brain's like, what? But yeah, man, this season, though, kind of a letdown, big time. Even my wife was like, this is kind of silly.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man. You should never say that about a Black Mirror episode.
Casey G. Smith: No, you should not. Silly and boring.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You should be in deep Black Mirror. You should be in deep thought when a season, when an episode ends. Yeah, exactly. Maybe a little disturbed.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You should never say, this is silly.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, that's, that's a ball dropper right there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm curious to look at some of the credits as far as, you know, who directed and who wrote.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There was more Americans in this season.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I definitely could tell from just the, the, the previews and the trailers.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, bro, it's, uh, But it's, it's not those actors' fault. They're just going with whatever story they were given. I mean, I mean, honestly, again, no, no, it's, it's not the actors' fault. That's hilarious. Like, no, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that everybody from whoever's producing it, to, you can tell it's just been Americanized and like, come on. What happened? Like, what happened? I really need to know. And I'm not the only one that feels this way. Like, on the internet, people have been blasting it.
Casey G. Smith: I've heard, man. I've heard, I've heard, just chatter, you know, just like, oh, that's, that's unfortunate.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It is true. And you'll feel the same way when you watch it.
Casey G. Smith: That's not a good feeling, going in knowing that you're like, I'm probably not going to like this. Everybody's talking about it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Not the whole season. I think the first episode, though, is decent enough where you're like, you know, what are we talking about? It, after watching the first episode, I was like, all right, let's go ahead and watch the second one. And then just being let down, let down. But they're watchable. Like, they're still watchable all the way through, but it's just like, all the other seasons kind of set the bar so high that it's just like, I kind of want to go back and watch some of last season. Like I'm thinking about it, I'm like, man, there were some really good episodes. That was probably one of the best seasons last.
Casey G. Smith: Anything else?
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's it. One episode, that's all I had time for.
Casey G. Smith: Gotcha. Well, I've been, I've been watching some things. Um, so as far as, uh, TV shows go, again, still watching Swamp Thing on the DC Universe, enjoying that. Uh, I went ahead and said, you know what? I've been, I've been talking about like buying this thing for a while. I went ahead and bought Season 1 of the X-Men animated series from the 90s. Oh wow. Throwback. And went through all 12 episodes between yesterday and, and today, just kind of while I was doing stuff, kind of had it just going. Enjoyable. Man, I, I, I tell you what, the voice actors from that show, Yeah. they nail the characterizations from the comic books in that show. They, uh, Rogue and the Gambit on that show. That was my favorite. Rogue was my favorite voice actor. That that raspy voice, and it would kind of go up every, oh yeah, she's yeah, on point Rogue. And all the Easter eggs in the Magneto in there. Xavier, "Ha ha ha!" He actually doesn't do that at all in the first season but it's in the latter seasons, he, he starts to, you know, whine a little bit. The Wolf, the guy who plays Wolverine in there. It's just lovely. So, enjoyed that. Uh, another, uh, show on Netflix called, um, the full name of the show is Aggretsuko. Aggretsuko. But she just goes by Retsuko in the, uh, in this, it's a small animated Japanese show about this small, she's a, she's, looks like she's some kind of animal. I think she's a fox or something like that. But she's working in an office space in an accounting firm. And so it's got these like Jap, like Japanese overtones and, and cultural overtones going on but it's all in, in dubbed in English. Um, and when she gets frustrated and upset, she literally like goes death metal. And she does death metal karaoke to relieve her stress. And whenever it's coming on, you see her eyes change and the background changes and, it's, it's enjoyable. I've, I've enjoyed that. So season 2 of that dropped. And I was like, "Yo!" So I, I've watched some episodes of that. Started some Jessica Jessica Jones Season 3, the, the penultimate. Have they discontinued that show?
Casey G. Smith: This is the last one. This is the last season. And this is the last of the Netflix, Marvel Netflix shows. So, apparently, it, because they knew they were going to be ending, they knew it was going to be the last season, whereas other, other shows didn't. Apparently there's, there's a bit of finality to this one that the other ones don't have.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How about that?
Casey G. Smith: And yeah, how about that? Instead of like just Luke Cage just disappearing, like, "Hey, what are we doing here?"
Reginald Titus Jr.: Where'd the brother go?
Casey G. Smith: Where'd he go? Just going to take the brother out like that? Okay. Uh. And then two movies that I watched, uh, one's a documentary actually, I watched today, Black Godfather. I've been hearing a lot about this. People have been hammering about this one, that it's pretty good. Somebody told me about it. I actually went, the class that I, I, I took this week, uh, he's like, "Man, you gotta check it out." And watched today. Super fascinating. Yeah, definitely worth checking out. Yes. And then, uh, I also watched, I don't know if I heard about through KCRW. It was another podcast I heard about it but people were like, characters that you had no idea existed, but are making stuff happen. Seriously. Like this dude has, has had his hands in so much, so many, uh, so much success of people of color and just, and just sticking to his guns and yeah, yeah, it's worth checking out. It's, it's a, I got, yeah, I'm going to be telling people about it. Check out Black Godfather. All right. And then I also, I watched the, the Darkest Minds. I watched that on HBO today. That was a, came out last, came out months ago. Let's say like six months ago. Uh-huh. Wow. And um, you may have seen the trailers for it, but it's, it's kind of like, it feels like a X-Men kind of mutant kind of vibe to it. It was like, you know, these, these, these, but kind of like, kind of the, the young adults, kind of graphic, not, not graphic, not novel kind of scene where you got these several young kids, they've got abilities and they're escaping to a place and they got government cronies after them and they've got to become free, you know, and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was a, it was an enjoyable little film. And, uh, the lead actress in it is actually the same one in The Hate U Give, which, uh, I also plan on watching sometime this week. But it's the same, same actress. Is that it for Movies Watched? That's it for Movies Watched. And we'll head back to the show.

Initial Reactions to John Wick Chapter 2
Reginald Titus Jr.: Welcome back to Filmmaker Commentary. We're talking about John Wick 2, directed by Chad Stahelski. Um, let's jump into the synopsis.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Legendary hitman John Wick is forced out of retirement again by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassin's guild. Bound by a blood oath to help him, John travels to Rome where he squares off against some of the world's deadliest killers. John Wick Chapter 2. Travail. Travail. If this is your first time listening to Filmmaker Commentary, please note that there will be spoilers. You've been forewarned.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So how did you watch this film? Did you go to the theaters and watch it and how did you approach it this time around?
Casey G. Smith: So, uh, I watched this streaming. I want to say I watched it on HBO, just a couple of months ago, not, not too long ago. Um, after I'd seen the first one, I was like, yeah, I'll, I'll definitely check out the, the second one. I think I thought about watching it in the theaters, but it just didn't, it didn't happen. So watched it streaming. Enjoyed it. It's a nice, uh, step up, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, everything enhances in, uh, Chapter 2. Uh, and yeah, so I enjoyed it. This time around, because I'd seen it so recently, um, I said, you know what? I'm just going to, I'm just going to jump right in, dive right into the commentary. And also watched some of the behind the scenes. So I just kind of just let it ride.
Reginald Titus Jr.: For me, I just, since, you know, it was the first time checking all this stuff out. So I was just, hey, just, this is the first week to watch everything and I just, I just rented it, uh, from a local movie trading company and I will be returning it. Did you think this one, compared to the first one, what did you think, which, which one did you think was better?
Casey G. Smith: I think from an emotional arc, the first, I think the first one gripped me a little bit more. Uh, from a production value, this one has more, I mean, they're both, I mean, they're both action packed. The John, John Wick movies. Yeah. This one, I'll, I'll, I think I like the action just a tad bit better in this one. They really kind of really refined the gun-fu. I like the opening action with the car that he has to, you know, fights a little bit and it's a while before he even pulls out his gun. Yeah. So, again, emotionally, I think we learned more about John Wick in the first movie. This movie focuses more on learning about the world and the, the, the Continental and the, um, what is it, the Upper?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, the table, the...
Casey G. Smith: High table or something like that. Yeah, we learn more about the, the Intercontinental, Intercontinental hotels, plural, and the world, the markers and all that kind of stuff. We learn more about the world that John Wick has, has tried to escape from.
Reginald Titus Jr.: You prefer part 2?
Casey G. Smith: Uh, I like them both for different reasons. I don't, I, yeah, I like the story better in John Wick 1, and I like the action a little better in 2. But they're about even for me. How about you?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I like 1 better. I feel more dialed in when the movie starts, you know, we see he's hurt, injured, you know, what the heck's going on. But then we, you know, we build up the story and we can root for him. Whereas if you're, 'cause, um, I watched this one with my wife. Um, but I had to kind of bring her up to speed, so I, like, watched the, probably like a YouTube video that kind of did the whole first movie in review in like five minutes to kind of bring her up to speed. Um, she liked it too. She liked part 2, but it, looking through her eyes, just coming in and going to watching part 2 first, she didn't watch, she watched a recap of part 1. She watched a recap. She didn't watch part 1. So all the emotional cues with the whole thing with him and his wife, she didn't get, I mean, she's again, she got the review, but she, I mean, she didn't watch the movie. Yeah, that's, I think that, that would definitely be different. So, but she enjoyed the film, even though she didn't see part 1, even though she knew the background of what happened, but she was still able to enjoy it. Um, me personally, I was like, I like the first one just from a story, opening to end, better movie. But you can tell that there's a budget in this one. So I, so I could definitely appreciate that.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I, I agree with you there. I agree with you there. Again, I, I liked diving more into the, the world. But yeah, story-wise, yeah, definitely the first one. Because now, you know, having had seen, having had having seen all three and then coming back to one last week, I was like, oh man, I forgot how good this was. Yeah. I, I was reminded from, yeah, from a storyline, I think, yeah, I think it might be the best of the, best of the three.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, 'cause you, you're like rooting for the guy, you know, for, this one, it's like, we're just startin' out whooping ass.
Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Because I mean, it's, you kind of wonder, well, how much deeper can we go into his character? We've got his, his basic motivations, you know, we know what he's lost, and now it's just like, not much. It's not much. Survive and get my stuff back.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There's nothing else you can do. Unless you, yeah, there's not much you can do. You can have maybe old, I mean, from a story standpoint, I'm like, I don't know.
Casey G. Smith: We still only know so much about him. So this, we don't know his origins, so how did he even get into the game? So there's much that they could explore, but they chose this one to, to explore the world that he's in. And, and there's the things that they explored in this one continue to play out in the third one as well.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. But I can appreciate it.
Casey G. Smith: So this is a question for you. So last, last Filmmaker Commentary, you, you mentioned specifically...
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, I sure did.
Casey G. Smith: You specifically told the directors that you wanted to see brothers treated better.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's right. What's your, what's your take on that this go around?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Thank you for making us an assassinate something, give us some skill sets. We can do more than just get shot in the face and check people into a hotel. Um, so I appreciate, you know, Common, and he had to lobby. Common had to lobby for his part. Let's keep that in mind. So even Laurence Fishburne had to lobby a little bit like, hey, you know, I kinda like the movie, you know, they were interested. That's, I mean, that's all. I mean, hey, we're, we're, I'm interested. I'm just saying, they had to lobby. Um. True. Common more than Laurence Fishburne, of course.
Casey G. Smith: Oh yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But no, I do, I did, uh, appreciate, you know, having a formidable opponent, whereas like, Keanu was like, let me get away from this younger guy that has the same skill set as me and try to get to a place that's safe for both of us, which was the hotel. 'Cause you know this guy wasn't going to stop. So, uh, you can tell there was like an appreciation there. So I appreciate his character. You know, they, they respect each other but they got to live by the code. So looks like a situation that's going to carry on into part 3. That's what it seems like. You've seen it. I don't know. Don't tell me. Uh, but I haven't. Locking key. Yeah, so I can, I can definitely appreciate that. They also gave him, was there a woman? Oh, they did have a, they had, he had a face off with a woman fighter. Ruby Rose. Ruby Rose. But I, Ruby Rose is good. Uh, but the, the face-off that he had with the other lady in the first one, kind of seemed a little bit more, uh, like, this girl going to kill me. Oh yeah. Yes, re-watching this when I was like, it, it went by quick. Like their fight goes by pretty quick.
Casey G. Smith: Oh yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And I appreciate that. The reason I appreciate it because you can just tell from a physicality standpoint, like, nah, this is an unfair fight. Kind of like when the big guy came after Keanu at the beginning, he's like, I ain't going to fight this fool, and he shoots him in the knees. Sometimes you gotta just know. Again, in an, in an interview I saw a couple months back, Michael Jai White said that, even when you have smaller guys who can do martial arts, who, who, when they hit a bigger guy, it's still not the same. You know, it's still not the same. Technique and all that kind of stuff, great, but you could come full force and it's not going to be the same.
Casey G. Smith: No, it's a fact.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Mass. It's called mass. Like even with the running backs, you see the running backs, you run, you, you're not going to go head up with alignment. I'm sorry. You're going to try to avoid this guy. Hopefully he doesn't land on you and crack a rib or something. Yeah. There's nothing you can do about that. So you got to know, hey, there's a difference in people. Yeah. And when, when the first one, in John Wick 1, when he's against, uh, Andrea Piccalini. You know, she's tall. She's got that height and so they, they kind of utilized that. And she looked a little bit more solid where Rose was built like a model 'cause she is a model, right?
Casey G. Smith: Uh-huh. Yeah, model actress, and she obviously, she had some background. I watched the behind the scenes. She had some backgrounds in boxing and then tried to like play to that. Yeah. But you could tell she, like, just from her frame standpoint, you could tell like she can be thrown around and they didn't, they didn't skate around that. They threw her up against the glass and everything. It was like, oh man. Yeah. And, and I'm glad that they didn't kind of like pander to that. It was like, hey, it is what it is. There's a difference in people. I think if anything, they, they may have could have used some, some speed. But again, the fact they chose to go with her, her kind of boxing, 'cause she, you know, working that little blade, trying to slice him, but she was coming in like, I don't know, with hooks. Like again, kind of sticking to that style, so they didn't go like with anything super crazy, but, um, but yeah, that fight was, yeah, it was pretty quick. It's like, all right, you gave your best, but this is John Wick at the end of the day. And, and with a fight before, she caught him off guard, you know, Miss, what was her character's name? Andrea's, uh, Piccalini's character in the first movie, Miss Perkins. There we go. Was Miss Perkins? I think it was Perkins. Okay. I totally forgot. She caught him off guard. When he was asleep. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously recuperating from injury, taking some, yeah, she totally caught him off guard. Which made it a fair fight. Yeah. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah, gave her a much better chance. She was, he hit his rib, his injury. Feels bad. That was pretty cool. I was like. And he, and he actually held back. Remember? He's like, you've always been up. Is, didn't she say that in the first film? You've been up. I thought she was just saying that because he was injured or whatever and trying to recuperate. No. He, he held back. He could have kicked her in the face on the ground. I think that was the part. He didn't want it to sound bad. There are brothers. They're doing things. Yes, so, thank y'all. Uh, Derek, Chad, add a little color. Earned more money too. How about that?

Visuals, Action, and Performance
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hot takes. Hot takes. Fire. Hopefully in part 3, there's more color.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What did you think about the look of this film?
Reginald Titus Jr.: The look, great cinematic camera movement. The budget, it's there. It's there. You can just see it on the screen. These guys, kind of knowing, uh, Chad's background a little bit more, listening and looking at the featurettes, you know that they're great with the camera movement and pre-vis and and doing all that stuff. And so you, I can appreciate the camera movement, which they have perfected through their pre-visualization studio. And the lighting, the lighting is outstanding. Like, it has a pop, kind of like music video-ish kind of feel. You know, in the parts that they go, like bright reds, the Puff Daddy lighting in the mirrors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It reminds me like the Mace video that they, the stuff is blowing up in the background. They got the silver suits on, they go in slow motion. Camera movements and just outstanding lighting. Very, very stylish. This one it seemed like there were more colors. Uh, yeah, more colors being used. but also at times, like their, their use of, of, of blacks and shadows. Like, kind of would do like this half shadow thing on some of the faces at different times. Um, and obviously, you know, during, towards the end, the use of mirrors. Yeah. Which again, we had some of that in the previous, uh, film as well. But, uh, but yeah, yeah, yeah, visually I thought it was, yeah, quite, quite lovely. And then just using those locations, the beautiful locations seemed to be part of that, of that world. Everything was just super stylish. Yeah. Favorite scene? Oh, you got singular. I've got, I've got, I've got, I've got multiple. Okay, okay. What's your first one? Keanu when he was fighting, it was, I think it was the museum. He didn't have a gun. And so he had to take people's guns away. And when he used those bullets up, he had to go fight, find another gun that wasn't used up. So, always for, so doing all these karate moves, shooting people, and then always being aware of the gun count, the bullet count. And then have to go find another gun, shoot with that one, go find another gun. That was good.
Casey G. Smith: Definitely, definitely. Also, uh, for me, as the opening, when he's, uh, gets his vehicle and he, he's going out of the warehouse, he does this flying drift. Oh, when he hits the ramp? Yeah. That's, that's just cool. I'm like, nice. That was good. You don't see that on camera. My next one is the, uh, when Keanu goes to park and he's excommunicado and he's get, he's got like an hour to get out of there. Oh yeah. I don't know. I don't know why I like that one so much. Uh, that and the, uh, mirror scene at the end when he's fighting the girl and all that. That was just, you know, that would take a lot of planning.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Seriously.
Reginald Titus Jr.: To shooting with mirrors and then, okay, are we going to try to not be seen in there or are we going to do a digital effect to get us out of the shot?
Casey G. Smith: It makes you wonder, man. It makes you wonder, but yeah, definitely takes all kinds of planning. Him just, once he goes in and that lady, you know, commits suicide and he, you know, shoots her in the head to say, you know, he did the job. Him working his way out of that place and just all the dudes he has to take out and the fact that he planned and had guns set up in different places, uh, to help get him through. And then also the, um, the pencil kill.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Kills. That was, that was nasty.
Casey G. Smith: There's two of them. I was like, like that one guy, he gets one on the side and then in the ear. Yeah, then push this thing, I'm like, yeah. And then likewise, I had the, uh, the excommunica, excommunicato just seen towards the end when, uh, he's just trying to, he's like limping away and just like, it's just like, assassins hiding in plain sight. Yeah, every look and, you know, every, every text message being sent, every phone ringing, you know, man. That is bad. Yeah, to go, kind of go with you with the last scene when he's trying to make his way out of the, like the Rome situation, um, and then he runs into, uh, uh, uh, Common. You, you working? You.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Meet your match.

Themes, Quotes, and Filmmaker Tips
Reginald Titus Jr.: Trivia, what do we got for trivia?
Casey G. Smith: For trivia. So, um, Keanu actually trained with the National 3-Gun Champion. And, uh, so he could learn how to quickly switch between your handgun, uh, an assault rifle, and a shotgun, I think, was the, was the other one. And they have the behind the scenes on this of, of his training, it's awesome. Yeah, it's pretty good. Like, man, Keanu is living, he is living like John Wick. I mean, he does so much of his own stunt. So the tactical aspect, how quick he could with accuracy, then boom, change the clip out, you know, through the chamber lock and just There's no way to fake that. You cannot fake that. And when they're doing the long, uh, the long shots with him just judo, take a gun, shoot, dodge, do, put somebody else judo, flip him over, take the gun, shoot. You can't pretend to do that. You can't act that. You have to be able to do that. And this is a man who's 50 years old. I didn't even know, like, he has a, he doesn't look it. But he's out there just hustling, man, grinding and putting, putting in the work. So again, I just give mad props to Keanu for his, his work ethic. This is, it's just insane, man. Um, getting back in the car and then, you know, that stuff coming back to him as far as the stunt driving, right. And the martial arts, I mean, training, I forgot, they said he trained like four months. Yeah, the first one it was four months and I don't know what the months was for this one. The training he does before he, he even gets into it and it's just nonstop, just always trying to be better and, and going as far as his body will allow him to go. Mm-hmm. And kudos to the director for kind of pushing him to that edge, but then also, but trying, trying to stay as practical as possible. That's really what makes these films stand out. Um, also another part of trivia is the director used to be Keanu Reeves' stunt double for many years. That's where their kind of friendship developed from, from being on The Matrix and, and, uh, I forgot what the other movie was before that, but The Matrix for sure. I didn't realize that. Yeah. Ah, I mean, I know he said he was on, I, I thought he had helped just coordinate some of the stunts, uh, in The Matrix. I didn't realize he was actually Keanu's stunt double. Yeah, he was a stunt double. And so they were basically learning because I was, uh, during The Matrix, the style of the choreographers from Asia and how they use the wirework, people in America weren't really doing that. And so he was actually learning what at the same time as a stunt man. Like, "Oh." He said it was like a Harvard, Harvard class. Yeah, so they were, they were learning off each other. So it was like, yikes. So anyhow, but that quickly led to him starting to, to direct second unit stuff. Start, stunt coordinator and then second unit stuff. So, yeah, he used to be a stunt double and then the director, his wife is also in the movie, in one of the best stunt women in the business. Now, I was just about to say that, that's one of the piece of trivia, Heidi Moneymaker is, is, is Chad's wife. Moneymaker. But when I didn't, I was like, huh, I didn't know that. That's cool though. The world is connected, makes perfect sense. Yes sir. Any quotes?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Quotes. When the lead Russian dude, who's the brother of, uh, the guy who was killed in the, in the, the uncle of the, of the nephew, I'm blanking on their names, but he says, you know, you know, he killed a guy with a pencil. Who the F can do that? He was in American Gods, that guy. There's a lot of people from American Gods in this film. Yeah, at least two. I, I noticed the other, the other guy who the head of the hotel, obviously he's, he's a big part of, he's the head, head of the, the New York intercontinental. Yeah. When, uh, Keanu Reeves goes to see the villain, uh, who he, who he owes the marker to, yeah, the villain asked him like, "I bet you're looking around right now, you know, trying to figure out, you know, who you can take out. How are you going to kill me? You know, how would you do it?" "My hands!" The way, the way Keanu says it's just like perfect. "My hands." When he, uh, when, when John Wick arrives in, in Rome and he's checking in to the intercontinental and the head of that hotel comes and greets him and he said, he, he, he just asked John point blank, "Are you here for the Pope?" Oh yeah. I was like, what? That got a laugh out of me. He's like, no. Another quote, when, uh, when Keanu, we see Laurence Fishburne. That was a cool little surprise. Yes, sir. We see Laurence Fishburne. Then Fishburne's like, "You're not very good at retiring." I was like, oh man, it's, it's freaking Morpheus and Neo. Like for a quick second, like it was like, they kind of, they looked like they were kind of in that zone for a second. I didn't want to spoil that for you, so I made sure I didn't say anything about that. I appreciate that. Especially when you start asking about more, more black. I was like, you just wait. You'll get, they listen to me. They went back in the, back in time. They listened to this podcast. We need Infinity Stones, y'all. We got to go back and fix it for Reginald. Yeah, yeah. What else, Mr. Wick? What else, John? What else can we get for you, John? They let, they let, backrub, John. They said in the original version, they didn't, he didn't, he didn't say backrub. Not Piña Colada. Oh, uh, that's a good, good, good callback. Good callback. Oh man. Uh, another quote that I had, um, just as, as he's at the hotel and he's trying to get his gear together, he said, he simply says, "I'd like a tasting." And they just start just laying on the gear. I'm like, that's, that's cool. That's perfect, man. The tasting is just like, that's exactly how one is with wine. But we're just doing it with weapons. Yeah. It's, it's so, it's, that again, this world is geared towards the assassin in every, every way. Just classy and just. Do you have any other quotes? No other quotes for me. Two more, they both come at the end of the film. Um, again, of course, as, as John Wick, once, once he's told his, his, his life is forfeit, uh, that, that line in particular, your life is now forfeit. I was like, who says that to somebody? Nobody. Your life is now forfeit. And then, you know, John Wick tells that guy, he's like, "Look, you, you tell all the assassins, tell them, I'll kill them all." I'm like, yo, John Wick, you are ballsy, my friend. Like, he's just does not care. And, uh, yeah, I'll kill them all. I'm sure you will. Quite confident. You, you've killed a lot of people. Where are the police? They only show up at his house. Yeah. Are you working? Are you working? Oh, dear. Oh dear. Oh me, oh my. Yeah, this, the, the people that he runs with, they've got the police department all locked. On lock. They're avoiding all these scenes. John Wick's there, nope, nope, I'm off duty. I ain't trying to get shot in the head. Shooting with military grade guns in the middle of the night in Rome. Okay. Hey. Themes. Any themes? Uh, again, I, I, from last time, I still, I left it on here, the theme of Karma. Yeah. Uh, I feel like that's still in, in play. For me, um, in this one, uh, John Wick is a little bit more, like they were saying, dishonorable. So the rules apply even to you, John Wick. Yeah. Um, he's kind of becoming more anti-establishment. Mm-hmm. He's not following the rules. Like when the dude comes to you for the marker, you follow the rules and you do what you're supposed to do. Yeah, that, that, I, that, I remember when we were watching the first time, I'm like, oh, that's a bad look, John. That's a real bad look. And so I, I wrote down, you know, don't break the rules. Number one, no killing at the Continental, and two, honor the marker. And him not doing both of those, yeah, that puts his life in forfeit. He kind of screws himself. Yeah. Uh, it almost makes you wonder, does, do you have a death wish? Do you secretly want to die because you've lost just about everything else? Now your home is burned down. Now your phone isn't even working. You can't watch the video of your, of your wife anymore. Yeah, he's just, he's just like, he wants to like, just kind of, kind of kill people now. Yeah. You know, I'll kill them all. John, you're losing it, man. You're losing it. Uh, I also had a theme of hiding in plain sight. Which is, you know, you know, Laurence Fishburne's crew, you know, they're dressed like they're homeless, but they're hiding in plain sight. And then we, we quickly see that all these assassins are hiding in plain sight. Pretty nice. Um, I do like how, uh, Keanu Reeves' character, uh, gives people a choice, you know, he's a professional courtesy. Uh, you know, we find out through Laurence Fishburne's character that, uh, you know, he killed him and kind of gave him an option, you know, they could either die there or you just, you know, wait till I'm gone. Mm-hmm. And same thing with Common's character. He was like, hey, you pull it out now, you're going to bleed out and die. Professional courtesy. But anyway. And I still the same theme from last time, everything has a price. That is for sure. And again, the world of assassins, that's, it's all about, it's all about that price. It's all about that money. Now it's time for filmmaker tips. I just have a few. I don't have that much. Likewise. So, this, this movie was very brutal, a lot of blood, a lot of killing. And so when you're killing that much, you have to have the balance the kills with humor. Mm-hmm. And what one, what are some scenes with some humor in it? Uh, when, uh, when the police go to John Wick's house and he's asking him again, hey man, you back in business? And then John, like, basically kind of brushes the guy off, know, basically no. And then the cop knows, and he's like, oh boy. Yeah. Oh boy. So like little like those little punchlines like that, um, from a, even from a physicality standpoint, uh, like when he runs out of bullets and he throws the gun at the guard. Yeah. That's how you balance. Or like when the, there's this big old Asian dude that's a, Sumo. Sumo. I was like, you do not fight, you do not get close to a person that's, that size. Um, yeah, he shoot the guy in the shoulder, shoots him on top of the head, guy falls down. John Wick's leaving the scene, the guy gets up again. With that shot. It's like, we're not supposed to laugh at that, but it's funny. That it, it is, it is funny. The quick Keanu's reaction time isn't that, I'm like, yeah, that's pretty funny. Balance the kill count with humor. That's how you get away with it. Nice, nice. Um, I, I, I had a tip of utilize stunt doubles for other scenes. Uh, multiple times during the commentary, they point out, oh, we had our stunt doubles doing this, or doing that. And so, it makes sense if you already, you know, have them there and they've helped, you know, train and prep all this time, you'll know their schedule far in advance, so why not have them come through and play doubles or just play actors in other, in other scenes. Yeah. And they do this quite, quite frequently. Plus, especially if there's something that needs to happen, you need to move out of the way or take a hit or get hit by a car, hey, you know they can handle it. Yeah, like the subway scene, Common and them, soon as like the, the fight is over and Common has a knife in his heart, the stunt doubles like jet out of there as soon as the door is open. Mm-hmm. Like, man, what a way to use your crew. Yeah. Um, my another filmmaker tip, design around the location you're at. So when they went to go check the Rome location, they found all these little underground, uh, I forgot what the name was, these little catacombs. I guess, oh, word of the day, catacombs. So, uh, they, they found these little locations that led them to, to the scene where, uh, the concert was taking place. Originally they had it like a sniper, like where, uh, Keanu Reeves, John Wick was going to be taking out the snipers at the top of the buildings. But when they found all this, it was like, okay, we're just going to sneak in through the side to get to this, to this, uh, concert. So, design around the location you're going to be at. Once you find a location, then it'll offer new opportunities. Uh, I also had, uh, two, two more real quick. One was to, to borrow from classics. And so they mentioned like in the opening scene, they borrowed a lot from, uh, opening scene of the movie. They borrowed a lot from, uh, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Yeah. Uh, and they tried to borrow, I guess, from, from other Westerns, um, you know, with, with, you know, Italian director Sergio Leone. Um, they wanted to have some of that influence, especially since they were going to be spending so much time in Rome. Uh, and the last tip I had was just to, uh, know when to, to drop out the music. Uh, during the fight scene between Keanu and Common, the music goes away and we just, we hear the, we hear the grunts between the two as they're, as they're going at it in battle, uh, which I think helps, kind of helps keep you locked in. True. That Sergio Leone shot. Uh, it was kind of weird. It was a shot where the fountain was going, and then we see like the close-up of Common, then we see the close-up of Keanu, it's like, that, that a green screen? What are y'all doing? But maybe that was like some of the Western reaction shots. Another tip, lobby for your film, you know, for, if you want to be on the film, Common was like, hey, I want to be in on this film. What do I have to do? Uh, so he made his way on the film. Sometimes, you know, know your position, you know, if you're like a Fishburne, you know, all you got to do is make a suggestion, I like that film that y'all did. And then Keanu's like, hey, Fishburne wanted, the fish, the fish wants to be in it. The fish. Common, hey, he's like, hey, put your boy in it. You know, you got to lobby a little bit more. So, hey, work, work it, however you got to work it, to get into the film that you want to be in. Grants a little bit of difference between the pet, the acting pedigree of a Laurence Fishburne and the Common. Yeah. Common's good. Yeah. Laurence Fishburne's Laurence Fishburne. Yeah. Common's going to be more, of course, it's going to be physical. Fishburne, it's all about the bravado and look like I need any help. I got pigeons. You see all these pigeons I got? I ain't combing my hair in weeks. You're going to owe me, John.

Closing
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yikes. But, um, that's all I got.
Casey G. Smith: That's all I got too, brother.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Next time, we're going to be diving into what film?
Casey G. Smith: Death Wish, the remake from 2018.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Directed by Eli Roth. Haven't heard from Eli Roth in a while. Haven't heard, I, I really enjoy his commentary, so I'm interested in seeing what this is going to be like.
Casey G. Smith: Excellent.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And you can catch us where?
Casey G. Smith: On facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. You can also like, rate, and subscribe on iTunes, on Stitcher Radio, and also on SoundCloud. You can also find us on Instagram @filmmakercommentary. If you want to follow Reginald Titus Jr., you can find him on Twitter @ReggieTitus and also on Instagram @ReginaldTitusJr, that's JR. If you want to follow me, you can find me on both Twitter and Instagram simply @CaseyGSmith32. If there is a, a film you would like us to review, number one, please make sure it has commentary and, uh, let us know, uh, through social media and we'll be happy to check it out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Until next time, peace. Boss.