John Wick – sharp suit wearer, cute dogs petter, and balletic fast-shooting action hero – is thinking he’s back. “Oh...he’s back,” Keanu Reeves tells us in the new issue of Empire. John Wick Chapter 2 is on the horizon, and naturally, your favourite film magazine managed to snaffle some exclusive new images from the film, plus a chat with Wick himself, Keanu Reeves, and his director, Chad Stahelski.
The first of our exclusive pics shows Wick in his dapper suit-and-tie, sporting an inevitable few cuts and bruises after a hard day at the killing-bad-guys grindstone.
The second shows new baddies, Riccardo Scamarcio and Ruby Rose, in what is likely to be the film’s signature set piece: a showdown in a blinding hall-of-mirrors art installation. “The mirror room was Chad’s idea,” says Reeves. “It’s his homage to Bruce Lee at the end of Enter The Dragon. The whole installation is a maze of mirrors where guys can pop out and disappear. It’s very cool and a lot of fun to fight in.”
Asian cinema remains a major influence second time around. “You go watch any of the great Hong Kong guys,” says director Chad Stahelski, “[you’re watching] wider shots; you're watching an extremely talented individual. If you're using fast editing to hide things, I call bullshit. That's cheating. Luckily, we have a cast member that can do it. Keanu’s been doing martial arts for 25 years. He's been trained by us, he's been trained by Yuen Wo Ping. He's been trained by Chen Yen.”
Reeves succinctly sums up the sequel: “It’s like going back to your favourite restaurant but this time, instead of getting to the fillet, you’re getting the porterhouse.” You’ll be able to tuck into this juicy steak on 17 February, when John Wick Chapter 2 is released. For a tasty appetiser, be sure to pick up the new issue of Empire, on sale this Thursday. You can subscribe to Empire here.