By George Haerle

For The Daily World

After “retiring” from being a sympathetic hitman with a penchant for puppies and shooting bad guys in the head, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is brought out of his incredibly brief retirement to do a job for — Ugh — why bother. You’re not going to be seeing this movie for any kind of plot, and I can guarantee that the one that is here is barebones and only exists to give audiences a chance to see Keanu Reeves shoot people in cool ways.

“John Wick 2” appeals to the most primal of our entertainment thirsts, delivering two hours of headshot-heavy gunfire that sends the brain matter of various hit men and gangsters flying like confetti. It’s VERY violent, although admittedly very entertaining for lovers of old school shoot-‘em-ups.

The movie retains the style of the first, delving deeper into the world of the upper-class professional assassins of the Continentals. Their hideouts offer sanctuary and resources for professional killers between jobs, in the form of swanky hotels exclusive to the cryptic society’s members. The classy visuals are a striking contrast to the ugly and brutal murders that occur between them, probably to give the audiences — as well as the hit men — breaks between splatter-heavy gunfire.

The dialogue is as sparse and basic as the story, and that’s not a bad thing in this case. Part of the “John Wick” series’ strengths so far has been that it knows exactly what it is and who it appeals to, and what kind of entertainment it is delivering

The exception to that previous statement, though, is its running time. The movie needs to be about 20 minutes shorter — this isn’t “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which although was also very basic, was so visually immersive and sensory gripping to warrant its two-hour run time, and there was much more going on screen than just muzzle flashes.

So why does “John Wick 2” need to be two hours long — two hours of almost nothing but gunshots with a bit of sleuthing peppered in for flavor?

Although as brainless as the bad guys John Wick is blowing away with Glock handguns and AR-15 assault rifles, admittedly the movie made me think. “I’m enjoying what I’m seeing on screen, but why?” Is this the reason America is so obsessed with firearms?

Maybe they just want an excuse to engage hard-wired primal urges of cavemen ancestors who were braining each other with rocks for nonsensical, territorial reasons? Well, I guess watching it is better than doing it, so you go ahead, America, you scratch that itch. Because “John Wick 2” is essentially gun porn.

This retains the possibility that movies such as “John Wick” could still be interpreted as art. To our eyes and fascination, it appeals very basically. Viewed from a larger perspective, movies like this are a metaphorical mirror, holding itself up to a humanity that is fascinated with its own hostility toward itself.

While I don’t think it will be on any top 10 lists, “John Wick 2” is worth a matinee if your brain needs to latch onto something that requires little to no thought process. It’s a single-serving movie, in that it is totally worth a watch, but after that there isn’t really a reason to ever see it again.

Logan Preview

Since there isn’t a whole lot more to say about “John Wick 2,” I do want to bring up an issue involving one of my most-anticipated movies coming up in a couple weeks. “Logan” releases March 3, and supposedly is Hugh Jackman’s final performance as Wolverine. The early reviews are stellar, and say it is Jackman’s best performance in the role yet. However, this movie — like “John Wick 2” — is not for children.

I bring this up because there is a bit of cluelessness on movie ratings (as well as video games). The amount of parents who let their children see “Ted” (because it had a fuzzy CGI bear) and “Deadpool” (because they thought it was just another superhero movie) and then got upset over their very small children viewing very adult content was ridiculous and stupid.

As a retail worker at an unidentified local store on the side, I constantly had to dissuade parents from buying their 10-year-olds and younger children copies of “Ted” and “Deadpool,” and they were always shocked when I informed them of the content in such movies.

“Well, why would they make a superhero movie with such bad things in it?” I was usually asked. “Because the world doesn’t revolve around your children,” I always wanted to say.

Look at the bottom of the poster folks. That’s all you have to do to know what you’re getting into. Oh, and your kids know that movie is rated R, they’re just choosing to omit that information, because they know you won’t check.

“Logan” I could see suffering the same lashing from some of the public. All of the “X-Men” movies have been PG-13 and suitable for such audiences up to this point. “Logan” won’t be, reportedly being a brutal, gritty semi-Western with a significant amount of graphic content. I’m looking forward to buying my ticket, so please don’t bring your kids.

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“John Wick Chapter 2” is currently playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.