Movie Review: Logan (R – 137 minutes)

Way back in 2000 (holy crap, how is that seventeen years ago?!?), we got our first X-Men movie.  And thanks to the shooting of Mission Impossible 2 running long, Dougray Scott was not able to play Wolverine, so an Australian named Hugh Jackman got the role of everyone’s favorite Canadian anti-hero.  At the time, folks were a bit skeptical, because of the excellent animated series that was out in the 90s, and Wolverine was easily one of the most popular characters from the show (I prefer Gambit).

Jackman immediately stole the show, and become the centerpiece of just about every X-Men movie afterwards: X-Men 2 (2003), X-Men 3 The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins Wolverine (2009), X-Men First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), and X-Men Days Of Future Past (2014). It’s absolutely a testament to Jackman’s portrayal that he continued to be the centerpiece of the X-men movies.

In Logan, which Jackman states is his last outing as Wolverine; the year is 2029, and no new mutants have been born for a long time. Wolverine is slumming around Texas, driving a limo to make some money. In order to clarify the rated R-ness of the movie, the first scene is Logan slicing and dicing some dudes who were about to steal the hubcaps from the limo.  This also helps us learn he’s no longer healing as quickly as he once did.  He’s living just over the border in Mexico – keeping the very aged Professor X in a tipped over water tower in an attempt to minimize the deadly effect of Charles’s seizures. The mutant with the most powerful mind on the planet is now suffering from some sort of brain disease, and his seizures can nearly kill anyone nearby. Residing with them is Caliban, an albino mutant whose power is to find other mutants.

While driving around Logan encounters a woman named Gabriella who is asking for help getting her ‘daughter’ to Montana, because someone is after them.  Logan tries to make it clear he is no longer the hero she recognizes from the X-Men comic books, but she offers money, and Charles’s medication is getting expensive – so he agrees to go.  He then encounters Pierce, the lead guy of the people chasing after Gabriella and the girl. They seem to be military-type security tough guys, so Logan is once again inclined to not help.

Logan heads back to Gabriella, and realizes the military guys have killed her.  She left him a video and some money with the address – he heads back to get Charles, and realizes the girl has hid in the trunk and she and Charles are already getting all chummy.  Pierce shows up, and Logan knocks him out and gives Caliban instructions to dump him, just as Pierce’s cronies show up.  Well, they swiftly capture Caliban, and head back to get the girl.  Logan has just loaded Charles in the car, and is about to go back to the girl, when Pierce and crew roll back up.  Here we get to see just how deadly the girl is, as she swiftly kills several of the guys, throwing one’s decapitated head back at Pierce.  During this incredible action sequence, Logan and the girl, Laura, kill a ton of the guys, and eventually get in the car and get away.  They learn from Gabriella’s video that this company has been essentially creating mutant children to raise as weapons. Once the kids get older, they become less controllable and were going to be ‘put down’.  Gabriella and other nurses saved as many as they could, agreeing to meet at the Montana address later.

What follows is Logan, Charles, and Laura essentially on a depressing road trip as they try to get her where she needs to be. There are some further incredible action sequences as the company that created her keeps chasing her.  They encounter the Munson family, which starts out great, then gets terrible.  They encounter X-24, another Wolverine clone (Laura is X-23), and he’s basically Wolverine, but without any sense of reason, just all berserker rage all the time.  Along the way – spoiler alert, they lose Charles and Logan and all the Munsons (not the Munsons!), but you really knew that was coming. 

Directed by James Mangold, who also directed the Wolverine (as well as 3:10 to Yuma, Knight and Day, Walk the Line, Kate & Leopold, Girl, Interrupted, Cop Land), the movie is very gritty and very, very, serious.  Yes, it feels more like a western than a ‘superhero’ movie, and yes – it is a hard R. I will say, I loved the action sequences, but I don’t love a grumpy old Logan.  That’s not really my preferred Wolverine - I guess I prefer grumpy and middle-aged.  The performances are exceptional.

• Hugh Jackman with a lot of aging makeup/hair gets to take Logan out the way he wanted to, and his performance in this movie is fantastic. He’s old, beaten, bruised, slowly getting killed by the very adamantium that makes him who he is.  The performance is lovely as this rage monster of a man struggles to find peace in what little time he has left.

• Patrick Stewart is fantastic as a really old and barely in control Professor X.  He curses a lot, mostly at Logan. His mind is going, and for someone who had the most powerful mind on the planet, that’s terrifying. He is particularly amazing in the scene where he confesses that he does remember the ‘Weschester Incident’, or at least part of it.

• Dafne Keen is the true stand-out of this movie, mainly because you expect Stewart and Jackman to be amazing, but this little girl being truly terrifying in the beginning was a surprise. She is basically mute for the front half of the movie, doing most of her performance with her eyes and face. She rails at Logan in broken English/Spanish for the rest of the movie, and her anger at him mixed with her need for him to be father figure was heartbreaking. I also loved all the other kids playing the laboratory-made mutants.

•  Boyd Holbrook plays Pierce, and aside from one mechanical hand, he is unfortunately a pretty standard two-dimensional military bad-guy type for this movie. He’s great at being horrible, and really, his end is very satisfying.

• Stephen Merchant plays Caliban, in what I thought was quite a departure for him. Once captured and forced to turn against his friend, Caliban is haunted and morose.

• Elizabeth Rodriguez plays Gabriela, and yes, she was Liza on Fear the Walking Dead, playing a similar role here, trying to save her child as the world falls apart around her

• Richard E. Grant plays Dr. Rice, the evil scientist at the head of the ‘grow-your-own-mutant-killing-machine’ program. Again, a little two-dimensional, and a character I feel like he’s played before.
• Eriq La Salle plays Will Munson, Elise Neal plays Kathryn Munson, and Quincy Fouse plays their son, Nate. Now – this was the sequence I had the biggest problem with in the movie. It felt a little like the family was introduced just to be brutally killed – that may have been necessary to demonstrate the power of the X-24 clone, but then why the really interesting sub-plot about the Munsons being slowly forced off their land by a huge bio-engineered corn-growing company? Apparently the company was messing with their livestock, their water, and may have reprogrammed auto-driving trucks on the highway to run them off the road!  Logan helps drive off some of the good-ole-boys that show up to intimidate Will, but then they of course come back just as the pursuers set loose X-24. And Will does save Logan from X-24 – but doesn’t survive. I can’t decide if their presence in the movie was necessary to add character development (for other characters, not them) or just contributed to the over-length.

Overall, the film is beautifully morose, and the performances are excellent.  However, I didn’t like it.  For me, it was far too serious, with almost no sense of fun – now, that’s exactly what they were aiming for, so great for them, they nailed it.  It’s just my personal preference would have been a little bit lighter of a story, and more fun throughout the piece, which of course, is not really Wolverine’s style – which may be why I prefer Wolverine in ensemble pieces rather than standalone movies. Why did we never get an Alpha Flight movie?  Also, apparently there was going to be a bit with Sabretooth, with Liev Schrieber playing him again – it was removed because they didn’t want to have too many mutants in the movie.  Again, great for them, they really made a western, but I would have enjoyed more mutants – especially Schrieber’s Sabretooth, which I really enjoyed.

Mangold has said he’s going to release a black and white version – and that will be perfect for this movie.   There are many who are stating that this movie has raised “superhero” movies to an art level as opposed to standard popcorn fare. That's great, but honestly I enjoy popcorn flicks, and I’d rather be entertained than bummed out, and a lot of this movie bummed me out.

I loved the action sequences, and loved the introduction of X-23.  She can certainly take over for Logan as Wolverine in future X-Men movies, the problem is that this is set in the future… and Apocalypse was set in the 80s.  I think if they wanted to make any more, they would be with that cast – rolling through the 80s and 90s, but that runs right up to the 2000-set first movie and that cast.  Yes, Deadpool was right, these timelines are so confusing.  

I did think it was awesome to see a rated R Wolverine in action - he's a superhero whose action needs to be rated R to really see what he can do. However, a bit more on that R rating - sure enough, as I sat down in the theater, I was next to a guy who brought his six-year old kid.  I cannot stress enough that this movie is rated R for good reason: violence, language, and themes. It is not at all a kid-friendly comic-book movie. Guardians 2 will be out in May, take them to that. Halfway through, as Logan is attempting to leave the girl, the kid asks his father if he would ever do that to him, and then proceeded to keep asking if they could leave for the rest of the movie.  Listen – I get that you think your kid can handle the violence and language, but if he wants to leave, something is upsetting him and you should take him home.  Good luck with those therapy bills later and screw you for making me spend most of the movie worried about your kid's state of mind.

Speaking of Deadpool, by now you’ve heard there’s a Deadpool short in front of this.  That was both good and bad.  It was good because it was once more, really fun R-rated Deadpool action.  It was bad because it was really fun, and that is pretty much the opposite tone of the movie that followed it.

5 out of 10 – and that relates to my enjoyment, not the quality. Quality-wise, it’s probably an 8 out of 10.  It’s still way too long, even if you loved the tone.  Here's hoping we still get more X-Men movies, because there's one villain I would still love to see hit the screen.

Cast Interviews:

Movie Review: The Great Wall (PG13 – 103 minutes)

Yimou Zhang is an incredibly prolific director in China, he’s done about twenty-five movies, as well as directing the Beijing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremonies – remember how amazing those were?

My favorite movie that he’s done is called Hero – House of Flying Daggers is brilliant, but I prefer Hero, because of the use of color.  A Nameless defense officer is summoned by the King of Qin regarding his battles and defeats of three warriors.  As Nameless recounts the stories of these battles to the King, each flashback uses a different color to tell that particular story, and Jet Li is wonderful as the Nameless Hero.

It’s an epically beautiful movie, and if you haven’t seen it – you should.  Because of it, and how much I love Zhang’s other work, I was really looking forward to The Great Wall.  I was also intrigued because this was the first major Chinese movie distributed as a ‘Hollywood’ movie.  China’s huge emerging film market over the last decade or so has caused several companies and directors to incorporate more things to help sell the movie in the Chinese market.  The Great Wall is the first movie that did that from the other direction – including Matt Damon in an attempt to sell it to Western audiences.   

The Great Wall is a historical fantasy set in the time of the Song dynasty.  The story begins with a group of European mercenaries searching for ‘black powder’ who are trying to outrun a group of bandits. Their group started with about twenty, but after a mysterious encounter with a ‘thing’ of some sort one night, it is down to just two.  Once of the two managed to cut off the thing’s arm. The one seems to be Irish (it’s tough to tell, to call the accent sketchy is to undersell how bad it is), the other seems to be Spanish. 

They literally run into the Great Wall and are disarmed by the soldiers on it as the bandits take off.   The soldiers are the Nameless Order – a sect of the Chinese military ordered by the imperial Court to guard against the horde of alien monsters that attempt to breach the wall every sixty years.  Apparently, many years ago – a meteorite crashed into a mountain, and now, every sixty years, these vaguely reptilian monsters (the Taotie) stream out of the mountain, following the telepathic commands of their queen to simply consume as much as possible and feed it back to her, so that she can reproduce and they can continue to spread.

Our two mercenaries, William and Tovar, have arrived just as the first wave of Taotie for this cycle is swarming towards the wall and they get to see how the different troops in the Nameless order work together under the leadership of General Shao to battle.  The Bear Troop are melee specialists; the Crane Troop are acrobatic specialists who dive off the top of the wall to slice at the monsters below.  The Eagle Troop are archers, the Tiger Troop are siege engine specialists, and the Deer Troop are horse-mounted warriors.  Each Troop has a designated color, and each works together in different ways to push back the Taotie.  These sequences were fantastic. During the battle, one of the taotie gets on top of the wall, and William and Tovar get to demonstrate their battle capability in killing it. 

The General is impressed, and agrees to let the men free to mingle with his troops. They meet Ballard, another westerner who came in search of Black Powder, but has not been allowed to leave.  He attempts to talk William and Tovar into helping him steal it and leave, but William is getting interested in the leader of the Crane Troop, Lin Mae and the necessity of the fight.  

During the night, two Taotie get on top of the wall, and in the ensuing battle, the General is slain, but Wang, the strategist, learns that William has a magnet with him, and this magnet causes the Taotie to be docile.  They receive telepathic communications from their queen, which is how the entire Taotie force is so overwhelming and coordinated.  For some reason, the magnet disrupts the communication – and causes the Taotie to basically freeze up.  William helps to devise a way for them to capture a living Taotie (they’ve been removing their wounded from the battlefield, so the soldiers have not been able to capture one) to prove this theory.  They do succeed in capturing one, and prove that the magnet will shut them down. The emperor’s envoy takes the Taotie and the magnet back to the capital to show the emperor.

Realizing the Taotie are suspiciously quiet, they discover a hole at the base of the wall – the queen had her army dig, and so they have burrowed their way towards the more populated capitol. She’s all about consuming, after all.  Lin Mae, now in control – orders the use of hot air balloons to get Nameless troops to the capitol as soon as possible, since they have the experience fighting them, and the people in the capitol do not.  Tovar and Ballard rob the armory of black powder, knock William out for trying to stop them, and take off. Ballard, of course, betrays Tovar, attempting to abandon him, but Ballard is then captured by the bandits, who accidentally blow up themselves and Ballard with the black powder he was transporting, leaving Tovar to be recaptured. 

William wakes up to find that Lin has declared him to be freed so that he can warn the rest of the world.  However, he instead boards the last hot air balloon with Wang and Peng Yong, a young soldier he has befriended.  

They make it to the capital, rescue Lin, and set about trying to use the magnet to slow down the Taotie enough to get a shot at the queen, knowing once they destroy her, the others will be lifeless. They come up with a plan to strap the one captured taotie with black powder explosives, feed it, free it, so that it goes back to feed the queen, then they fire an arrow to set off the explosives, killing the queen.  Since all the taotie are swarming around the queen in a circle, feeding her what they have consumed, it’s a good plan, but it takes a few tries.  Eventually pull it off, losing both Wang and Peng in the process. Back at the wall, Lin is now general and agrees to let William and Tovar go – so they head back to Europe.

Overall, it looks great, and is certainly a fun monster movie.  I will say, I felt that William, Tovar, and Ballard were all unnecessary.  The movie would have been more interesting if it was just the Nameless soldiers battling the monsters, and learning the magnet could be used as a key to defeating them.  There were enough interesting characters there, plus the foil of the emperor and his envoy, to keep the story going.  I understand that William and Tovar were supposed to be the audience’s entrance to the story – but again, that was unnecessary. We could have come in with scouting parties of the Deer troop as they encounter Taotie scouts.  The side-story of Ballard already being a captive and helping William and Tovar get to know the surroundings was unnecessary – that could have all been done visually and with no exposition.  Hell, Ballard is so unnecessary he simply ends up blown up by bandits off-screen. Plus, Peng Yong was set up as a young, inexperienced soldier who eventually steps up to sacrifice himself to save everyone, he could have easily been the lead/hero of the movie.  So, while I understand the addition to cross-market, I think it did the movie a disservice. 

If you’ve liked Zhang’s style with his other movies, you will like the style here as well. The battle scenes are epic, and again, the use of color with the different Troops was lovely.  The design of the Taotie themselves was also really interesting. Taotie literally means “gluttonous ogre” and refers to a terrifying face motif commonly found on jade carving pieces that date as far back as 3310 – 2260 BC. 

In this movie, the Taotie horde has several classes with different designs, which is interesting because there are different designs of them found in art. The standard footsoldiers are brutish, all mouth – with eyes in the shoulder.

The Queen is a more elegant design, with a special fan shape telepathic organ on her head that she uses to send commands to her troops, and her eyes in what I would consider to be a more normal eye-location.  There are also what I would call a special Queen’s guard group – larger, stronger, and with built in shields to help protect the queen.  

All the taotie were well done, and very interesting. I would have enjoyed having at least one built practically, especially for some of the close up bits when they capture one. They were basically all CGI, and while they look good, they still don't look real. You’re making a monster movie – build a monster.

In terms of the cast, again – most of it was fantastic.

• Tian Jing steals the majority of the movie as Commander Lin Mae – from the first time you see the Crane Troop in action, which is awesome, to the point where she steps up and has to become general, leading all the troops into battle, she’s a fantastic lead, and really – this is her movie. 

• Andy Lau plays Strategist Wang, and helps Lin figure out the magnet bit, and plan the final downfall of the taotie. He’s elegant and quiet, and yet still is completely magnetic when on-screen.

• Hanyu Zhang plays General Shao, and commander of the Bear Troop, and he’s every bit the big, bold leader until he is taken out battling the sneaky taotie. 

• Lu Han plays Peng Yong, and again – in a movie that didn’t include the three Westerners, he would have been the lead. The story could have been about his joining the Nameless order, balking during the first battle, then finding his courage, and finally working with Lin and Wang to help defeat the taotie. A missed opportunity.

• Kenny Lin plays Commander Chen of the Eagle Troop.

• Eddie Peng plays Commander Wu of the Tiger Troop.

• Xuan Huang plays Commander Deng of the Deer Toop

• Ryan Zheng plays Shen, the imperial envoy and Wang Junkai plays The Emperor, who seems to be more cowardly then helpful at this point.

• Matt Damon plays William, and I’ve already stated I felt the character was pointless, but let me just say this – if you want the character to be Irish, please cast an Irish actor, or at the very least, someone who can do the Irish accent.  Damon’s is questionable at best, and at some points, it simply disappears.  Damon is game to do what he can with what he’s given, but honestly, William doesn’t really contribute.  He suggests capturing a live taotie to test the magnet theory, but I’m pretty sure they could have figured that out without him.

• Pedro Pascal plays Tovar, and again – he’s fine with what he’s given, but if William is useless, then Tovar is beyond useless. Only there to steal black powder and add in comedy bits that are not funny.  I will say I appreciated the action sequences with the two of them, showing how well they worked together.

• Willem Dafoe plays Ballard, who exists only to provide exposition and get blown up.  He contributes nothing!

Overall, I still really enjoyed it – I love a fun monster movie, and I really love the way Zhang directs – the battle sequences are astounding.  It did get some early whitewashing critiques, but I would say those are unfounded, because this is not a case where a white actor was given a role originally intended for an Asian actor, in fact, his being an outsider is key to his role, so there’s not really an issue there.  The greater issue is just how uninteresting and unnecessary his character is!   

I actually could have used a little more of the taotie because they were fascinating.  So, give me a director’s cut where Damon, Pascal, and Dafoe are removed, Lu Han and Tian Jing are the two leads, and there’s even more taotie action - I would absolutely love that!  To date, it is the most expensive Chinese film ever made, with a budget of $150 million.  Now, it’s only made $34.8 million here, so a big dud for us, but worldwide, it’s up to $301 million. 

6 out of 10 – gained points for the cool taotie, but lost points for them having eyes on their shoulders - that just seems impractical.  Gained points for the taotie queen, I’m a sucker for an awesome alien queen.  Gained points for the Crane Troop in general and Lin Mae in particular. Awesome.

Bonus – Cast Interviews

Special Bonus – the music video for the song from the movie ‘Battle Field’ by Jane Zhang. Who knew this was a thing?

Movie Review: John Wick Chapter 2

John Wick was a bit of a surprise hit in 2014.  Directed by Chad Stahelski, who had been a stunt performer in the Matrix movies and starring Keanu Reeves, who Stahelski knew had the ability to remember longer chains of stunt moves than most actors – the story was simple and straightforward, and focused on exceptional action.  John Wick was a recently retired hitman, who had been so good at his job, he was often referred to as ‘the Boogeyman’.  John retired to be with his wife, and soon after, she became sick, and passed away. Knowing she was dying, she arranged to have a puppy delivered to John after the funeral, so that he would have someone to love.

A chance encounter with some young thugs at a gas station leads them to follow him home, kill his puppy, steal his car, and leave him for dead.  Since the puppy was the last gift from his wife, John immediately sets out on a mission to eliminate the thugs and everyone they know/work for; regardless to the fact that the leader of the group is the son of a big time Russian mob guy, who is very familiar with John and his work.  The movie also introduced us to John’s world of underground assassins and their secret hotels and codes of conduct.  The movie ended with John adopting a new dog and heading back home.

The movie was tailored to Keanu’s strengths, and the stunt work was incredible – and after those idiots killed his puppy – it was wildly satisfying to see John eliminate every single one of them.

The sequel picks up five days after the events of the first movie, with John going to get his car from the uncle of the kid from the first movie, killing countless dudes before the opening credits come up.

Once John returns home with his car, and gives it to his mechanic since it is basically destroyed, John receives a visit from Santino D’Antonio, an Italian criminal who is suddenly upset that his sister has inherited their recently deceased father’s seat at the “high table” of the “council”.  John says that he’s out, and he doesn’t want the job. Santino brings up that he has a ‘marker’ (remember that awesome Richard Greico show ‘Marker’ from when UPN was a thing?), which John gave to him – since apparently Santino was the one who helped John complete his “impossible task” when John decided to “get out”.  John still refuses, and Santino blows up his house – but don’t worry, the dog is okay this time.

John goes to the Continental (the fancy secret assassin hotel) to ask Winston, the manager, for advice, and Winston says he needs to honor the marker, then he can go back to retirement.  So John accepts Santino’s job to kill his sister, Gianna, in Rome.  We are then treated to a fun montage of John heading to Rome, checking in to the Continental there, getting a new suit, some weapons, and some building plans. He successfully gets to the sister at her “coronation” ceremony – despite the fact that she’s now being bodyguarded by his nemesis from the first movie, Cassian. I won't lie to you - the ceremony really seems to be more of a rave held at some ancient Roman ruins. She realizes what is happening once John appears in her bathroom – which is the fanciest bathroom I have ever seen – and kills herself as opposed to letting him do it.

John starts his escape, but swiftly realizes that Santino has sent his number one henchwoman, Ares, and a tons of guys after him to “tie up loose ends”.  Of course, Cassian is also after him to avenge Gianna.  John escapes and heads back to New York – but not before Santino takes out a contract on his life for seven million dollars, and sends the details to all the hitmen everywhere.  John then has to take out several professional killers before getting a meeting with the Bowery King.   The Bowery King has eyes and ears everywhere, making use of undercover spies and tells John where Santino is, so that John can kill him, put an end to this, and finally retire.

John kills another couple dozen of Santino’s henchmen in a modern art exhibit, but Santino manages to escape to the Continental, and then gloat about how he can just stay in there since no one can shed blood on Continental grounds.  Spoiler Alert – John just shoots him.  Winston is very disappointed, and makes John “excommunicado”, banning him from the Continental and all its amenities.  He gives John one hour, but also doubles the bounty – so the movie ends with John and his dog going on the run, with a fourteen million dollar bounty on his head as every assassin in the world gets a text letting them know he’s the target.

Once again, the movie is spectacular action with a fairly straightforward story.  John just wants out, and is doing what is necessary to get out.  Because of director Chad Stahelski’s extensive stunt background, the stunt work is phenomenal, and I really wish some other directors (looking at you Paul Greengrass) would watch this to see how the fights are shot from a distance away, and with limited cuts – so that you can see the skill of the actors and stunt performers.  It makes such a difference, and I really love this style.  Yes, the movie is hyper-violent, and yes, there are a ton of headshots, since that is John’s preferred killing method. 

• This is definitely Keanu Reeves’s movie - and John Wick is right in his wheelhouse of very little dialogue, and brutal action.  Since Stahelski is so familiar with Keanu’s stunt ability, much of the action is tailored to him, and I found myself often impressed that it really is him in almost every scene. If there was double used for Keanu, I could not tell where – but I’m guessing in rolling down the cement stairs. Keanu is fantastic in this – so desperate to leave this life behind that he’s willing to get involved in that very life again with the vaguely haunted look behind his eyes anytime he thinks of his wife. And, thank goodness the dog makes it through this one.

• Riccardo Scamarcio plays Santino D’Antonio – and he’s just slimy and horrible. He shows up all slick and fancy, demanding John’s help, and just descends into pure villainy as the movie progresses.

• Ian McShane is wonderful as Winston – very friendly and respectful to John as long as his rules are followed. And even when John breaks them, he does what he can to give him a headstart.

• Ruby Rose plays Ares, who is mute in this movie, and uses what I’m going to guess is assassin-specific sign language to communicate. She’s just fine, but honestly, her stunt double was pretty obvious, and in a movie that prides itself on the stunt work that was a little distracting.

• Common is back as John’s nemesis Cassian. The fight sequences between the two are outstanding, and seem to be unending.

• Claudia Gerini plays Gianna D’Atonio, and has just the one scene, but that’s a lot of dialogue with John, and enough to make him question why he decided to honor the marker that Santino had instead of just running.

• Lance Reddick is back as Charon, the concierge of the New York Continental. He’s fantastically mysterious and quietly powerful.  He also offers to dog-sit for John during his trip to Rome.

• Laurence Fishburne plays the Bowery King, and really – like I said, is not all that helpful. I think he’s here just so that fans of the Matrix get to see the two of them onscreen together again. Which – I’ll admit – was pretty great.  Fishburne does chew all the scenery around him as he wanders around with a little white pigeon.

• John Leguizamo shows up again as Aurelio – John’s mechanic.  He’s there to provide some comic relief early on.

• Peter Stomare has basically a cameo in this, his fourth movie with Keanu (Constantine, Henry’s Crime, Swedish Dicks) as the brother of the Russian mob guy from the first movie.  Honestly, their scene together in Constantine was so good that I was really happy to see him here, however briefly.

Overall, the action is amazing, the story is interesting, but I really wanted him to be able to retire happily at the end!  Oh well, here’s hoping that’s the planned end for Chapter 3.

8 out of 10.  Gained points for the dog making it this time, and for a Peter Serafinowicz cameo.

Cast Interviews

Bonus - Marker - I loved this show.