John Wick was one of the biggest surprise hits of 2014, revitalizing Keanu Reeves’ career as an action lead and propelling former stunt coordinators turned directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch into the limelight, earning Leitch the enviable job of helming Deadpool 2 in the wake of Tim Miller’s departure.

With a budget of just $20 million, Stahelski and Leitch put together an adrenaline-fueled action film that presented a standard B-movie revenge flick in the trappings of a heavily-stylized assassin’s underworld with an intriguing code of honor and set of customs that made fans hungry for more of that world.

Needless to say, hopes are high for John Wick: Chapter 2, earning it a spot as number 11 of Screen Rant’s Most Anticipated Movies of 2017. With less than a month until its February 10th release (as of this writing), the final trailers and promotional images are coming out, giving us a glimpse of what the sequel has in store.

The story is expected to pick up almost immediately after the first movie (less than a week), preventing John from settling back into his normal life with his new dog (or healing from his numerous injuries). As a consequence of his re-emergence, Wick is reunited with “The Bowery King,” played by Keanu Reeves’ Matrix co-star, Laurence Fishburne. John owes this Bowery King a blood oath, meaning his intention to return to retirement is reluctantly delayed as John heads to Rome to take on an international assassins guild.

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Several images were released back in October, but a few of the new ones (see them above, via The Playlist) offer more looks at the film. These new images don’t give away much in terms of story details, but they do tease more of the same neon noir aesthetic, shadowy intrigue, and over-the-top gun-fu action set-pieces expected by fans of the first film. Also featured in the gallery are some of the new assassins Wick will be meeting, such as Ruby Rose’s Ares, Riccardo Scamarcio’s Santino, and an unnamed assassin played by Common, who called his part in the film “an assassin’s love story.”

Common might not be the only one with a complicated relationship to John Wick, as he can be seen both fighting and cooperating with each of the assassins in different pictures and trailers. He had a similar relationship with Adrienne Palicki’s Ms. Perkins, who showed in the first film that the assassins in this world can often change their allegiance at the drop of a hat, provided the right incentive.

While John Wick: Chapter 2 is full of new characters in a new setting, the trailers and images released so far show a sequel that explores new territory while sticking to the elements that made fans love it in the first place. Hopefully it can replicate the success of its predecessor, since there are already rumblings of a third installment in this burgeoning franchise.

Source: The Playlist

  • John Wick: Chapter 2 Release Date: 2017-02-10