Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: The nightclub fight in Rome after Gianna's death – 'Oh fuck, they took it to another level in this movie.'
• Sean and Chris: The subway concourse sequence – hyper-futuristic realization of the 'John Wick' underworld, the silencer fight with Common, the knife fight ('considers this a professional courtesy'), getting on at Lincoln Center going south.
• Other nominees: Getting the car back at the chop shop, Common vs. Wick drink at the Continental, the $7M assassin contract going out, the art gallery finale, shooting Santino at the Continental (still shocking after 10 viewings), and the Central Park ending.

• The two unbreakable rules: no blood on Continental grounds, and every marker must be honored. Childlike logic that appeals to the simplest part of our brain.
• The entire Continental mythology and world-building – Soho House for assassins. The coins, the markers, the Sommelier, the tailor.
• The gearing up sequence – the tailor, the Chinese laundromat, the Sommelier fitting him with weapons.
• Ian McShane as Winston – best use of his late-period speechifying. Calls him 'Jonathan.'
• The simplicity of the story in an era of over-plotted Marvel and JJ Abrams movies.
• Setting up the sequel – 'no movie ever set up a sequel better than the end of 'John Wick' 2.'

• Point-blank shooting at Wick from 9-10 feet away that never hits him.
• The bulletproof coat scene with Ruby Rose – holds his coat up and it stops all the bullets. 'That part's not great.'
• Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian calling it 'a shameful example of Hollywood gun pornography' – 'Jordan, fuck right off.'

• Ian McShane replaced Jason Isaacs as Winston from the first film.
• Danny Trejo, Steve Buscemi, and Michael K. Williams all should have been in this movie – Buscemi as a Continental guy, Trejo as an assassin, Williams with Fishburne running the 'Motel 6 empire.'

• Peter Stormare as Abram Tarasov – great 5-minute performance at the top. Swedish actor playing Russian, just like Michael Nyqvist (his 'brother') in the first film.
• Thomas Sadoski as Jimmy the cop – 'Don from The Newsroom.' Gets the Joey Pants Award.
• John Leguizamo as Aurelio the mechanic – almost put in what's aged the worst for the unexplained friendship with Wick.
• Franco Nero as Julius, the Continental manager in Rome – 'Are you here to kill the Pope?'

• Laurence Fishburne as the Bowery King – 'the most scene-chewing Fishburne ever.' Forest Whitaker was watching and calling his agent.
• Riccardo Scamarcio as Santino – especially the duck-fat fries scene at the Continental.
• Ian McShane – every line is a rhetorical question delivered with maximum gravitas.

• Body count: estimated 128.
• Keanu did 95% of his own stunts.
• The DJ at the Rome party is Le Castlevania, who wrote music for both 'John Wick' movies.
• Common has played a contract killer in at least 4 movies.
• Santino means 'little saint.' Lots of religious/biblical terminology throughout.
• The director explained the coins as more of a membership card than currency – 'You don't explain the dollar bill.'
• The Continental TV series was greenlit in January 2018.

• Not this movie for Keanu – his apex is Speed or The Matrix. But 'John Wick' might be comeback apex mountain.
• Not anybody else's apex mountain either.
• 'Hardball' joke: G Baby, she lifted us to a higher place only for a second.

• Why didn't Wick kill Tarasov at the beginning? He killed 39 other people but left this guy alive.
• The Commodore 64 computer – 'I don't think any computer from 1999 works at this point.'
• 'John Wick' always has more bullets. Thousands of cartridges that never fall out while he's rolling around in a tailored suit.
• All the gold coins not rattling around in his pockets alongside the extra magazines.
• How did 'John Wick' get back to Long Island at the end? Walking from Manhattan would take days.

• Could normal people stay at the Continental? Is it on the AmEx Fine Hotels & Resorts website?
• How much are the gold coins worth? (Director says it's more of a membership card.)
• How many floors is the Continental? Is there layered access for more elite assassins?
• Has there ever been a stronger pencil than the ones Wick uses to kill people?
• Winston (McShane) vs. Winston Wolf (Keitel) – could they be the same character? 'They kind of are.'
• Is Common's Cassian actually dead? We never saw him die.

Obviously Keanu. But excluding him: Common – 'made Cassian seem like a cool, important character to the series' despite limited screen time. Almost worthy of fighting Wick.