“The man. The myth. The legend. John Wick.”

The macabre setting, the violent rains washing out the blood on streets, neon lights battling with each other in a dance of domination, the exotic free-wheeling automobiles, the dark lit tone and yet again, an off the hook kill machine, our very own Boogeyman, Mr. John Wick.

In the initial outing, the mafia killed his puppy and then stole his car. John Wick 2 picks of where it had left previously, where in an attempt to find an out of the mob affairs, Mr. Wick dishonors a marker. Caught in a web of mythic underground traditions, he must come out of his proverbial retirement for a task virtually impossible to pull off. Playing the protagonist, Keanu Reeves yet again brings the house down with his bad-ass portrayal of an action figure who has gathered a cult fan-base over the time. John Wick 2 is anything, if not a homage to the past triumphs from Chad Stahelski.

It is never easy to build upon a happenstance success. John Wick’s acclaim was relatively simpler as it was devoid of expectations squatting over its shoulders. But, things have changed rather drastically this time around. There are a plenty of eager eyes awaiting the release of the sequel. With the plentiful nod to the fans, the creatively imaginative set pieces like the one in “Reflections of Soul” exceeds the barriers of action genre as the visuals step into uncharted art-house territories.

The Devil in Black is back and he is meatier than before. John Wick 2 outdoes its initial outing with even finer choreographed action sequences, some exquisite cinematography and an all out electronic hurricane of a background score. In a rare case of the sequel enriching the legacy, John Wick 2 is, undoubtedly, style over substance, but in violently astonishing ways.

★★★½