FILM · 2017 · USA
John Wick: Chapter 2
- Directed by
- Chad Stahelski
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Studio
- Thunder Road, 87Eleven, Summit Entertainment
71 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
John Wick is forced out of retirement by a former associate looking to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. Bound by a blood oath to aid him, Wick travels to Rome and does battle against some of the world’s most dangerous killers.
Summary: TMDB
56 Interesting Facts About John Wick: Chapter 2
- #001
Keanu Reeves performed about 95% of the stunts in the film himself. The only stunts he did not do were the acrobatic moves in which John Wick is hit by a car and falls down the stairs while fighting Cassian (Common).
- #002
Keanu Reeves trained for three months to prepare for the role. The training consisted of judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, marksmanship and driving. Reeves had done almost all of the training for the original film and needed very little time to get back up to speed. At the end of his training, the instructors commented that Reeves could easily be the one training them and that his proficiency scores were better than those of most experienced professional soldiers.
- #003
The Italian tailor character is played by Luca Mosca, the actual costume designer of the John Wick films.
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
Body count: 116 (according to the special feature John Wick: Kill Count (2017) included on the home video release).
- #005
Contains a major spoiler — show
(At about 1 hour 40 minutes) When John Wick kills Ares, he stabs her in the same place where he stabbed Cassian (at about 1 hour 22 minutes); the only difference is that he pulls the knife out. This shows that he refuses to give her the same "professional courtesy" he gave Cassian. Earlier at the hotel, John Wick accepted Cassian's drink in the same spirit, but refused Ares's drink.
- #006
It earned twice as much as John Wick (2014).
- #007
The DJ performing at the party in Rome is Le Castle Vania, who composed the music for both John Wick films.
- #008
Director Chad Stahelski was Keanu Reeves's stunt double in the Matrix trilogy, in which Reeves played the main character.
- #009
The film begins less than a week after the events of John Wick (2014).
- #010
Australian distributor Entertainment One, or EOne, planned to release the film directly on DVD. When this news became public, EOne's Facebook, Twitter and website were flooded with emails and messages from angry fans demanding that the film be properly released in Australian cinemas. Shortly afterwards, EOne announced that it would be released nationwide on 20 April 2017, three months after its worldwide release.
- #012
(At about the 13th minute) After the opening title sequence, an inspection sticker with an expiration date of October 2014 is placed on John Wick's car. This is the release date of the original John Wick film.
- #013
(At about the 41st minute) The badge worn by the Sommelier and the keychain given to Wick are the German anti-partisan guerrilla warfare badge awarded to German soldiers during the Second World War. For the film, they removed the swastika and replaced it with a skull.
- #014
Both actors who play the Russian mob brothers Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) and Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare) are Swedish.
- #015
Contains a major spoiler — show
(At about 1 hour 40 minutes) After John Wick fatally stabs Ares, she sits and gestures: "Be seeing you, John." This mirrors the climax of the first John Wick (2014), in which John sits and says the same line after fatally stabbing Viggo.
- #016
Keanu Reeves meets Laurence Fishburne a few times a year, and at one of these meetings the older actor spoke of his love for John Wick. Shortly afterwards the script for the sequel reached him, and the actor replied the same day with just "I'm in. Fish."
- #017
Laurence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves are working together for the first time since Matrix Revolutions (2003).
- #018
Keanu Reeves brought Peter Stormare into the film to play the brother of the main villain from the first film. "We were actually hanging out," Reeves said. "He loved the first one, and he said 'what can I do?'".
- #019
Contains a major spoiler — show
For the film's release in the United Kingdom, Gianna D'Antonio's suicide had to be slightly edited to avoid an "18" rating.
- #020
Despite the number of killings and public armed confrontations, no police officer appears throughout the film other than Jimmy, the lone police officer from the first chapter. (In one of the scenes set in Rome, sirens can be heard in the background, suggesting the police have been alerted.)
- #021
(About 6 minutes later) Initially the cars were kept in the garage without car covers, but Keanu Reeves was certain that Wick would recognize the silhouette of his own car.
- #022
Contains a major spoiler — show
Despite receiving third billing in the credits and featuring prominently in the trailers, Laurence Fishburne has less than ten minutes of screen time and first appears around the 90-minute mark.
- #026
(At about the 53rd minute) There was apparently a great deal of debate over whether Wick needed to shoot Gianna D'Antonio even after she cut her own wrists. They fought for it because "in order to fulfill what you need to do you have to pull the trigger."
- #027
(At about 1 hour 25 minutes) The white dove in the Bowery King's hand was taken by a hawk later that day in the scene where the birds are released (at about 1 hour 50 minutes). Keanu Reeves wasn't too pleased to hear this: "Oh my gosh. It's an urban jungle. Danger everywhere."
- #028
John Wick was planned as a trilogy, but John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) was released in 2023.
- #029
The Latin phrase on the gold coin, "Ex Unitate Vires," translates as "from unity, strength." The phrase on the marker, "Quod Debitum Sanquine," means "The Blood Debt."
- #030
(At about 1 hour 30 minutes) Keanu Reeves says to Laurence Fishburne, "So I guess you have a choice." This line, or variations of it, was a constant theme of the Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003), the actors' previous collaboration.
- #031
Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves agree that one of the secrets of John Wick's violence is to start with something funny, end with something funny, and fill the part in between with as much brutality as you can muster.
- #034
(At about 8 minutes) The first take of the "flying drift" outside the garage doors destroyed the car.
- #037
(At about 1 hour 30 minutes) The big confrontation in the museum was scored to Antonio Vivaldi's "Summer," but in a "recomposed" version matched to the percussion of the gunfire.
- #038
(At about 1 hour 9 minutes) The bourbon John drinks at the Rome Continental is Blanton's Single Barrel Original. Its distinctive round bottle, with a horse statue on the stopper, is visible on the table when the phone rings.
- #039
(Around 43 minutes) Composer Tyler Bates appears in a small role as a guitarist on stage in Rome.
- #040
The film's events take place in 2014, yet the accountants are shown typing on a Commodore VIC-20 (its logo blacked out) that is more than thirty years older. The VIC-20 was not capable of displaying the neat text shown; its screen was limited to a maximum resolution of 176x184 pixels. The green-on-black text shown is nearly identical to the system screens in The Matrix (1999).
- #043
The dog in this chapter is an American Bully resembling an English Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
- #046
(Around 17 minutes) When Aurelio explains the problems with John's car, he actually got some of his lines from members of the special effects team who helped destroy the car, because John Leguizamo, who plays Aurelio, was not present for these scenes and some details had to be given to him.
- #047
In a "Screen Junkies" interview, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch stated that for this film there were several different story ideas, including ones that would have had him rescuing his daughter or a certain amount of his love.
- #048
Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves enjoy making Wick suffer but acknowledge that his only real weakness is cars. "On his right side."
- #049
The film's title does not appear until nearly the 14th minute of the film.
- #050
Twelve minutes pass before John Wick shoots his first villain.
- #051
Part of the big action scene in which Wick faces Cassian as well as numerous assassins was shot at the PATH Center in the Freedom Tower. It was the first film shot there.
- #052
This marks the fourth time Peter Stormare and Keanu Reeves have worked together, after Constantine (2005), Henry's Crime (2010) and Swedish Dicks (2016).
- #053
NYC did not permit the opening chase on 5th Avenue, so it was shot in Montreal instead. The end of the chase returns to New York.
- #054
Contains a major spoiler — show
The film contains many instances of religious or biblical terminology. When John Wick first arrives in Rome, Julius asks him whether his visit is connected to the Pope. The main villain's name is Santino, which literally translates as "Little Saint." Winston equates Santino's treatment of John to "stabbing the Devil in the back." The Bowery King describes John's final encounter with Santino as a "descent into Hell." Finally, when John is cast out of the organization at the end of the film for breaking the rules, Winston refers to it as "excommunicado," the state in which a person is excommunicated (exclusion and removal from the congregation), from repentance and reconciliation with the Church.
- #055
The "impossible task" Santino mentions was assigned to Wick by Tarasov in the first film as an unexpected way for Wick to get out and retire. Wick accomplished the impossible with the help Santino gave him at the time, and in return he gave Santino his marker.
- #057
Keanu Reeves and Common also appeared as enemies in Street Kings (2008).
- #058
Contains a major spoiler — show
At around 1 hour 40 minutes, when John asks Charon inside the Continental where Santino is, a closer look at his hand shows that John keeps his finger on the trigger at all times, meaning he is determined to kill Santino later despite anyone's demands that he stop.
- #059
The score in the opening chase is intended to distinguish between Wick's Chevelle, the "big shark," and the motorcycle he is pursuing, the "little fish."
- #060
According to a viral internet site, Cassian is both Gianna's bodyguard and her hairdresser and makeup artist.
- #061
Keanu Reeves thought his character's barricade technique was terrible.
- #062
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the final major shootout in the Reflections of the Soul exhibition, John Wick has an unlimited amount of ammunition. He manages this because every time Wick kills one of the High Table's henchmen, he takes the weapon from the dead person's hand. John later has a weapon to restart his ammunition count.
- #063
The film's cast includes an Oscar winner, Common, and an Oscar nominee, Laurence Fishburne.
- #064
Contains a major spoiler — show
At around 1 hour 15 minutes, John Wick repeats his legendary signature: death by pencil.
- #065
Thunder Road is Basil Iwanyk's production company, and it was also the first to bring the John Wick character to Keanu Reeves.
- #066
This also marks Ruby Rose's third sequel appearance in three months, as she also appeared in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) and xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017).
- #067
Throughout the film, the D'Antonio family is stated to be part of the Camorra, a Naples-based Italian crime organization. In real life, Riccardo Scamarcio (Santino) is from the Apulia region, and Claudia Gerini (Gianna) is from Rome.
- #070
The yakuza, whose real name was Ryuichi Yamamoto, was a former professional Japanese sumo wrestler from 2007 to 2011 and had to retire due to suspicion of match-fixing for a gambling gang. In Japanese, "yama" means mountain, and at 265 kg (584 lb) he is considered the heaviest Japanese person ever.
- #071
Contains a major spoiler — show
The weapon John Wick uses to kill Santino D'Antonio is the same weapon he took from Santino's bodyguard Ares. It can be assumed that he removed the suppressor before entering the Continental.
Sources & editorial notes
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