John Wick Chapter 2 is just as bad as the first....

Back in 2014 Keanu Reeves had a surprise hit playing a retired hitman who goes on a rampage of vengance after his wife dies and the puppy she left him is killed and his 1969 Boss 429 Mustang is stolen by Russian mobsters. It had plot holes you could drive a semi-truck through-( Why did this supposedly healthy, gorgeous, maybe 35 year old woman played by-Bridget Moniyhan-Tom Brady's ex and Tom Selleck's daughter on "Blue Bloods"-suddenly drop dead? And how did she know the exact moment of her demise so she could send him the puppy the day of her funeral? )  Why and how did he have such a unique car as a Boss 429, that's probably worth $250,000?  Besides the plot holes, it also had a bunch of over-the-top action sequences and the kill-ratio of an arcade game. Anyhow it made a pile of money, which of course spawned a sequel.  Chapter 2 opens with a pretty good chase scene between a motorcycle and a 1970 SS396 Chevelle-which chop-shop owner John Leguizamo had loaned Wick in the first one after the theft of the "Boss". You don't see the driver's face, until he's searching the dead motorcyclist for something. He finds the lead, and goes to a taxi company / chop shop, Where the brother of the Russian gangster he killed in part one has the Boss 429 and other hot premium high-end cars stored. Here I start to cringe. The Russian mobster's underling has the right idea. "If this man is so lethal,why don't we just give the car back and apologize and avoid further bloodshed?"  Of course that reasonable idea is nixed. Now I start to cringe. The Boss gets basically destroyed in a demolition derby / chase with gangsters in taxis and on motorcycles. As I watch it I hope the stunt crew bought a beater '69 Mach 1 and dressed it in Boss regalia-spoilers,scoops,louvers etc. Even if the original movie grossed hundreds of millions I hope that no one would actually destroy a "real" Boss 429!!!  It was sickening to watch if you like musclecars. Anyway he kills everyone, has a drink and declares a truce with the gangster and limps the totalled Boss home. He buries his weapons again and decides to retire again. Leguizamo shows up with a tow truck and promises to restore the Boss to it's former glory. Again were treated to small cell-phone camera glimpses of the smokin' hot Bridget Moniyhan, but no "flashback" back story of how this wonderful woman got involved with a mob hitman, no clue to what killed her-heart attack, brain tumor? Poison by his enemies?  Nothing. That's maddening in itself.  They could have had just a few minutes of scenes of them together explaining their relationship that would have went a long way to making it a better film, and explaining the first one. Nope. We've got explosions and video-game violence to get back to. Can't waste time on stuff like dialogue or character development!!  This other gangster who supposedly helped Wick retire the first time is calling in the favor wanting Wick to kill his sister who has a seat on the high commission of gangsters. Of course the commission won't disallow this prick from inheriting her position after he has her murdered, right? Another UPS truck-size plot hole. Wick refuses so the guy blows up his house. Wick then goes to the "Continental" a chain of luxury hotels / safehouses ( this was introduced in the first one ) where hitmen and other intelligence types can find sanctuary and no killing is allowed on the premises. Ian McShane returns as the proprietor of the place and tells Wick that he has to do the job for the guy, that all contracts must be honored. So Wick goes to Rome where the sister is having a big party. Upon meeting Wick they have a polite conversation about her brother's plot, and she takes her clothes off, slashes her wrists and bleeds to death while Wick holds her hand and apologises. Now the fact that she killed herself, I would think might go a long way to getting Wick off the hook with the powers that be, and screwing the brother. No he puts a bullet in her head anyway. Why? She was already dead, so why "Sign" your work?  He almost escapes when he runs into the Rapper "Common"-who was excellent on the western series "Hell on Wheels" as Anson Mount's sometime friend / nemesis. Common was the woman's bodyguard. Him and Reeves shoot each other-but they both have bulletproof suits on. So now Common and a bunch of other thugs go after Reeves who has to mow them all down in more arcade game style violence. Common and Reeves have a big fight that ends in the lobby of the Rome "Continental" where manager Franco Nero reminds them of the "no-kill" rule and offers to buy them both a drink. They have a drink and agree to kill each other another time. The brother of the slain woman then double-crosses Wick, instead of declaring his debt paid, he puts out an open contract for $7 million to avenge his sister. Now professional hitmen ( and women ) come out of the woodwork at every turn causing Reeves to show a good bit of athleticism and martial-arts training as well as much gunplay and knife-fighting. There's also a hitwoman / bodyguard of the crooked brother that for some unexplained reason is a mute that commuicates in sign language, but apparantly has the training of a Navy Seal. There's also Laurence Fishburne who apparently is some kind of intelligence operative that has an army of people also with Navy Seal type training and state of the art weaponry that masquerade as homeless people. This is never explained either. Reeves has to kill Common on a train, and about fifty other people including the mute girl before catching up with the guy who betrayed him in the bar of the "Continental". Ian McShane begs him not to do it, but Wick blows the guys brains out in the bar, violating the Cardinal Rule. Why? The guy can't live in the safehouse forever. You wait until he comes out and get him on the street. Or since Ian McShane knew the whole story, and thought Wick was totally being screwed-they could have went  to the "Commission" and had the other guy "excommunicated".  No the director wanted to rip off Charles Bronson ,Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, and every other '70's action star for one moment. Which paints him into a corner. Mc Shane has no choice but to "excommunicate" Wick from the "Continental's" services. This of course will set up "Chapter 3" with more video-game mayhem. Too bad. If they'd spent a little more on story and character development, and a little less on blood and bullets and mayhem, they might have really had something. Instead you got two hours of "Grand Theft Auto". When is Hollywood going to learn?  Not until people stop paying good money for dreck like this and the "Fast&Furious". That sequel is coming out too. How did "Dominic Toretto" go from street-racing thug to James Bond? That's another rant for another time...Mastermind