How James Cameron’s ALIENS Inspired JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2
Earlier this month the first trailer for Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 2 was released, and the fans went crazy for it! I loved what I saw in the trailer, and I’m sure the full film is going to end up being just as badass as the first film.
During an interview with Collider, director Chad Stahelski talked about the road to developing the sequel and how James Cameron’s Aliens helped relieve the stresses of making a sequel. He started off by saying:
“The reason people love you so much sometimes is because you’re original. John Wick was an original twist on a classic tale, with a fancier look and a different way of telling the story. More like a Greek myth rather than your typical action movie. So you give away your whole hand with that, you give away originality. So how do you compete with yourself?”
To help in the process of easing the pressure of making a John Wick sequel, he explained that he made sure the sequel would be something different than the first film and that was all thanks to Aliens.
“We decided to stop competing with the first one. Once we stopped worrying about ourselves it was fun. I mean is it as good as the first one? I don’t know. Did we go better in some ways? Yes. Did we experiment with the characters more? Yes. Everything there is better. Is the enjoyment better? I think the enjoyment is there, but it’s different.
“All the other director friends I have don’t like doing sequels or don’t like doing other people’s sequels, which is even worse I think. But then there’s other examples. I think the best example is Ridley Scott. He did the first Alien. James Cameron created Aliens. Cameron, I think is a genius for that. Going, 'I’m not making the same Aliens again, I’m just gonna make it.' If I could be so bold as to take that similarity then so be it.”
From what I saw in the trailer, the tone of the film is very similar to the first one so I’m curious to see how exactly the sequel will be so different from the first one.
John Wick: Chapter 2 is set in Rome and follows John Wick as he’s forced out of retirement by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassins’ guild. There he will square off against some of the world’s deadliest killers.
The movie stars Keanu Reeves, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Laurence Fishbone, and Common, whose role is described as “what would John Wick be like if he stayed in the business?” The film will hit theaters on February 10th, 2017.