History Headscratchers / JohnWickChapter2

* In the first movie, Winston punishes [[spoiler:Ms. Perkins]] with death for *trying* to kill John in the hotel. In this one, [[spoiler:he punishes John with excommunication for *actually* killing Santino, waits overnight to administer the punishment, and gives John a one hour head start]]. Why? Given the chaos and destruction that will ensue from this decision, it has to be more than just [[spoiler:his personal respect/fondness for 'Jonathan']].
** Well [[spoiler: she killed Harry]] so it's not just try and that just add to the murder attempt. Plus Winston was shown bending his rules for John since the first movie, Marcus wanted to do that too so it's more than likely with the age difference and Wick's history he was around since Winston built the Continental. Viggo even mentioned Marcus and Wick are the last of the old guard so there is a matter of honor into it.
** Damn, I forgot about poor [[spoiler:Harry]], so good point there. But even so, would Winston really make this decision out of mere sentimentality?

** There's a brief shot of [[spoiler: Winston handing John a marker during their final conversation, which might imply Winston owed John and this was Winston's way of repaying it.]]

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* OK. So Santino, unlike Iosef, knows very much about John Wick's reputation. He knows that the man is not any ordinary assassin, but a WALKING FORCE OF NATURE. John has proven, on multiple occasions, that he will do ANYTHING to accomplish whatever he sets his mind to, and recently gutted the NYC underworld just to get at one kid. So why does Santino think it's alright to not only try and kill John after John took care of his sister, but then put out a massive bounty?

** Because it worked? It took John cashing in a favor from the Bowery King and marking himself for death by breaking the Continental rule to kill Santino. Santino knows Wick's reputation but he also knows the only reason Wick accomplished his legendary impossible task was because Wick made a deal with him, he is a great hitman but sill a man.

** Because it worked? It took John cashing in a favor from the Bowery King and marking himself for death by breaking the Continental rule to kill Santino. Santino knows Wick's reputation but he also knows the only reason Wick accomplished his legendary impossible taks was because wick made a deal with him, he has the power to take him on.

*** Is there any reason for Winston to object the High Table coming to NY? If anything, it would mean getting more business. The Intercontinental is more or less an union for work-for-hire Assassins and the various support services they need to operate, so the organization depends on other more general criminal empires ready to pay top dollar for the absolute best.
*** They don't need to pay top dollar if they are the only available client in the area and as seen with Viggo when there is only one king it tends to encourage people into breaking the Continental rule if their backer is powerful enough. One of the reason why Winston is so powerful is that he is the only member of an international crime syndicate with a foot in NY. He won't be master of his own kingdom if there are other ready to offer the assassins a better share than him.
*** The deleted scenes show that Santino was already in the process taking over the NY crime business in a very hostile manner, and even verbally threatens Winston and tells him that he doesn't care about his rules and traditions.
* There's a brief shot of [[spoiler: Winston handing John a marker during their final conversation, which might imply Winston owed John and this was Winston's way of repaying it.]]

*** For the record Marcus did not try to kill John at any point. When Perkins showed up the shot to the pillow was to alert John, not a miss. Which is why John never went after Marcus and why Marcus was teasing John at their last meeting after Iosef was killed.

*** You also see this last bit reflected in how the assassins and Cassian go after John. They ''always'' wait until there's no civilians in the way before they make their moves, excepting the silenced subway shoot-out, which was obviously for laughs, and neither John nor Cassian had any civilians backstopping their shots.

*** There's no indication the garroted mook was killed, and the only ones getting run over were by their fellow henchmen.

*** 55mm is about 2 inches, so the blade should be able to reach, even through an inch of hand and half an inch to an inch of clothing.

The movie makes clear the they have at least some history together and that she considers Wick a friend, plus Wick is visibly ditraught at his obligation of killing her. So, why didn't Wick just ask for Gianna's protection in order to get out of the dilemma? Gianna knowing that Santino betrayed her would lead to a war between the siblings, one that Gianna would certainly win since she outranks her brother and thus has much more power in her hands. Yes, that would mean breaking the marker oath and thus breaking one of the rules of the Intercontinental (rules that he doesn't care much about anymore), but being ex-communicado would be much less of a issue if he was employed by one of the leaders of the High Table.

*** Even in the best case scenario, that Gianna succeeds in giving John the resources he needs to take out her brother, Wick is still fucked. Assuming she tells the High Table that Mr. Wick helped her turn the tables against her brother, and as a reward she gives him a pardon for the marker or at least gets him excommunicated as the most minor punishment she can get him off with, John is now back in the game. She owns him at that point, and John Wick would simply owe her a favor just like he owed her brother. Like the other guy said, John would simply be trading one devil for another. And even without a marker held over his head and John simply decides to kill Gianna for receiving an order he doesn't like, he'd have a bounty put on his head leaving him in the same hellish scenario he finds himself in when he kills Santino. John Wick really was in a no win scenario no matter what he did.

OK. So Santino, unlike Iosef, knows very much about John Wick's reputation. He knows that the man is not any ordinary assassin, but a WALKING FORCE OF NATURE. John has proven, on multiple occasions, that he will do ANYTHING to accomplish whatever he sets his mind to, and recently gutted the NYC underworld just to get at one kid. So why does Santino think it's alright to not only try and kill John after John took care of his sister, but then put out a massive bounty?

** Breaking the Blood Marker is a much more serious offense than killing someone at the table. The latter will get assassins after you, but you'll still have the protection of the Continental. The former, on the other hand, means you no longer have the Continental's protection, which is vastly more dangerous because of the amount of resources they'll put out to deal with anyone who breaks the rules.

** Part of it is audience sympathy, or lack of it- we've seen [[SmugSnake Santino]] screw over John in all sorts of ways, from blowing up his home to calling a hit on him after John fulfills his end of the bargain. Santino is the bad guy, and we don't want the bad guy to win. Second, the difference between Santino and Gianna is similar to Iosef and Viggo. They're both evil, but it's the difference between PracticalVillainy and StupidEvil. Santino's just too petty and vicious to be trusted with power.