In “Murder Mystery 2” you get what you have been waiting for in “John Wick 4” in vain.

Director Chad Stahelski has not only surpassed the highly aesthetic, sometimes really beautifully choreographed sequels with “John Wick: Chapter 4”. He probably also provided THE reference in contemporary American action cinema. But that’s not just because the fights Keanu Reeves throws himself into as deadly assassin John Wick are meticulously timed and every move feels like a skillful thrill in its own right. The locations are also important.

“John Wick: Chapter 4” is set in Osaka, Japan, in the German capital of Berlin and last but not least in Paris. Chad Stahelski impressively proves how much spatial awareness he has to make a setting unique and vibrant. The purposefully exhausting climax is the seemingly endless sequence in which John Wick has to fight his way up the 237 steps to the Sacré-Coeur, the most famous church in the French metropolis next to Notre Dame, leaving countless corpses behind.

“John Wick 4” leaves the Eiffel Tower unused

While there are several scenes in “John Wick 4” where the Eiffel Tower is extremely present, Chad Stahelski and his colleagues apparently decided not to use the Eiffel Tower for an action sequence as well. Instead you can shoot around, break bones and wreck cars on public roads, at the Arc de Triomphe and, as I said, on the way to the Sacré-Coeur. The Eiffel Tower is spared from blood spatter.

It’s a shame, because a dizzying fight atop the Eiffel Tower would certainly have wide-eyed and sweaty hands in Chad Stahleski’s hands. Especially if the inside of the steel silhouette, namely the gigantic struts that run through the 300 meter high tower, had also played a role. But so THE symbol of Paris is just a background in “John Wick 4” and not a brutal playground for John Wick. That’s a pity…

Netflix helps with that

… luckily there is now another film whose grand finale is based on the Eiffel Tower – and which actually makes it its mission to use the imposing building for a very fast action sequence: “Murder Mystery 2”. This is the sequel to the crime comedy Murder Mystery, named the most watched film on the platform by Netflix at the time. Here Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston have to solve tricky murder and kidnapping cases.

In Murder Mystery 2, Sandler and Aniston end up in the restaurant of the Eiffel Tower where ransom will be dropped. Fortunately, that’s not all, because the film also wants to show off a fairly large-scale action sequence, in which not only the viewing platform below the top can be used for a scuffle, but also the horizontal and supporting beams and the stairs that lead through the Eiffel Tower.

Nevertheless: When it comes to action, “John Wick 4” is of course HUGE superior to the crime comedy “Murder Mystery 2”. But if you’re a little disappointed that John Wick isn’t allowed to leave bullet holes in the steel of the Eiffel Tower, you should head to the city of love with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. The finale is – not only thanks to the Eiffel Tower – a real sharply staged pleasure. Funnily enough, JJ Perry is in charge of the action in the Netflix comedy as stunt coordinator, a mentor and former promoter of former stuntman-turned-“John Wick” director Chad Stahelski.