The Equalizer 2 (2018) Columbia/Action-Thriller RT: 121 minutes Rated R (brutal violence throughout, language, some drug content) Director: Antoine Fuqua Screenplay: Richard Wenk Music: Harry Gregson-Williams Cinematography: Oliver Wood Release date: July 20, 2018 (US) Cast: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Orson Bean, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Jonathan Scarfe, Sakina Jaffrey. Box Office: $102.1M (US)/$190.4M (World)
Rating: **
It pains me to say that I didn’t much care for The Equalizer 2. I really liked the first one, a super-violent action flick based on the TV series The Equalizer (1985-89). It’s one of the few TV-to-movie adaptations that I think are worthwhile. Sadly, the sequel does not measure up despite the return of two major players for the second round. I’m talking, of course, about director Antoine Fuqua and star Denzel Washington. They’ve actually worked together a few times- Training Day, the first Equalizer and the Magnificent Seven remake. They’ve had a good track record…. until now.
Washington plays Robert McCall, a former CIA operative who faked his own death to get out of the game. These days, he’s living in an urban Boston neighborhood making a living as a Lyft driver (it’s like Uber). Every now and then, he accepts a covert assignment from his friend and former colleague Susan (Leo, The Fighter).
In the movie’s opening sequence, McCall rescues a little girl who’s been kidnapped by her Muslim father. He confronts him on a train to Istanbul where he easily dispatches the man’s friends before explaining why it’s in his best interests to let him take the girl back home to her mother. He has other things going on in his life like helping an elderly Holocaust survivor (Bean, Being John Malkovich) get back a valuable painting stolen from his family by the Nazis in WWII. He’s also playing mentor to a young neighbor, Miles (Sanders, Moonlight), by encouraging him to pursue his interest in art instead of joining a gang. He agrees to pay him to repair the damage done to their apartment building by vandals.
The main plot, such as it is, of The Equalizer 2 kicks off with the staged murder-suicide of a CIA asset and his wife in Brussels. Susan is brought in to investigate with another operative, York (Pascal, Kingsman: The Golden Circle). She is murdered in her hotel room by assailants acting under the orders of the person behind the initial killings. Not long after, somebody makes an attempt on McCall’s life. He’s determined to find his friend’s killers and exact his own kind of revenge.
As a critic and lifelong movie lover, I’m fully aware sequels are seldom equals. I was really hoping The Equalizer 2 would be an exception. The first one, in which McCall goes up against the Russian Mafia, is an awesome (if a bit overlong) action flick. It was slick, stylish and violent. The fight scenes, during which McCall would time how long it took him to defeat/kill his opponents, were cool. It was well-written and moved along at a nice clip.
It would have been nice if Fuqua could have repeated his success but The Equalizer 2 is hampered by a very poorly written screenplay. The main storyline is uninspired and perfunctory in its telling. I mean, I love a good revenge flick as much as the next guy but this one is just lame. It’s also predictable. It’s extremely easy to pick out the bad guy even though his/her revelation is treated as a big surprise plot twist. While I won’t reveal the identity of this person, I will ask a question. How suspicious is it that somebody from McCall’s past happens to be around at this time? The whole movie has a disjointed feel; the screenplay by Richard Wenk isn’t so much written as it is patched together.
There are pacing issues as well. The Equalizer 2 doesn’t just slow down in parts, it grinds to a complete halt with scenes of Denzel’s character staring at computer screens, flying off to talk to somebody or just sitting and thinking. It’s surprisingly quiet for an action movie. And will somebody please explain why (almost) every action movie climax has to be set during a big storm of some kind?
So what does The Equalizer 2 have going for it? First, Denzel is totally bad ass in it. That is, when he’s not reading, thinking or looking at computer screens. But even then, he’s still pretty good. Denzel is a good actor, he always has been. Whether it’s a high-end drama (Philadelphia), a gritty action flick (Training Day), a dopey action flick (Virtuosity) or even a silly comedy (Carbon Copy), he consistently gives it his all. The Equalizer 2 is the first time he’s ever done a sequel. Am I alone in wishing it had turned out better?
Second, the fight scenes are cool. McCall doesn’t hesitate to use his special set of skills on scores of baddies. People are shot, stabbed, impaled, beaten and blown up, all in graphic detail. Even better, they all deserve it like the yuppie scumbags that dump a young woman into McCall’s car after they’ve drugged and gang-raped her. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many cool scenes like this. Fuqua spends far too much time on not-so-interesting subplots and an underdeveloped revenge plot where the villain’s motives amount to a great big “WHO CARES?”.
I didn’t set out to trash The Equalizer 2, I really didn’t. Truthfully, it’s not a terrible movie. If taken as a B-movie, it’s not bad. However, considering the level of talent involved it should be better than not bad. It would have benefited greatly from a tighter script and a more thought-out plot. The writing and directing are dishearteningly lazy. I hate to say it but The Equalizer 2 is nothing more than a paycheck movie. It’s watchable but you’ll wish you had spent the two hours watching something better.
