Review of The Equalizer 2 (2018) by Mickey F — 14 Aug 2018
I hope you didn't have high expectations. So Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is back. He is just trying to keep to himself and live the quiet life of a Lyft driver, but I suppose we wouldn't have much of a movie if the unsavory types just left him alone.
It isn't long before he has to become the merciless killer that he once was. Now I thought the first Equalizer was... alright. It has nothing on the vastly superior Man on Fire, but it was still watchable.
It wasn't, however, a movie that I thought they were going to try to build a franchise on top of. Upon seeing this sequel, I can confirm: this would have been far better off as a one off. The biggest crime about the Equalizer 2 is that it just isn't very interesting.
There is action in this, and when it is present, it is well-choreographed and brutal... but it only takes up a fraction of a full two hour film. For the first half of this, it is more or less McCall's epilogue from the first movie; it is as calm as you would expect somebody's "ever after" would be, and apart from him righting a pair of wrongs, Denzel doesn't have a whole lot to do.
He still has screen presence, so it is not boring per se, there just isn't really anything to write home about, or anything that makes you feel pumped when you walk away. It does push all of its chips in for the hurricane finale that it hints at all film, but even when you get there, it isn't anything you haven't seen before in better movies.
The best thing I can say about The Equalizer 2 is that it is mildly competent, but it is a story that doesn't have a whole lot of forward motion. Far too often this is just idling in neutral, and it is just a non-exciting action movie with too much filler.
It is also a story where the antagonist doesn't reveal himself to the end, and because there isn't all that much going on, you can narrow down your suspect list to a total of two people if you have been paying any attention at all.
This was a bit of a disappointment for me, and unless you are a bonafide die hard Denzel fan, you can skip this.
This review of The Equalizer 2 (2018) was written by Mickey F on 14 Aug 2018.
The Equalizer 2 has generally received positive reviews.
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