Sequels, remakes and re-boots run rampant, especially in the summer movie season. Why? Not sure, but since the typical demographic Hollywood has a tendency to cater to in summer is that of the 18-34 single males, they surely like familiarity which, of course, sequels, remakes and re-boots are all about. When "The Equalizer" '14 was released, because it garnered a hefty profit, it was a no brainer to release "The Equalizer 2".
Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) returns to deliver his special brand of vigilante justice when thugs kill his friend and former colleague Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo). Since McCall serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, he comes to the aid of Plummer's husband, Brian (Bill Pullman). Apparently, there is a brutal murder whereas an investigation ensues involving Susan Plummer as part of the investigative team. With this knowledge, it tips off the bad guys to start cleaning up loose ends and ridding anyone who could implicate them including McCall. Little do they know that McCall is as lethal as he he is thorough with a cunning sense of timing.
Others to round out the cast are Pedro Pascal as Dave York, Ashton Sanders as Miles Whittaker, Orson Bean as Sam Rubinstein, Jonathan Scarfe as Resnik, Sakina Jaffrey as Fatima, Kazy Tauginas as Ari, Garrett A. Golden as Kovac and Adam Karst as Turkish Father.
This was suspensefully and grittily directed by Antoine Fuqua ("The Replacement Killers" '98, "Bait" 2000, "Training Day" '01, "Tears of the Sun" '03, "Lightning in a Bottle" (Documentary) '04, "King Arthur" '04, "Murder Book" (TV movie) '05, "Shooter" '07, "Brooklyn's Finest" '09, "Olympus Has Fallen" '13, "The Equalizer" '14, "Southpaw" '15, "Exit Strategy" (TV movie) '15, "Magnificent Seven" '16) plus TV and shorts. This filmmaker seizes to amaze me with his crisp, concise brand of directing. Both "Training Day" and "Magnificent Seven" were exquisitely well directed whereas I could watch these characters continually because the direction made these actors look like they were playing a real person--in other words, they weren't actors, but actual people. It was written by seasoned veteran Richard Wenk ("Vamp" '86, "Just the Ticket" '99, "16 Blocks" '06, "The Mechanic" '11, "The Expendables 2" '12, "The Equalizer" '14, "Countdown" '16, "The Magnificent Seven" '16, "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" '16, "Renegades" '17) based on the TV series by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. Even though this installment was written by Wenk, its predecessor was a bit more cohesive and thorough. It was a tight script, but it had a tendency to have some choppy places in storyline. Maybe it is because the first film was introducing McCall to its audience, so it was easier to get wrapped up with that--not sure. What actually makes this film sing is that of Washington in the title role. Washington can virtually play any role and do it with aplomb, so when seeing this, a couple of errors in script can be amazingly forgiving. This is Washington's first role he has ever reprised, and I hope he doesn't mind reprising this role for "The Equalizer 3"?
If Vigilante films are your thing, this will give you that fix. But if anything is captivating here is the presence of Denzel Washington. He is one of those actors that truly has a commanding presence that will get the audience through whether that film is worthy or not.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: R 121mins.
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