Movie Title: The Equalizer 2
First Watch / Repeat Viewing
Running Time: 2 hr. 1 min.
Rated: R
Who did I watch with?: Flying Solo
Where did I watch it?: Home
Review:
The Equalizer 2 reconnects us with our beloved Bostonian enforcer with ethics played by Denzel Washington. Robert McCall roams the streets of Boston connecting with locals and helping them with their problems. In this edition he does some of this while driving for Lyft. This movie adds McCall’s former handler to the picture. Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo) helps connect McCall with high profile cases that require specialized attention from a man that is technically dead.
The original movie had a much crisper narrative and a better flow to all of the action. The core narrative doesn’t come together until almost an hour into the movie and good samaritan McCall is less interesting the second time around. Ultimately, a close associate of McCall ends up murdered by a hit squad. McCall sets out on a classic quest for revenge to strike back at the murderers.
Much like the first movie, The Equalizer 2 works to convince you that the world is a terrifying place occupied by mainly non-English speaking criminals. One of the main characters is murdered in Brussels, Belgium a city that featured 43 murders in 2017 which is significantly less than New Orleans for example which is on pace for about 148 murders in 2018.
Verdict:
The Equalizer 2 is an inferior movie to the original, but it is still a decent action flick if you can get over the terrible pacing. Take it or leave it.
Tomorrow’s Movie: Gone With The Wind (1939)