Title – The Equalizer 2 (2018)

Director – Antoine Fuqua (The Magnificent Seven)

Cast – Denzel Washington, Melissa Leo, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Bill Pullman

Plot – Ex-CIA operative turned everyday taxi driver Robert McCall (Washington) gets drawn back into action once more after his beloved friend Susan Plummer (Leo) is mysteriously murdered.

“There are two kinds of pain in this world. The pain that hurts, the pain that alters”

Review by Eddie on 01/04/2019

Well here we have it ladies and gentleman, last year’s most unnecessary and pointless sequel, The Equalizer 2.

A surprise smash hit of sorts, 2014’s The Equalizer introduced us to Denzel Washington forgoing awards baiting dramas for a little slice of the Liam Neeson geriatric action thriller vibe, that saw him inhabit seemingly everyday hardware store employee Robert McCall who unleashes a combination of Jason Bourne butt kicking with a James Bond attitude in a film that ended up being more entertaining than it had any right to be.

It was an event though that didn’t leave us all screaming for further adventures of McCall, as he uses his previous life skills of hunting and ending baddies in innovative fashion but Washington and his good directing buddy Antoine Fuqua decided it was something we absolutely did in fact need.

It’s a huge problem the Equalizer 2 just can’t overcome, as the film makes no real point as to why it exists or in fact adds absolutely nothing to McCall’s story that we didn’t already know and therefore becomes two hours of “entertainment”, that whilst not last year’s worst by any stretch of the imagination, is arguably the year’s most unneeded exercise.

In saying so, any film with an actor of Washington’s charisma and smarts will always be watchable and the veteran performer does typically solid work here, meaning you will undoubtedly believe Washington could take down a room full of goons with a credit card or infiltrate a bunch of drug addled hoodlums without a single second of retribution but even the esteemed performer must feel a little embarrassed about the Equalizer’s 2 existence that sits fairly uncomfortable in a largely solid C.V of impactful and entertaining offerings.

The other huge problem for Washington and Fuqua is in the fact the film fails in ignite anywhere outside of the lead performer with bland supports from the likes of Pedro Pascal, Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo adding nothing to the story of McCall seeking revenge for those who killed his lifelong friend, that inexplicitly includes unwarranted plotlines such as McCall’s train trip in Turkey, an eventful taxi ride and most annoyingly McCall’s relationship with Ashton Sander’s street artist Miles Whittaker that is the very definition of Hollywood cheese.

Final Say –

Thanks to Washington and a few neat action beats The Equalizer 2 is a watchable action exercise but also a highly pointless one. Failing to justify why it exists around a plotline that barely hangs together, this is a film that you’re best off skipping.

2 credit cards out of 5