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'The Equalizer 2': Enjoyable, old-school action flick
The R-rated second iteration of The Equalizer delivers the most thrilling and gory fights, proving Antoine Fuqua's mettle as one of the last old-school action directors today.
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Denzel Washington as Robert McCall appears in a still from 'The Equalizer 2'. (Sony Pictures/File)
T
em>The Equalizer 2, directed once again by Antoine Fuqua, sees Denzel Washington reprise his role as Robert McCall, the ultimate "equalizer" who can take villains down in seconds.
The sequel carries on from its first outing, 2014’s The Equalizer, which was based on a namesake TV show from the '80s.
It continues with the story of former CIA agent Robert McCall, who has left behind his vigilante past, and currently works under the radar as a Lyft driver by day and avenging random victims by night. However, when a close colleague is murdered, he must return to his old ways to hunt down the person (or persons) responsible.
The R-rated action flick delivers the most thrilling and gory fight sequences that further prove Fuqua's mettle as one of the last directors working today in the "old-school" action genre. The Equalizer 2 carries '80s and '90s action-thriller vibes throughout its 121 minutes.
Unlike modern action movies, Equalizer 2 takes a slower pace and employs tension to build up to the climax instead of CGI, techniques that are comparable to Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner.
In contrast, the movie depicts full-on graphic violence. We see McCall slicing and making heads roll with a knife and a credit card, we see a woman being stabbed, and we also see a fight involving guns, hot water and a ceramic teapot – much of which could make viewers uncomfortable, but remain engaged at the same time.
The movie also excelled in portraying genuine depth in both its screenplay and characters. The writing followed pretty clear themes on love, friendship, family, loss, regret, moving forward and finding a purpose. These themes create situations and emotive characters that we all can relate to.
The best part is that because of the good writing, it was easy to like McCall and hate all his enemies. We also love McCall because Washington grabs the spotlight effortlessly and owns every one of his scenes by successfully portraying the many sides to his character. We start off with a charming and charismatic man, then an intimidating fighter, followed by a Sherlock-esque turn and then a fatherly figure, and finally, a man who grieves for the people he has lost.
Washington performs his character to perfection because he convinces us, the audience, to believe that McCall possesses all these sides and emotions. Most of all, we believe that McCall is a righteous man who does all that he does with good intentions, which is why it is easy to love him as a character and as an equalizer of villainy.
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Speaking of villains, Fuqua has successfully crafted villains the audience will love to hate. Whether these are antagonists of a sub-plot or the boss villain of the central plot, their background stories are developed enough so we will hate them and want to see them "equalized". This is particularly so regarding the main antagonist, Dave York (Pedro Pascal), who becomes ever more hateable as the story progresses.
However, the film has three major flaws. The first and greatest is that it felt like two movies forced into one. On the one hand, there's Story A, McCall the Lyft driver who avenges random victims he encounters; on the other is Story B, McCall the ex-CIA agent who returns to his old ways when one of his closest friends is murdered. The two stories do not gel and actually could have been two separate, successful movies.
Additionally, the transition from Story A to B makes the movie feel episodic, and some parts had no impact whatsoever on past or future events. This left The Equalizer 2 with a good 30-40 minutes of film that could have been left on the cutting room floor without affecting the main thread.
There also seemed to be parts that tried to hide the fact that Denzel Washington is 63 years old and can no longer do some of the action scenes he could before. Some of the action sequences and camera angles during fight scenes could have been improved if age wasn't an issue, but then again, who can blame the man for aging? Beside, the issue was easily compensated by his engaging, deep-rooted performance.
Last but not least, The Equalizer 2 epitomizes the action movie logic that simply must be accepted: because McCall is the virtuous "equalizing" hero, he doesn’t have to deal with any legal consequences for his actions. It does not matter how many people he kills or shoots, he gets away with it.
At first, the fact that McCall faces no legal consequences was bothersome. But it didn't take long to accept, because there were better things going on worth paying attention to.
To conclude, this was a very enjoyable movie that is highly recommended, especially for any action geeks out there. It may have major issues, but with the good outweighing the bad, The Equalizer 2 deserves high regard. (saz/kes)
