The Equalizer 2 Movie Review

The Equalizer 2 (2018)

Watch the trailer
Written by: Richard Wenk (written by), Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim (based on television series created by)
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Starring:  Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo
Rated: R

Plot
Robert McCall serves unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, but how far will he go when he's avenging a friend?

Verdict
This is more action than the first one, and that action is just okay. The movie has a nice weather metaphor, but that alone isn't enough. The big fight at the end is bland, though I like that it takes place during a hurricane. It just doesn't play much of a factor, as I never had any doubt that Denzel will win. Denzel is likeable, but the movie doesn't leverage his charisma as much as it should. We don't delve into this character and explore why he does this other than a forced dead wife trope.
It depends.

Review
A sequel to The Equalizer (read my review), the first movie was an above average action movie carried by Denzel and some nice story touches.

This starts out light, with Denzel in disguise, donning a big beard and glasses. It quickly turns violent. If you don't know this franchise, this is the introduction. Denzel is a vigilante, and he is very good.

This has callbacks to the first, Denzel is still reading books from his one hundred best list, but I don't remember if the first movie explained it more than that. This movie certainly doesn't. Nor does it reveal what happened to his wife.

Denzel is a Lyft driver, which fits this character. He helps people in small and big ways. Sometiems that's through his brand of vigilante justice, even if they don't know it. One of his projects is a teen in the apartment complex who Denzel pays to repaint a mural on a wall that was destroyed.

There's an early scene where Denzel on the job for Lyft realizes a woman has been assaulted and he avenges her.  I'm not going to debate whether violence is the answer, this movie is built on the premise it is, but Denzel seemingly kills one of the men that committed the crime before telling another one to call 9-1-1 and admit what happened. Not only is it extreme, but wouldn't that set off a manhunt for him? Within the context of the scene I don't think he killed the guy, but he definitely did the neck snap which always signals death in an action movie.

I thought this was setting up a mystery where the government would need Denzel's help to eradicate the threat off the books. It's a bland concept, but that's not what happens. What we get is just as bland though. Denzel is on the vengeance path after a string of events. He contacts a war buddy Dave. Dave somehow works for the government and is a mercenary. That or the government has hired him as a mercenary, but that doesn't seem to be the case. That was never clear. What I didn't like was the old theme of, a soldier is trained to kill, discharged and then has nowhere to go but to become a mercenary. We've seen this idea done well, and this movie is content to use it as a trope. What makes this weird is that Dave seems to be employed by the government and moonlight as a mercenary.

Denzel is all about justice. He gives people a chance to atone before he punishes them. He forgoes that for Dave and the crew, but Dave asserts that Denzel needs to pay for his own misdeeds. It's poignant, and something that could have given Denzel's character more motivation. We don't know why he's a vigilante, but as a form of penance, that's interesting. Maybe that was answered in the first movie, it's just been too long.

The storm is coming.

The part I like best about this movie is the weather metaphor. Scenes start out sunny and then become cloudy. A character remarks a storm is coming and as we get fully into the plot it begins to rain, then it rains harder. Once we hit the third act we're in a hurricane. I like the weather mirroring the plot and the action through the big finale.

Denzel is efficient but the fight scenes are nothing special. There are a few knife fights that show his skill, but they are over way too fast. The entire finale is underwhelming. I like that it occurs during a hurricane, but that has little effect on anything. Denzel takes out the bad guys and there is never any thought that he might fail. It's just too easy. There's a few ending scenes that attempt to put a nice bow on the movie, but they just didn't fit. I'd rather see Denzel finish off Dave and crew and then just disappear into the storm. That leads to the question of did he help the teen at his apartment or leave him with PTSD. The movie instead lets us know everyone has a happy ending.