#REVIEW: “EQUALIZER 2”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

Director Antoine Fuqua teams-up with Denzel Washington once again in the Sequel to The Equalizer, and this time things get rather personal. While the first installment wasn’t all that exciting, what the audience is there for then and now, is Denzel being a total bad-ass and this itself is worth the price of admission.

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) continues his crusade for social justice in this second installment, on the hunt to make amends for someone he cares for deeply. And they messed with the wrong man this time. Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo) is one of the few people who actually knows that McCall is still alive. Together with her partner, who happens to be McCall’s former partner Dave York (Pedro Pascal), she is investigating the death of one of their undercover agents in Brussels. McCall makes it his mission to take down those responsible and it results in a crazy action-packed Third Act that proves well worth the wait.

While Washington has delivered some powerful performances in his career, this falls short of his best. He does revel in the deep trouble that McCall gets into. A subplot involving McCall’s neighbour Miles (Ashton Sanders), shakes things up a bit from the generic genre pitfalls the Film could have suffered from. Sanders has heart and is a breath of fresh air to watch.  Leo also as always, is pure conviction.

What made The Equalizer entertaining was its crazy, over-the-top action sequences. While the Sequel takes a while to get rolling, its Third Act ends with a thrilling bang!

Sony Pictures Canada releases Equalizer 2 in theatres on Friday July 20, 2018.