Rent The Equalizer 2 (2018)

A Good if slightly average action movie! - The Equalizer 2 review by CS

Whilst this isn't a patch on the original and I still can't understand why someone with such obvious talents would be living downmarket, acting as a kind of self regulated mercenary. This gets slightly confusing as it's almost several different plots and storylines interwoven, but as each plays out we are then left with the one final plot at the end. I have to say that I predicated quite early on where this was going to go and who the bad guys were. But all in it's still quite a decent action movie, looking at the usual themes of morality and do all Black Americans really go around calling each other Bro and dealing in drugs, or is that a little bit of stereotyping come in, Denzel? This did remind me a bit of Jason Bourne and like Bourne, a good action movie, but not a patch on the original!

Equalizer 2 Luton Town 3 aet - The Equalizer 2 review by Strovey

I enjoyed the first film, despite not really liking these type of films, so I approached The Equalizer 2 with some trepidation. There is no doubt the Denzil Washingston’s charisma and laconic acting style made the first Equalizer a success and certainly would tempt a lot of people to watch it that maybe would not normally do so. But here we are with one of my least favourite film numbers ‘2’.

Having said this Denzil Washington is in the film, he does not do sequels, he does not phone-in performances and he certainly does not need the money so there must be something to it. Truth be told there is and there is not. When Washington is on the screen, whether it is being sage, or duffing people over, or just being nice or funny, you get your money’s worth. Luckily he is on the screen a lot. His character is interesting and appealing and to use a very overused expression he is ‘badass’.

No, the problem with the film is the story is a bit tired and saggy at the edges. McCall’s clearly has a strong sense of right and wrong and a strong moral compass he does not need a hackneyed and very old plot-point to drive him into a new and interesting story. A lot of story points could be spotted miles away and it was fairly easy to guess who was going to make it to the credits, who was not, and who were the baddies.

This is not say that the supporting cast acted badly or you did not feel a sense of peril for characters but there is a strong sense of ‘seen it all beforeism’ in the run time. The denouement was frankly disappointing and left me with some seriously raised eyebrows. It did keep my interest though as I tried to figure out who was going to ‘get it’ during the storm and I was dead-on, he with the least amount of lines and screen-time dies first.

More enjoyable was McCall’s earlier ‘equalizing’ which padded out the first part of the story but helped to established that if you do bad and he runs across your path you are in big trouble, they actually made more sense than some of the ‘main’ story.

Further to this the side-story involving Orson Bean’s holocaust survivor whilst having its heart in the right place was clunky and a bit saccharine particularly the way it was tied-up. A bit too neat and lovely.

Overall I found The Equalizer 2 enjoyable and watchable but it was definitely diluted from the original and to my mind perhaps Robert McCall should be allowed to live out his salad days in peace especially when you consider the amount of mayhem he seems to cause from time to time he probably is not going to get away with his vigilantism for too much longer.

Ambitious thriller - The Equalizer 2 review by Alphaville

Reunited with director Antoine Fuqua, Denzel Washington returns in this sequel to wrong some more rights, and both make an even better job of it than before. With beautiful, smooth, organic camerawork, Fuqua is firing on all cylinders. After a James Bond-style opening action scene on board a Turkish train, we follow Denzel around the city where he works as a cab driver, Scorsese-style. These scenes are infused with appealing warmth, aided by spot-on editing and a seductive score, and ground the character for the action to come.

There’s skulduggery in Belgium, with a terrific action scene involving Melissa Leo, and the consequences cross the Atlantic to engulf our hero, pitting him against pros who are as good as he is. The ambitious Western-style climactic shootout in a deserted stormbound coastal town can’t quite deliver on its promise, but it’s a worthy attempt. This franchise has legs.

Great stuff and worth a watch - The Equalizer 2 review by JRo

Denzel Washington as ever at his charismatic best. Nothing new in the story line but it follows a tried and tested formula and is tense and edgy throughout with Denzel bringing his cool menace to the character when taking out villains with extreme prejudice. There is no need to analyse the film deeply , just sit back and enjoy the action

Denzel onto another winner - The Equalizer 2 review by LS

Has this man ever made a bad movie? I seriously doubt it. While this wasn't as good as the first it was still a cracking good action flic. All the usual ingredients were there, from the friend who turned out to be a baddie to the other friend who got bumped off. There will no doubt be a 3rd instalment & I can't wait

Terrible. Really terrible - The Equalizer 2 review by JD

I remember the original was an ok film. This isnt.

Its incredibly boring, with the plot being something about tying up loose ends. Really, that IS the plot and it makes no sense at all.

Denzel mean while drives around dishing out justice in utterly random and inexplicable vigilante style. As with many new films if you see a middle aged white guy its pretty safe to assume he is bad/evil/stupid/inept/a villain/Generally deserving of a good beating

And why do guys with the same training as our hero blunder into his arms so helplessly?

Entertaining Action Thriller Sequel - The Equalizer 2 review by GI

This belated sequel to 2014's The Equalizer is actually a reasonably entertaining action thriller bringing Denzel Washington back to do his Jason Bourne/James Bond/Jack Reacher thing with gutsy violence, realistic fights and a revenge plot that reveals more of the central character's past. Washington is McCall, former black ops assassin, now taxi driver and lover of books who occasionally goes out of his way to right wrongs and deal nasty people some righteous justice. When his beloved ex colleague (Melissa Leo), is murdered McCall goes on the prowl to find and despatch those responsible. There's some gruesomely violent set pieces and the main story is one involving espionage and double cross. Admittedly some of the narrative is left a little unexplored to its full potential but what's left is a good, solid action thriller that does exactly what you'd expect following the first film.