Director: Antoine Fuqua.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Melissa Leo, Bill Pullman.
It’s fair to say, many of us were looking forward to a sequel of the first Fuqua and Washington Equalizer, liking their portrayal of the ex-special forces-turned-vigilante. But how does this one compare with the previous? What’s new and what’s recognisable? Shouldn’t be too much difference with the same people, right?
Firstly, the story is quite different, going from a simple vigilante, against a visible villain, classic good vs bad guy. This time the story is more of a conspiracy, where it tries to be smart with McCall’s enemies this time round, which has a direct effect on McCall’s motives turning this into more of a revenge movie, which the first was not.
There’s some parts the story skips over, obviously the audience don’t need to know the whole plot, as to why all this is going down to begin with. But it’s bolstered with what we like about our hero. The whole film isn’t entirely revenge and we see him doing his thing just to reintroduce us, to remind us who and what he is.
However, we don’t see enough of that from him. I was expecting more badass Washington, which is what sequels tend to do. But alas, this is more of a moody thriller that’s unfortunately predictable. There’s a couple of decent action sequences so when they happen, it’s good, but I wanted more, especially as the playing field in terms of enemies had changed.
The additional characters just feel like props to the already standard story. The bad guys are nothing more than henchmen and the main antagonist just wasn’t bad enough or lacked development. I think Pascal is the weakest part here but it was good to see Sanders again since Moonlight.
There’s a slight tweak to Washington’s performance; there’s a part where I thought Washington was over acting, being reminiscent of his film Fences, but it could be that McCall is actually losing his cool as he’s more on the defensive this time round, and this time it’s personal.
The trademark vision and assessment of a scene remains, Gregson-Williams provides a slightly embellished score from the first film, but apart from McCall himself and Fuqua’s directorial style, there’s little else from the first film. I think I was expecting an expansion on the previous story, maybe a retaliation from the Russians.
I know, I’ve slated it right? Maybe rewatching the first one so close to watching this was a bad move and maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t and had forgotten about it. It’s still captured well, the action is sharp and it’s certainly an Equalizer film, but it sadly doesn’t equal let alone surpass the first.
Running Time: 6
The Cast: 8
Performance: 7
Direction: 8
Story: 5
Script: 6
Creativity: 8
Soundtrack: 7
Job Description: 6
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
61% 6/10
