EQUALIZER 2, THE (2018, USA, 121m, 15) ***
Action, Crime, Thriller
dist. Columbia Pictures (USA), Sony Pictures Releasing (UK); pr co. Columbia Pictures / Lonetree Entertainment / Mace Neufeld Productions / Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) / Fuqua Films / Escape Artists; d. Antoine Fuqua; w. Richard Wenk (based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim); pr. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Tony Eldridge, Antoine Fuqua, Mace Neufeld, Alex Siskin, Michael Sloan, Steve Tisch, Denzel Washington; ph. Oliver Wood (Colour | 2.39:1); m. Harry Gregson-Williams; ed. Conrad Buff IV; pd. Naomi Shohan; ad. Tom Frohling, Lauren Rosenbloom.
cast: Denzel Washington (Robert McCall), Pedro Pascal (Dave York), Ashton Sanders (Miles Whittaker), Orson Bean (Sam Rubinstein), Bill Pullman (Brian Plummer), Melissa Leo (Susan Plummer), Jonathan Scarfe (Resnik), Sakina Jaffrey (Fatima), Kazy Tauginas (Ari), Garrett Golden (Kovac), Adam Karst (Turkish Father), Alican Barlas (Dining Car Porter), Rhys Olivia Cote (Nine Year Old Braelick Girl), Tamara Hickey (Grace Braelick), Ken Baltin (Grace Braelick’s Lawyer), Colin Allen (Bookstore Nerd), Antoine de Lartigue (Mr. Calbert), Abigail Marlowe (Jana Calbert), Jim Loutzenhiser (Interpol Agent), Alessandra Rosenfeld (Lyft Girl (8 Yrs)).
In this sequel, McCall’s (Washington) past cuts especially close to home when thugs kill Susan Plummer (Leo) — his best friend and former colleague. Now out for revenge, McCall must take on a crew of highly trained assassins who’ll stop at nothing to destroy him. Washington’s presence is enough to carry this solid follow-up to 2014’s THE EQUALIZER. Adding Sanders to the cast as a surrogate son figure and having the story driven by personal events gives the violent action depth. Fuqua extracts tension from the familiar script and set pieces and invests just enough in his characters to maintain interest. Followed by THE EQUALIZER 3 (2023).
