Released: 20 July 2018
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $62 to 79 million
Stars: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Melissa Leo, Jonathan Scarfe, and Bill Pullman

The Plot:
Robert McCall (Washington) has been operating as “The Equalizer” for some time, righting wrongs and offering his unique services to those in need while still living a relatively quiet, unassuming life. However, when his friend and former colleague is killed, McCall soon finds himself putting his methodical abilities to use against former teammates of his turned rogue mercenaries.

The Background:
Having begun life as a late-eighties American crime drama starring starred British actor Edward Woodward, the idea for a live-action reinterpretation of The Equalizer was first kicked around in 2010 but didn’t really come to fruition until star Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua came onboard in 2011. Though not quite as intense or exciting as films of a similar nature, like Taken (Morel, 2008) and John Wick (Stahelski, 2014), The Equalizer was a decent enough box office success, making over $190 million worldwide against its $73 million budget, and production of a sequel began some seven months after the first film’s release. Notably, The Equalizer 2 was the first time Washington had ever starred in a sequel to one of his movies, however the film earned around about the same as its predecessor at the box office and received somewhat mixed reviews for essentially only offering more of the same content as the first film rather than anything new or substantial.

The Review:
While the original TV show was a bit before my time, I actually quite enjoyed the first Equalizer movie; it wasn’t quite as intense or engaging as Taken or John Wick but it was a pretty decent, more cerebral and methodical tale of an aged, former government operative reluctantly putting his long-retired skills to good use and taken on a bunch of Russian mobsters. However, while that film ended with McCall advertising his services as “The Equalizer”, the second film takes a bit of a left turn in that, rather than following McCall as he rights wrongs and fights injustice for those who contact him, we’re back to a slower, systematic film that is more a character study than anything else.

As before, the star of the show is, obviously Denzel Washington; though Denzel now has hair for 95% of the film (which actually makes him look younger and less distinct as McCall), he still retains that same quiet, sombre, haunting feeling about him while exuding a general good-naturedness to all around him. Now supplementing his income as a Lyft driver, which allows him to meet and learn about a wide variety of people, McCall is just as disciplined as before and all of his little quirks and OCD-like routines return (he still carries his own tea bag, utensils, and tackles both cleaning apples and repainting a wall of graffiti with the same meticulous focus).

Denzel has a natural, likeable charisma about him; he doesn’t just resort to violence for the sake of it and always offers his target the chance to walk away and/or do the right thing. However, his uncanny ability to “read” people, to notice things others wouldn’t, and to absorb information about those around him and his environment allows him to not only take out rooms full of armed men in seconds with quick, precise strikes, but also to know what people are thinking/feeling or have gone through with a minimum of input and to predict how each situation will go, allowing him to still be a nearly robotic, efficient combatant that can easily overwhelm gis opponents, breaking arms and dislocating limbs without breaking a sweat and not even being short of breath afterwards.

Given that McCall is in a new location with a new life, we have to not only become reacquainted with him but are also introduced to a handful of new characters; chief amongst them is Miles Whittaker (Sanders), an aspiring artist who is tempted into a life of easy money, crime, and violence. McCall acts as a positive influence on Miles, encouraging him to stick with his studies and follow his passion for art but is eventually forced to violently confront a bunch of gangsters on their home turf to convince Miles not to get caught up in that life. McCall strikes with a precise fury, busting in on the gang with two guns, and goes to extreme lengths (forcing a gun into Miles’s hand and daring him to shoot him and then holding him at gunpoint and getting uncharacteristically emotional about the gang life, guns, and violence that Miles seems to find so attractive) to deter Miles from that life.

However, there are some returning characters to the film, namely McCall’s former colleagues Susan (Leo) and Brian Plummer (Pullman); these two, particularly Susan, are the only ones that are aware of his double life and with whom he can open up to about his dead wife and former life. His interactions with both allows us to see, more explicitly, McCall’s more human and vulnerable side and learn a little bit more about who he used to be. Susan regularly feeds him information and resources to help keep him busy but encourages him to return home, the suggestion being that he is hiding from confronting his loss in this new city and new vigilante-style life, and her sudden and violent death clearly affects McCall’s characteristically stoic and disciplined demeanour.

Putting his unique set of skills to use to quickly identify the two responsible for Susan’s murder, McCall reaches out to another of his former colleagues, Dave York (Pascal). York initially appears to be a close friend and former partner of McCall’s but it doesn’t take long for McCall to piece together that York has betrayed everything he stood for and, alongside their entire former team, has become little more than a mercenary. This sets York up as the film’s primary antagonist quite late into the film as, before this revelation, it appears as though Resnik (Scarfe) is to be the main antagonist. While you might think that York would be a formidable opponent for McCall, given that they (and their team) are cut from the same cloth, he fails to properly match up to enforcer Teddy Rensen (Marton Csokas) from the last film, being less of a physical or formidable threat despite escalating the personal nature of the film’s final act.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Rather than go for a “bigger, better” approach for the sequel, The Equalizer 2 is more of the same meticulously paced, cerebral character study as the first film rather than being a much more action-packed and fast-paced affair. Indeed, I expected to see McCall taking on various cases, especially in the film’s early going, but his alias of “The Equalizer” is never used or referred to, even in passing, and, instead, McCall simply acts when he observes injustice in the lives of those around him; he wrecks a bunch of wealthy shit-heads for abusing a young intern out of the kindness of his heart and for her sake rather than any kind of payment or recognition and rescues the young daughter of his preferred bookstore owner’s just because he can and it is the right thing to do.

Of course, more time spent with McCall means we learn a little bit more about who he is and why he does what he does. Once again, this is delivered in snippets, hinting at his former life and what motivates him to help others: whilst cleaning up the gang graffiti on his building, McCall intimates that it is because no one else will and plenty of people are happy to complain or let someone else take care of problems but no one ever does, so he does it. Similarly, as if the personal stakes McCall has in this film aren’t enough, during his tense confrontation with York, McCall admits that he deserves to die “many times over” for the sins he has committed in the past, showing that he is equally motivated by atonement as much as anything else.

We also get to see a bit more of McCall’s wide array of skills; his unique observational abilities and insight also allow him to correctly recreate the murders Resnik perpetrated to get a sense of how he thinks and operates, all of which not only help McCall piece together more details on the murders. Additionally, his combat proficiency is at such a level that he’s even able to emerge the victor (relatively unscathed) in a fight with an armed man while he (McCall) is driving a car!

As an antagonist, York (sadly always referred to as “Dave” throughout the film, which isn’t that intimidating of a name for your main bad guy) falls a little short; his motivations are essentially the same as Alec Trevelyan’s (Sean Bean) in that he killed for his country and blindly followed orders only to be screwed over by the system and his superiors and cast aside, and that the entirety of their unit has gone rogue in the same way as a result. McCall, however, is less than impressed or intimidated and simply vows to kill each of them to avenge Susan and for betraying her/him/everything they once stood for and is easily able to get Brian to safety, guide Miles to a hidden panic room in his (McCall’s) apartment, and to evade York’s attempts to take him out.

Even when York takes Miles as a hostage and baits him into a final confrontation at his seaside hometown (which Susan eludes McCall has been actively avoiding returning to due to the lingering history he has there and which is also under siege from a hurricane, with the tumultuous storm both representing the animal within McCall and contrasting with his stoic implacability), McCall uses his superior knowledge of the town and stealth tactics to pick them off one by one through a series of deadly traps and efficiently brutal kills, similar to how he picked off Rensen’s men at the conclusion of the first film but on a decidedly larger, more dramatically elaborate scale thanks to the raging storm that covers the town.

Despite York’s superior numbers and weaponry (McCall heads to the town unarmed and only utilises the weapons he acquires or liberates from his surroundings/targets), and him and his goons taking up defensive positions and assuming a tactical advantage through their numbers and placement (with York himself taking the high ground and a sniper position to cover the entire downtown area), McCall easily picks them all off with methodical precision. Accordingly, the film culminates in a showdown between McCall and York; York has Miles bound and gagged in the boot of his car and threatens him to draw McCall out of hiding. McCall, however, is too smart for that and, despite York having the high ground, engages him in a fist fight. Thanks to a lucky cut from a knife, and being the main antagonist, York puts up the only fight McCall has to deal with throughout the film, landing a few hits on McCall, but it’s over almost as soon as it starts and ends with McCall the victor thanks to his brutal efficiency, McCall again assuming that stoic blank slate of cold, unemotional precision

The Summary:
Rather than going in all guns blazing, bigger and better than before, or even following McCall as he solves various problems for a number of different people and gets tangled up in a bigger issue as a result, the film emulates the pace of the original as we follow McCall’s generally quiet life and the people he interacts with, absorbing ourselves in his world, and the action comes in short, sharp waves, escalating over time to the finale similar to the first film. Since McCall is in a whole new place with a new life, we need to become reacquainted with him rather than just picking up where we left off. However, the action/pacing doesn’t exactly kick up a notch after Susan’s death, like you might expect; instead, a methodical pace is retained and things gestate and build, which is great for becoming absorbed in McCall’s world/mindset and does keep the film from just becoming another big, loud action movie, but it is a tad surprising as you would expect things to speed up a bit once McCall is directly affected. Things do, however, pick up a bit once McCall makes things equally personal and targets his former team mates; we’ve seen what he’ll do for complete strangers so this gives us a chance to see just how far he will go, how focused he can be, when someone close to him is caught in the crossfire. The result is the same dogged determination and meticulous approach but with a tinge more aggression, a shade more brutality, and a touch of the raw, animalistic emotion that clearly boils beneath McCall’s surface and that he channels to be such an efficient operative. It can’t be denied, though, that it’s largely more of the same as we saw in the first film, if not somewhat more subdued, making it no better or worse than the original but just as appealing in its execution thanks to Washington’s stoic performance and the fast, brutal, calculated fight scenes.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

What did you think of The Equalizer 2? How do you feel it compares to the first film and the original television series? Would you like to see more films in the series? How do you feel this film holds up to others of its kind? Which film did the “retired hitman called into action” concept better? No matter what you think about The Equalizer 2, and similar films in this sub-genre, go ahead and leave a comment below.

Released: 26 September 2014
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $73 million
Stars: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, David Harbour, Johnny Skourtis, and Chloë Grace Moretz

The Plot:
Robert McCall (Washington) is a simple man of routine, an unassuming widower living a quiet life in Boston, who is unwittingly drawn back into his mysterious and violent past when Alina (Moretz), a teenage prostitute he has befriended, is attacked. Before long, McCall’s peaceful life is turned upside down when Alina’s handlers, bankrolled by the Russian mafia, send sadistic enforcer Teddy Rensen (Csokas) to find who is responsible for the gang-land style murders McCall has orchestrated.

The Background:
The Equalizer began life as an American crime drama that aired between 1985 and 1989; the series starred British actor Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former covert operations officer who offered his unique services as a troubleshooter, protector, or an investigator. The series ran for eighty-eight episodes back in the eighties but development of a cinematic retelling didn’t come about until 2010, when Russell Crowe was originally attached to star in the title role. By the end of 2011, however, Denzel Washington had replaced Crowe and director Antoine Fuqua came onboard for this dramatic reimagining of the former spy turned problem solver. Though somewhat sub-par compared to films of a similar nature, such as Taken (Morel, 2008) and John Wick (Stahelski, 2014), both of which portrayed retired, aging specialists brought back into action, The Equalizer was a pretty decent box office success, making over $190 million worldwide against its $73 million budget and Washington played against type by starring in a sequel in 2018.

The Review:
I should stress going into this review that I never watched the original Equalizer television series; I was just a baby when it first aired and I don’t recall it ever being on TV when I was growing up so my first exposure to the concept was with this big screen reimagining. However, I have long been a fan of action movies and have a particular fondness for the sub-genre films like Taken have inspired that sees older actors taking on roles of retired hitmen or government operatives brought back into action. It’s a bit of a hit and miss sub-genre, to be honest, but mostly these sort of films land pretty well with me and, while not quite as good as some of its counterparts, The Equalizer does more than enough to impress in this regard.

As The Equalizer is the story or Robert McCall, the film revolves around (and is largely carried by) a haunting, subdued performance by Denzel Washington; a man of strict habit and routine, McCall is a friendly, hardworking widower who works in a garden centre. Though his past is a mystery to his co-workers (and, largely, to us, the audience), it has little bearing on his demeanour; he’s always willing to help others (he’s actively spotting and offering advice to his friend and co-worker, Ralph (Skourtis) to help him lose weight for a security guard job) and is a wise, sympathetic listener. However, McCall is clearly haunted by his past, in particular the loss of his wife; unable to sleep, he often sits and reads quietly in a 24/7 diner, meticulously bringing his own tea bag and utensils as he makes his way through book after book. It’s there that he meets Alina, who works under the name Teri, whom he encourages to eat healthier and to pursue her dreams of being a singer. After Alina is roughed up by her handlers, though, McCall attempts to buy her freedom and, despite his better judgement and the promise he made to his wife, is sucked back into his old violent ways.

When he makes the decision to dish out vigilante justice, McCall transforms into a cold, calculatingly efficient combatant; his heartbeat slows and he seems to absorb everything about his surroundings and targets, visualising exactly how he will dispatch them and estimating the time it will take him to do so. While age has clearly made him slower at this, he’s still formidable and skilled enough to overwhelm entire rooms full of younger, armed individuals without breaking a sweat or even breathing heavily. The way Washington transforms his demeanour into an unblinking, unflinching, cold-hearted machine is mesmerising; he almost becomes robotic in his movements, with a nearly precognitive awareness of his surroundings thanks to his ability to “read” a room and the intentions of others.

Of course, he’s not just about physical punishment; thanks to his scrupulous attention to detail, foresight, and over-preparedness (and his clear signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder), McCall is able to plan accordingly to stay one step ahead of his foes (renting a back-up apartment, for example, using his mysterious resources to get information and laying traps in the film’s finale). An intelligent, shrewd individual, he exudes a quiet self-confidence that never borders on arrogance and always offers his enemies the option to walk away before letting himself loose.

Opposing McCall is a Russian enforcer who has the potential to be every bit his intellectual and physical equal but finds himself outmatched every turn by the aged operative; adorned in intimidating tattoos and driven by an intense sadistic streak, Rensen is an equally cold, self-confident individual with a vindictive mean streak. Despite his assertions to the contrary, however, he is ruled by his emotions and ego far more than McCall, which lead to him losing his cool and growing increasingly frustrated at the inability of himself and his underlings to track down and end McCall.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Much of The Equalizer’s pace and early going is, smartly, devoted to setting up McCall’s rather normal, perhaps even mundane lifestyle; we walk through his daily routine, see the many little habits he performs on an almost ritualistic basis, and are introduced to him as a kind-hearted, easy-going individual. Obviously, there is more to him though; Washington’s eyes and demeanour tell more of a story about his mysterious, violent, and painful past than words ever could, meaning that much of The Equalizer is an exercise in subtlety and establishing a mood rather than non-stop action.

When McCall does take action, though, the complexion of the movie shifts dramatically; suddenly, McCall transforms before our eyes into this merciless, unstoppable killer who dispatches even armed foes with ease and grace. It isn’t until quite late into the film that McCall comes up against an opponent who offers him a physical challenge but, even when shot or stabbed or injured, McCall is smart and savvy enough of a veteran to know how to patch himself up and he never once loses his cool.

In fact, the opposite is overwhelmingly true; when his eyes widen and his heartbeat slows, McCall becomes this blank slate of efficiency, never blinking or flinching or, seemingly, breathing as he effortlessly takes command of every situation even when he is injured since he has scrupulously taken into account every possible outcome for each scenario. In the finale, he puts his knowledge of the layout of his workplace to good use to set up some gruesome traps and thin out Rensen’s numbers before finally confronting the Russian hitman with nothing more than a nail gun.

The action of the film this escalates over time, getting bigger and more brazen the more McCall indulges in his long-retired skill set; when he takes out Alina’s handlers, he unwittingly throws a wrench into the Russian mafia’s Boston operation. Before long, he’s confronting corrupt cops in the mafia’s pocket, disrupting their entire money-laundering operation, blowing up much of their merchandise, and eventually travelling to Moscow to take out their big cheese, Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich). It’s not exactly a non-stop thrill ride but it is an extremely intense experience; fight scenes are gritty, visceral, and methodical and, while McCall is largely unmatched, he’s still vulnerable enough to be hurt at times and clearly conflicted by his actions.

The Summary:
The Equalizer is as intense and methodical as its titular character; largely a character-driven piece that leaves us with more questions than answers regarding McCall’s mysterious past, it’s an engaging piece of vigilante cinema whose action escalates the more McCall rediscovers his penchant for violence. It’s not quite on the level of Taken or John Wick, to be fair and, from what I can gather, is quite a departure from the original television series but there’s plenty here to keep you engaged and invested and seeing Washington literally transform into this efficient, precise killer is always a blast.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

What did you think of The Equalizer? Did you watch the television series back and the day and, if so, how do you feel the film holds up compared to it? What did you think to Denzel Washington’s performance? How do you feel this film holds up to others of its kind? Which film did the “retired hitman called into action” concept better? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below.