Equal sequel lesser than
‘T HEEqualizer” should be locked in a room with “The Terminator.” Then this lousy series would be killed off.
Denzel Washington is back in the sequel to his 2014 action film, which was based on the popular ’80s TV show. Returning alongside the Oscar winner are our old friends plot holes, trite dialogue and horse-and-buggy pacing.
Washington plays Robert McCall, a former CIA black-ops agent who used to off people on command — no questions asked. But he left that life and turned into a teddy bear . . . a killer teddy bear. Now, he channels his bloodlust into righting wrongs in his Boston community, and around the globe.
It’s your average vigilantejustice setup, just without excitement or thrills.
McCall now works as a Lyft driver. (Rideshare apps playing major roles in films is a tiresome trend.) He does it mostly, it seems, to patrol the city for miscreants. In one scene, he kicks the asses of a group of businessmen who’ve just raped a woman. In another, he tries to help a Holocaust survivor find his long-lost sister. Wish he would have helped me find some coherence in his movie!
The main plot, if you can call it that, is McCall taking revenge on a group of thugs who killed his pal. Why did they kill her? “Her name was on a sheet of paper,” a thug says. That’s it? Action- thriller villains should, ideally, have better motivations than those of DMV attendants. But this whole shoddy film, for all its skirmishes, is strangely clerical.
When he’s not hunting down the assassins, McCall is also a neighborhood Mary Poppins who teaches local kids moral and behavioral lessons. One teen, Miles (Ashton Sanders), is an art student who’s been cutting class. McCall tries to set Miles straight by encouraging him to paint, and making him learn manners. That Denzel is practically perfect in every way is what makes this movie such a slog.
During every fight, McCall wins easily with nary a scratch on his pinky. There is never a doubt in your mind that he won’t come out on top. The filmmakers are so determined to show off Washington as a badass that they don’t allow him any vulnerability or depth. So, we tune out.
Washington isn’t bad. He never is. But watching him in “The Equalizer 2” is a lot like getting dinner with an old flame. It’s nice to see him, sure, but the spark is gone.