Sunday afternoon I went to see The Equalizer 2 which, as a fan of the first movie, I have been anticipating for a while. Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a former black-ops agent who is now a Lyft driver in Boston but he is also a guardian angel of sorts who dispenses vigilante justice for the random strangers he meets. However, when Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo), a former colleague, is murdered in Brussels while investigating the murder of a CIA contact it gets personal. It becomes even more personal when he discovers her killers. It is a very slow burn while McCall tracks the killers down but, once he does, there is an epic confrontation in a seaside town that has been evacuated for a hurricane where he dispatches them one by one. The action sequences, including the opening on a train to Istanbul, are incredibly intense and exciting to watch but I also enjoyed the quieter moments that provide a satisfying emotional arc for McCall. There is an affecting subplot where McCall helps a Holocaust survivor (Orson Bean) track down a painting stolen by the Nazis and another where he mentors an at-risk teen (Ashton Sanders). Washington gives a riveting performance, both as a man of action and as a man in torment. I don't think this installment is as good as the first one but I really enjoyed it and I recommend it to fans of action thrillers.
No comments:
Post a Comment