207.
The Equalizer 2
7.5/10
Big Denzel is back on our screens in another action filled movie that will hopefully do the first on justice. The first Equaliser movie was a non-stop rollercoaster of killing but will this live up to that or will I hate it for being just like John Wick which is just killing for the sake of killing with no decent storyline. I'm a massive fan or the action movies that Denzel Washington brings to the table and I'm in no doubt that this will end up being an enjoyable watch for me. Let's find out if it is equal.
We get action from the off as a disguised Denzel, playing Robert McCall, is on a Turkish train, kicking ass and taking names of a gent and his mates who have kidnapped his daughter from her mother.
Once this kidnapper became aware of McCall's intentions, he orders his men to have a go but in style, McCall sets his watch and finishes the job. He then approaches the father and gives him a chance to take the easy way out. Back in Boston, the mother heads into her office to work and finds her daughter there, embracing her with tears.
McCall now works as a Lyft driver, picking up passengers like a private taxi. One of his regulars is a very old man, who is busy looking for his long-lost sister before it is too late. One night he is asked to take home a young woman who is clearly drugged and possibly raped, so after dropping her off at the hospital, McCall heads back to the guy's apartment to confront him and his mates, asking them to do the right thing. This doesn't go down well though and we end the scene with some more broken men.
In Belgium, a man named Mr. Calbert returns home to find his wife beaten and three men emerge before shooting the woman in the head. These three, named Resnik, Ari and Kovac, then force a gun into the mouth of Calbert and pull the trigger. We head back to McCall's and once again he is living in a small style apartment, making friends with the neighbours and when he finds out that one has had her garden vandalized and walls sprayed with graffiti, he takes it personally. He takes to take the paint down himself until he is met by a youngster named Miles. Miles and McCall interact quite often as McCall wants the best for him, not the life of drug selling. He offers to help sort out the graffiti for a price.
Later in the day, McCall heads to a bookstore to pick up a new one that he has ordered. Behind the desk, we see Grace, the mother from the earlier rescue and her daughter recognises him. The mother doesn't know the story or that McCall is the saviour. When he arrives back him, his old friend Susan is already there and they share a friendly meal on the anniversary of McCall's late wife's birthday. She tries to suggest that he gets out more. Once Susan returns home, she speaks to her colleague Dave, played by Pedro Pascal. This guy was class as the Viper in Game of Thrones until he got his head crushed. They are investigating the murder of that Calbert fella. They both fly out to the scene and quickly realize that something was up. Back at their hotel, Susan is set upon by two thugs and they shout something about money. She holds her own until she is cornered in her bedroom.
McCall is now watching as Miles paints the wall and then he gets a call from Susan's husband. He informs him that she had been murdered, leading to McCall to fly straight out to Washington DC and to the funeral. He later investigates the death by watching the security tapes and looking at the crime photos. At the thug's hideout, they are listening to music until a phone rings. They have no idea where it is coming from but after finding it, it explodes and the camera switches to outside where we once again see Resnik, who has tied up some loose ends. McCall then gets in touch with Dave, who didn't realise that McCall was still alive to this day. They discuss the death of Susan and then the thugs both realising that it was definitely a loose end killing. Overall, this has to be connected with the Colbert murder, but why?
McCall is back home, noticing that Miles is leaving with some local gangsters. He follows him, knocks out some guards, takes their guns and heads into their apartment, telling Miles to come home with him. The gangsters were going to help Miles get revenge for the killing of his brothers. This is the moment that Miles and McCall fall out after McCall tries to give him advice on it all.
Back at his day job, he picks up a shady looking character who needs a lift to the airport. When he feels something is up, McCall intentionally goes the wrong way. The man doesn't bat an eyelid and when McCall admits this, the guy tries to stab him, leading to an in-car fight scene. The car is flung around like crazy to throw the guy around as much as possible. Then a gun is in play and McCall knows he needs to end this quickly. It ends with a bullet and McCall takes the guys phone and finds coded information on it before burning the car and the man's body. With everything escalating, he takes Susan's husband to a safe house before he can also become a loose end.
McCall heads back to Dave's with the phone. He meets his family and even sits down to breakfast. He then has a one-to-one with Dave and shows him the information he found, which leads back to another phone and not just any phone, DAVE'S. For some reason, McCall always knew and Dave instantly explains. When the gang thought that McCall was dead, they all got into some nasty business for more money. Susan nearly found out and they had to kill her. Dave takes McCall outside to meet the whole team that he trained and the lads that we saw kill Colbert. McCall promises them all that he'll kill them for what they did to Susan and then takes an offer of a lift from Dave's wife in some sort of taunt to him. Miles is back at McCall's place painting his kitchen and calls McCall just as some of the guys are trying to break into the apartment. He orders Miles to hide behind a bookcase but Miles starts to panic, giving away his position but the men don't seek him out because McCall calls Dave and tells him where to meet him. A little while later, Miles steps out and opens the apartment door but just as he thinks he's safe, he gets snatched.
McCall ends up taking the final fight to his old home town, which is being evacuated due to a hurricane. As the wind picks up, McCall takes out the men one by one, with Dave at the top of a tower with a sniper, only ever catching a glimpse of his enemy.
He calls McCall and tells him that Miles is in the trunk of a car, as he starts shooting at it. Due to the crazy wind, he can't get a decent shot. This gives our hero time to climb the tower and fight Dave, killing him by slicing the back of his neck and chucking him from the tower to the rocks below to be swept away by the sea.
Miles is freed from his car styled cage and takes him to his old house to patch up his wounded leg. Miles finally sees pictures of McCall's past. Ones of him with his wife and ones of him in a soldier uniform. The two head home, finish the garden and wall and Miles is seen talking to a girl on the school bus who has taken an interest in the drawing that he's doing. Sam, the old man from the beginning is seen reuniting with his sister after McCall pulled a few strings to make it happen. This only leaves us with McCall's ending and he is seen back at his old house, standing outside and staring out onto the ocean like a widow.
To be fair, this movie was exactly as I expected. Watching Denzel kick ass once more and all in the name of good. It took me a long time to see the first movie and I loved it so when I noticed this was coming out, I got excited. Washington reprises his role with ease, making it look easy to flip between a soft-hearted helper to a complete assassin when need be. Every other character brought a little something to the table and seeing Pedro as a villain once more is showing his ability to play a loveable character and a hated one. And I truly hated his character in Kingsman, but that was just because I hated the movie. There was a decent spin on the storyline as McCall's old team became the villains but there wasn't too many twists and turns that would confuse us. It was just the right amount. With the ages getting on and with both movies coming out strong, part of me hopes that a third installment doesn't come. I don't want this turning into the Taken franchise which easily overstayed it's welcome by making a third. It felt like a peaceful end to a good duo of movies.
We get action from the off as a disguised Denzel, playing Robert McCall, is on a Turkish train, kicking ass and taking names of a gent and his mates who have kidnapped his daughter from her mother.
Once this kidnapper became aware of McCall's intentions, he orders his men to have a go but in style, McCall sets his watch and finishes the job. He then approaches the father and gives him a chance to take the easy way out. Back in Boston, the mother heads into her office to work and finds her daughter there, embracing her with tears.
McCall now works as a Lyft driver, picking up passengers like a private taxi. One of his regulars is a very old man, who is busy looking for his long-lost sister before it is too late. One night he is asked to take home a young woman who is clearly drugged and possibly raped, so after dropping her off at the hospital, McCall heads back to the guy's apartment to confront him and his mates, asking them to do the right thing. This doesn't go down well though and we end the scene with some more broken men.
In Belgium, a man named Mr. Calbert returns home to find his wife beaten and three men emerge before shooting the woman in the head. These three, named Resnik, Ari and Kovac, then force a gun into the mouth of Calbert and pull the trigger. We head back to McCall's and once again he is living in a small style apartment, making friends with the neighbours and when he finds out that one has had her garden vandalized and walls sprayed with graffiti, he takes it personally. He takes to take the paint down himself until he is met by a youngster named Miles. Miles and McCall interact quite often as McCall wants the best for him, not the life of drug selling. He offers to help sort out the graffiti for a price.
Later in the day, McCall heads to a bookstore to pick up a new one that he has ordered. Behind the desk, we see Grace, the mother from the earlier rescue and her daughter recognises him. The mother doesn't know the story or that McCall is the saviour. When he arrives back him, his old friend Susan is already there and they share a friendly meal on the anniversary of McCall's late wife's birthday. She tries to suggest that he gets out more. Once Susan returns home, she speaks to her colleague Dave, played by Pedro Pascal. This guy was class as the Viper in Game of Thrones until he got his head crushed. They are investigating the murder of that Calbert fella. They both fly out to the scene and quickly realize that something was up. Back at their hotel, Susan is set upon by two thugs and they shout something about money. She holds her own until she is cornered in her bedroom.
McCall is now watching as Miles paints the wall and then he gets a call from Susan's husband. He informs him that she had been murdered, leading to McCall to fly straight out to Washington DC and to the funeral. He later investigates the death by watching the security tapes and looking at the crime photos. At the thug's hideout, they are listening to music until a phone rings. They have no idea where it is coming from but after finding it, it explodes and the camera switches to outside where we once again see Resnik, who has tied up some loose ends. McCall then gets in touch with Dave, who didn't realise that McCall was still alive to this day. They discuss the death of Susan and then the thugs both realising that it was definitely a loose end killing. Overall, this has to be connected with the Colbert murder, but why?
McCall is back home, noticing that Miles is leaving with some local gangsters. He follows him, knocks out some guards, takes their guns and heads into their apartment, telling Miles to come home with him. The gangsters were going to help Miles get revenge for the killing of his brothers. This is the moment that Miles and McCall fall out after McCall tries to give him advice on it all.
Back at his day job, he picks up a shady looking character who needs a lift to the airport. When he feels something is up, McCall intentionally goes the wrong way. The man doesn't bat an eyelid and when McCall admits this, the guy tries to stab him, leading to an in-car fight scene. The car is flung around like crazy to throw the guy around as much as possible. Then a gun is in play and McCall knows he needs to end this quickly. It ends with a bullet and McCall takes the guys phone and finds coded information on it before burning the car and the man's body. With everything escalating, he takes Susan's husband to a safe house before he can also become a loose end.
McCall heads back to Dave's with the phone. He meets his family and even sits down to breakfast. He then has a one-to-one with Dave and shows him the information he found, which leads back to another phone and not just any phone, DAVE'S. For some reason, McCall always knew and Dave instantly explains. When the gang thought that McCall was dead, they all got into some nasty business for more money. Susan nearly found out and they had to kill her. Dave takes McCall outside to meet the whole team that he trained and the lads that we saw kill Colbert. McCall promises them all that he'll kill them for what they did to Susan and then takes an offer of a lift from Dave's wife in some sort of taunt to him. Miles is back at McCall's place painting his kitchen and calls McCall just as some of the guys are trying to break into the apartment. He orders Miles to hide behind a bookcase but Miles starts to panic, giving away his position but the men don't seek him out because McCall calls Dave and tells him where to meet him. A little while later, Miles steps out and opens the apartment door but just as he thinks he's safe, he gets snatched.
McCall ends up taking the final fight to his old home town, which is being evacuated due to a hurricane. As the wind picks up, McCall takes out the men one by one, with Dave at the top of a tower with a sniper, only ever catching a glimpse of his enemy.
He calls McCall and tells him that Miles is in the trunk of a car, as he starts shooting at it. Due to the crazy wind, he can't get a decent shot. This gives our hero time to climb the tower and fight Dave, killing him by slicing the back of his neck and chucking him from the tower to the rocks below to be swept away by the sea.
Miles is freed from his car styled cage and takes him to his old house to patch up his wounded leg. Miles finally sees pictures of McCall's past. Ones of him with his wife and ones of him in a soldier uniform. The two head home, finish the garden and wall and Miles is seen talking to a girl on the school bus who has taken an interest in the drawing that he's doing. Sam, the old man from the beginning is seen reuniting with his sister after McCall pulled a few strings to make it happen. This only leaves us with McCall's ending and he is seen back at his old house, standing outside and staring out onto the ocean like a widow.
To be fair, this movie was exactly as I expected. Watching Denzel kick ass once more and all in the name of good. It took me a long time to see the first movie and I loved it so when I noticed this was coming out, I got excited. Washington reprises his role with ease, making it look easy to flip between a soft-hearted helper to a complete assassin when need be. Every other character brought a little something to the table and seeing Pedro as a villain once more is showing his ability to play a loveable character and a hated one. And I truly hated his character in Kingsman, but that was just because I hated the movie. There was a decent spin on the storyline as McCall's old team became the villains but there wasn't too many twists and turns that would confuse us. It was just the right amount. With the ages getting on and with both movies coming out strong, part of me hopes that a third installment doesn't come. I don't want this turning into the Taken franchise which easily overstayed it's welcome by making a third. It felt like a peaceful end to a good duo of movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment