The Equalizer 2
2018 · Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Original language: English
- action
- thriller
- crime
The story
Robert McCall, who serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, embarks on a relentless, globe-trotting quest for vengeance when his former partner is murdered.
What it’s like
Cool, desaturated Boston-area streets and the glossy, sun-baked Turkish coastline give this sequel a precise, almost clinical look, with tight handheld close-ups and patient, deliberate framing that lingers on Denzel Washington's stillness. The Lightness of its quieter scenes, a coffee shop, a hardware store, a neighbourhood at dusk, sits against long stretches of tension in shadowy rooms lit by single practical sources, and a restrained, pulsing synth-and-strings score thickens as the revenge plot tightens. The vibe is grim, controlled and steadily menacing, more brooding than frantic, with a slow-building rhythm that breaks into sharp, brutal bursts of violence. Expect a lot of it: close-quarters killings, gunfights, and a hurricane-lashed set piece, along with a rape, kidnapping and hostage threats that are alluded to and shown with real weight, so this is not gentle viewing. It suits a late-night watch for people who like a methodical vigilante with a heavy moral streak, a lonely older man who becomes a one-man reckoning, and who are comfortable with sustained brutality and dark, unsentimental violence.
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