Wick's Review

Summary - Really Great 4.5

The legendary Denzel Washington etches another inimitable role into his peerless oeuvre as the returning Equalizer. Call him the Super Equalizer, able to right wrongs with a single, well-choreographed sequence of avenging ultra-violence. It’s an intoxicating brew, magnificently well presented, even important in its way.

That last is because of Antoine Fuqua & Richard Wenk’s incisive take on contemporary America as seen in the back seat of a Lyft car in Boston, and more because of the bravura role model that Denzel Washington provides for a fatherless black boy in the innercity. To that last, I’m a white guy, so have minimal standing here, but Fuqua & Washington should be very proud of the nearby Let’s go Miles scene. Instantly legendary, it’s a valuable tonic for what ails not just African-Americans, but fatherless boys in so many communities.

He’s a classic male role model: upright, controlled, unflinching, does what needs doing. If conflict arises, he asks for no quarter and gives none. Sure, The Equalizer 2 is sordid and supernatural, scoring a 2.9 on the edge scale and coming in at 3.1x normal reality, aka supernatural. It would be even edgier but for being rather chaste in terms of sex. Its violence, OTOH, is downright savage, its rudeness well into the profane.

So what if this bravura movie sprang from a TV series I never regretted not watching. I do regret missing The Equalizer movie. Even more, so what if left-wing prudes might dismiss it as revenge porn or toxic masculinity. The Equalizer 2 succeeds as supremely entertaining movie-entertainment and object-lesson in upright masculinity. If we had more of that last in America today, we’d have a more equal society for sure.

Acting - Great 4.0

Tour de force of acting, what with Denzel going from grave to grinning in his oh-so-cool mercurial way, and then working with the great Melissa Leo, the great Orson Bean and a very impressive Pedro Pascal.

• Denzel’s return trip as Mac the Equalizer is top tier, grade-A mega movie stardom.
• Melissa Leo lovingly spars with him, while adroitly showing considerable spine of her own.
• Bill Pullman jumps offscreen in little more than a cameo as her husband.
• Orson Bean is great as a charming Holocaust survivor, albeit he’s not a believable Jew. Nope, the great Bean is a WASP from central casting.
• Pedro Pascal jumps offscreen as a CIA lieutenant. With this role, Pascal has upped his profile after disappointing in Kingsman 2.

Film - Really Great 4.5

Antoine Fuqua directed Richard Wenk’s terrific screenplay into an exceedingly well constructed film:

• Fuqua presages action sequences somewhat like Guy Ritchie did in Sherlock Holmes. He uses a trope for how the Super Equalizer foresees fights and then ruthlessly executes his deftly constructed plan of attack.
• Wenk & Fuqua spring regular surprises on we in the audience, small surprises and large ones.
• No scene or dialog is wasted. Each sets up or pays off significant plot points.
• Weaves compelling human drama into a batshit crazy action movie (a supernatural 3.1x rFactor)

Edge - Sordid 2.9

Chaste in terms of sex, The Equalizer 2 goes full bore savage in terms of violence and is profanely rude.

Reality - Supernatural 3.1

The Equalizer 2 is Jason Bourne fake-o, James Bond fake-o, Evelyn Salt fake-o, a full supernatural, with bioreality coming in high-test at 3.8x, followed by an even 3x in circoreality and modest 2.4x physioreality.

• Feed
• Movies
• ViewLists
• NewOnDemand