The Equalizer 2 | Teen Ink

The Equalizer 2

February 4, 2019
By MovieReviewer_18 ELITE, Short Hills, New Jersey
MovieReviewer_18 ELITE, Short Hills, New Jersey
678 articles 0 photos 8 comments

 The Equalizer 2 is the sequel to the action-packed The Equalizer and proves to be a sufficient one. The movie continues the adventures of Robert McCall, who is now a Lyft driver by day, and by night, he chooses to spend his time helping random people who are in a great need of it. This includes going all the way to Turkey to save a child, beating up a group of thugs single-handedly, and help turn around a young man's life. Robert is a simple man with a simple life, and he really doesn't spend that much time with friends. In fact, he really only has one friend in Susan Plummer. She is always there for him and is able to conduct research from her government position to help find information for him. However, when she's investigating a crime scene in Brussels after a family was killed, the same group gets the drop on her and ends up killing her. In order to avenge his best friend, Robert stops his hiding and goes to hunt down each and every one of the highly trained assassins that are responsible. Meanwhile, Robert also tries his best to save a talented artist from going down the wrong path and joining a gang. He tries to accomplish everything, but because he is juggling so many different things, McCall may finally have met his match. 
 The Equalizer 2 proves to be an exhilarating thriller that is jam-packed with adventure. The beginning of the movie does a brilliant job of transitioning from the first movie and reintroducing audiences to the incredible life of Robert McCall. It's always fun to see how Robert lives a typical life, because he is so set in stone in his own peculiar ways, so for him, even the little things, like washing apples, need to be done in a particular manner. The middle of the movie does a marvelous job of progressing the movie along and introducing other minor sub-arcs into the film, which all help to make the movie a far more intriguing story. The enticing ending of the movie proves to be one of the movie's best parts and definitely lives up to expectations. Robert's methods of taking down bad guys are clever, as per usual, and are quite enjoyable to watch. The actual conclusion of the movie is able to combine together with the very start of the movie to create a coherent story that is filled with character development and life-defining moments. The movie greatly benefits from having some truly thrilling twists and turns that aren't that frequent in the movie, but when they do occur, they are thought through and involve some truly amazing ways to continue to push Robert to his very limit, and they do manage to genuinely surprise audiences. 

 The Equalizer 2 proves to be about as good as the original and keeps up the fantastic dialogue. The movie still has its perfectly-timed quotes and outstanding one-liners that add delight to viewers' faces. Robert McCall's character is still one that is capable of giving great life advice, but at the same time, he's also capable of beating just about any assassin in combat, helping to make him quite the extraordinary character. 

 The Equalizer 2 greatly benefits from having a tremendous cast that is really able to transform into their roles. As one might predict, Denzel Washington is spectacular once again and continues to be the face of this franchise as Robert McCall. He is able to carry the movie on his shoulders, and his performance certainly is one to remember because of the level of intensity and emotion he brings to the table. Secondly, his performance with Ashton Sanders who plays Miles, a young artist, counter-balances with one another nicely to create a fabulous acting duo that should hopefully be back for more. 

 The Equalizer 2 also has some dazzling visuals that help to make all of the action scenes come to life even more, and all of the ways in which Robert is able to fight villains are made even more realistic, helping to make watchers feel like they are watching the battles in person. These superb special effects are called on early and often and truly help to elevate the movie's fight scenes to the next level. 

 Although viewers seem to be able to find a great deal of satisfaction with The Equalizer 2, it doesn't seem like critics completely felt the same way. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a decent 51%, which isn't terrible but certainly isn't terrific, and IMDb gave the movie an alright 6.8/10, which is actually somewhat better than it sounds, because they are known to give generally lower scores. However, an outstanding 92% of Google users liked the movie, demonstrating that viewers really do seem to find contentment with the film. 

 The Equalizer 2 isn't perfect, but it has creative, inventive action scenes that are quite wondrous to watch and is overall an extremely solid sequel to the original, because it manages to still have a good concept, an awesome dialogue, and a talented Denzel that continues to shine. 


The author's comments:

"Yes, you do. And it takes talent to make money. But it takes brains to keep it." - Robert McCall


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