Movie Night is here and as usual, I am excited! Since 2014 when I watched the prequel, I have been looking forward to Equalizer 2, which was released in Nigeria yesterday . Something about the gentle grieving bookworm, who is also the neighborhood vigilante struck a cord. Denzel Washington is Mr McCall, a former CIA agent dishing out righteous judgement on pimps and drug dealers, and this time, he is here for the traitors.

If you haven’t seen the Equalizer, watch the trailer here:

 

If you have, but not seen Equalizer 2, I’ve got you too

 

 

I’ll start by saying Denzel is aging well. Clean shaven and sober in this movie, he is still a joy to watch. I won’t say too much. I don’t want to leave any spoilers, but here goes.

The first scene was perfect. Mr McCall is on the train and questions immediately start forming in my mind; “Are we in the middle of this movie?”, “Where is he going?”, “What’s with the beard?”. In the first five minutes, bones were breaking and bodies were littered on the floor. I was hooked. I enjoyed the gradual build up of the plot, allowing us get to know the main character in detail. I love that the movie theme and character’s interests and motives stayed true to the first Equalizer movie.

“There are two kinds of pain in this world; pain that hurts, pain that alters.
Bugün, seçeceksiniz (Today, you will choose)“

After that succinct monologue, I knew my wait would be worthwhile. The dialogue in the movie was really witty, sarcastic and often laden with cryptic threats.

The cinematography did not disappoint. I had no reason to question the stunts, everything flowed seamlessly. Unlike in Superfly,  there was no doubt Denzel was driving the car, even as he wrestled with the assailant in the back seat. It was fast paced, detailed and quite believable.

Next, I noticed that a lot of effort was made to ensure societal, cultural and religious diversity was portrayed in this movie. As a humble cab driver, the movie takes us from the high end parts of the city all the way to the hood. It even includes Fatimah; an Arab or perhaps Muslim neighbor who Mr McCall greets with “Assalaamu ‘Alaikum”.

In addition, I appreciate that this movie wasn’t sexualised in anyway. This is rare, especially when the lead character is a single man. There’s too often a love interest or a sex scene to appeal to a broader audience and keep us interested. Thankfully, this wasn’t necessary. The plot was thick enough to be engaging without it.

The mistake you made was that you killed my friend. So, I am going to kill each and everyone of you, and  the only disappointment in it for me is that I only get to do it once.

Finally, I was pleased to see Ashton Sanders as Miles Whittaker. This 22 year old is relatively new to the big screen, and his performance in Moonlight(2016) was remarkable, getting him nominated for a number of awards that year.

Related: Movie Review: Superfly

For a story reach with intellectual endeavor, the end was slightly disappointing. No one with this much military experience, will follow the enemy to his home to settle a score, in bad weather, and still expect to win. The moment they followed him, I knew it would end. Perhaps the villains overestimated their capacity considering that Mr McCall was an old man? Let me know what you think.

This, in my opinion is a great date night movie. It’s one to watch in the cinema because I enjoy validation in the audible unison reactions to action packed scenes. Those scenes where everyone just starts laughing or clapping. It’s one of those movies where you leave feeling satisfied.

I don’t recommend this movie for kids. There is strong language and a lot of violence; I mean guns, knives, kicking and a lot of broken bones. Plus, I don’t know how you’d explain the dangerous driving or killing a man in the front seat to an impressionable young mind.

Summarily, this is a fantastic action movie that will have you cheering in your seat. If you haven’t seen this movie, get up and go see it. It is worth your time and money, I promise. Will I watch it again? Most certainly!

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Have you seen Equalizer 2? Let me know what you think in the comments!
As always, thank you for reading!
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