This sequelizer to The Equalizer stars Denzel Washington as the eponymous neutralizer of vandalizers, terrorizers and burglarizers. It’s the perfect film if you want to catch some Zs.
Since the first film, our reluctant hero has become a trigger-happy vigilante who appears to travel the world killing bad guys. He’s also a Lyft driver, which seems like a poor choice of job for someone trying to stay off-grid. The only job less appropriate would be if he was a news anchor or the Numa Numa guy.
Antoine Fuqua and Richard Wenk are back on directing and writing duties respectively, only this time they don’t give a Fuqua about style and the script is a load of Wenk. They swap the previous picture’s stylish, straightforward execution for a convoluted conspiracy plot that’s as unpleasant and hole-ridden as one of Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ bedtime stories.
There was no complex backstory first time out; the fun was in seeing a mild-mannered Denzel Washington equalizing a bunch of thugs using no fewer than 23 improvised weapons. Here it’s pretty much just guns, and a load of superfluous subplots that make the movie as messy narratively as it is visually.
Failing to equal its prequel or spark enthusiasm for The Threequalizer, The Equalizer 2 feels more like a Liam Neesonizer. Overcomplicated yet underdeveloped, this unequalled mess of a movie is one ‘Lizer too many.