THE EQUALIZER 2
US, 2018, 121 minutes, Colour.
Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Orson Bean, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Clearly The Equaliser was popular with audiences and at the box office. Hence, The Equaliser 2.
In the old days, it was Charles Bronson who was the avenging vigilante, loner righter of wrongs. In more recent times it is Liam Neeson or Denzel Washington. Not that Denzel Washington as Robert Mc Coll was a loner in the past. He worked with a team of agents, government-backed, official assassins. But, with the death of his wife, his being consumed with grief, he has gone out on his own when he sees a wrong to be righted.
This is made very clear in the opening sequence, Mc Coll travelling by train through Turkey (actually very attractive) and confronting the abductor of a child – and, anonymously restoring the child to its mother back in New York. She works in a bookshop which Mc Coll visits, buying the next volume of Proust which is working through. (Charles Bronson probably did not read Proust.)
Mc Coll now seems to be something of an Uber-driver, deeply contemplating the range of passengers with their problems, their issues, their needs – giving the audience time to watch these passengers with Mc Coll and be empathetic like him. He lives alone, has an old Jewish friend (Orson Bean) who has been searching for his long-lost sister from the Holocaust, is friendly with a Muslim gardener at his apartment block, tries to help his young African-American? neighbour (Ashton Sanders), to move him from drug-criminal friends, improve his self-esteem, foster his talent as an artist.
So, what is the violent plot element in this film? Suddenly we are in Brussels, a man arriving home to find intruders in his house, his wife at the dinner table, their both being executed. Mc Coll has a friend, Suzanne (Melissa Leo) who is sent to investigate. The criminals confront her – and, Mc Coll naturally becomes involved.
Actually, the plot is a bit complicated. Mc Coll goes back to the agency, especially his former partner, Dave (Pedro Pascal), a family man, who has thought Mc Coll dead for seven years. There are also other connections from the agency.
Then, the young artist, successful, is visiting Mc Coll’s room and he is trapped by the killers and taken as hostage. Fortunately, Mc Coll has surveillance cameras in all his rooms in his apartment and can see what is going on. The killers then realise that Mc Coll will go to the coast, to his wife’s house. They make for it – but, a hurricane is blowing in from the Atlantic, and the violent climax takes place in wind, rain and storms.
No spoiler to know that all will be well in the end – but all is well in the end for some of the minor characters as well, giving a niceness in our feelings after the brutality that we have witnessed. It is an ugly world – but everything need not be ugly.
1. The popularity of the television series? The original film with Denzel Washington? Action, vigilante, loner, righter of wrongs, moral stances?
2. Following on the original, the role of Denzel Washington, screen personality? Mc Coll, his past? In the train in Turkey, his Muslim disguise, the discussions in the dining car, the issue of the abducted child, the confrontation? Returning the child to Boston, anonymously, his visit to the shop, the child’s mother? His buying the copy of Proust and reading it?
3. The Boston atmosphere? The city lived in? The streets, apartments, neighbourhoods? The countryside? The coast and the storm? The contrast with Brussels? The musical score?
4. Mc Coll as a driver, the range of passengers and their problems, his empathy with them and his observations? Inviting the audience to observe and have the same kind of interest and empathy? His home, the apartment block, his apartment and the security setups? Fatima in the garden, the graffiti on the wall, racism against her? His interest in Sam, listening to his story, his missing sister? His encounters with Miles, living in the apartment block, the painting, eliminating the graffiti, Mc Coll helping him with his art, the criminals, rescuing him, setting him up for his work?
5. The scenes in Brussels, the man arriving home, his wife at the table, the thugs, the executions? Suzanne, going to investigate, the confrontation, the death?
6. The character of Suzanne, friendship with Mc Coll, meeting and talking, memories of the past? The husband, his writing, the book launch? Brian, the news of Suzanne’s death, his grief, Mc Coll preserving him from further attack?
7. Dave, partnering Mc Coll, thinking he was dead for seven years? His work, family, his being sacked, investigation, his betrayal, his team, threats? Going to the apartment, taking Miles as hostage, in the boot of the car? Going to the coast, shooting the security guard warning against the storm?
8. Miles, his character, family, artwork, the graffiti, his design on the wall? The criminals? Mc Coll supporting him? In the apartment, the cameras, hiding, in the boot of the car, the house, the bakery? Dave and his thugs, climbing the tower? Mc Coll and his using his wits, killing the opponents, using the flour and the fan? The final confrontation with Dave?
9. Dave, his group, their motivations, the town, sniper, Mc Coll evading him, the fight, his sport and death? Miles and the shooting? The rescue? The atmospheric hurricane?
10. The happy ending, Miles and his art and Fatima and the picture on the wall, Fatima in peace, Sam and the officials reuniting him with his sister?
