Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

The Equalizer 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 11, 2018

There are two kinds of pain in this world. Pain that hurts. Pain that alters.

Antoine Fuqua's The Equalizer 2 sets out to recreate the structural and storytelling successes of the original film, a finely woven character piece about a man gifted in violence who does bad things in an effort to set things right. The sequel offers much of the same but this time without the character depth, storytelling dynamics, and interesting setting that lifted the first to great heights. Washington again inhabits the character with an agreeable demeanor away from violence and a capable and calm confidence in the midst of it and Fuqua again crafts the film with obvious know-how. Still, the story falls flat even as its more personal arc moves Washington's McCall in a way the previous story could not. This sequel is overly long, somewhat unfocused, and generally predictable. Washington's performance saves it from a total loss. It's entertaining enough at its broadest level, but against that vastly superior original this one falls well short of expectations.

Robert McCall (Washington), the gifted ex-government operative who has taken to using his viciously violent and finely honed skills against the evils that exist in the world around him, has moved on from hardware and taken a job as a Lyft driver. In his job, he often sees the best of humanity: an elderly man in search of his sister, a young man off to Iraq, a young woman recently accepted to college. He also sees the worst. He is not afraid to take a detour to save a life and punish wrongdoers; it's in his DNA. But when one of the few friends he has left in the world, Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo), is murdered in the line of duty, McCall injects himself into her death and the apparent murder-suicide she was investigating. Soon, McCall finds himself in the midst of a terrible storm of violence that unfortunately and inadvertently also involves Miles Whittaker (Ashton Sanders), a gifted young artist whom McCall has taken under his wing.

The film is not so much a showcase of McCall's skills as it is a continuation of his story, "the next chapter" perhaps being more apropos to the character who loves to read and, in this film, is on the final book of his list of 100 "must-reads." Reading plays a reduced role in this film, as does his "equalizer vision" which enables him to essentially slow down time and assess his situation to find the most efficient means of killing his attackers. It's in this film more as a reminder that he can do it and less as a necessary component in defining the character. Perhaps Fuqua intends that this film not simply regurgitate the first, assuming audiences know Robert McCall already, both what he can do and how he does it, but the result is that the movie loses some of the character detail and depth from the first film. This is a procedural film, not a character film, with a lengthy set-up and an even longer journey towards the end confrontation, which is larger and more dynamic than the end sequence from the first film but also less rewarding because the build-up is much more stale. In isolation, it's the best sequence in the series. Within the film it's a modest reward for a fairly choppy and slow journey to it.

The mid-film reveal is not difficult to see coming and there's little emotional attachment to McCall's fight. Whereas the last film felt more personal for the audience, it feels less so here, more abstract, perhaps because it's more personal for McCall. This movie is ultimately a bit scattered, with a few running plot lines, none of which are particularly interesting. McCall once again has a pet project. In the last film it was an overweight co-worker with aspirations of passing a fitness test in order to get a better job at the store as a security guard. In this film it’s a high school student with a gift for art who strays into trouble with the wrong crowd. As with the first film’s project, the boy in this film winds up in the middle of the violent climax. It’s not that his story does not add to the film, it’s that his story is absolutely unoriginal. Miles’ relationship with McCall lacks the chemistry-laden charm of that in the original. There’s also a plot thread about an elderly man named Sam who is one of McCall’s regular riders in his Lyft job that is resolved in a cutaway scene at film’s end, but the entire story could have been left on the cutting room floor to improve the film’s pace.

The Equalizer 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Equalizer 2 was digitally photographed and is quite the looker on Blu-ray. Even without the added resolution muscle and wider spectrum colors offered on the UHD, Sony's 1080p transfer is an absolute delight, with only moderate low-light noise and a few smudgy/softer focus corners the only visual interferences, both of which trace back to the source. There is some distracting shimmering and false coloring on a porch railing seen at the 1:19:04 mark, which is also visible on the UHD. The image is otherwise very clean, razor-sharp, and highly detailed. Amazingly complex skin textures are the norm with countable pores and perfectly defined lines and hairs amongst the highlights. Finely revealing clothing textures are a strength, and environmental details, whether a bookshop interior, the brick walls around McCall's apartments complex, paved city streets, or small things like the fine texture on the seats and steering wheel inside the Chevy McCall drives for his Lyft job are very impressive. Beyond a few smudgier corners, everything in the film is absolutely tack-sharp. Colors are a treat. Skin tone depth is striking, red blood is a visual strength, clothes pop, and graffiti is a treasure of varied and intense colors. Nighttime exteriors offer rich, deep black levels. No compression or encode issues are apparent. This is a first-class Blu-ray release from Sony, and for those who cannot play back the UHD, it's a wonderful alternative that leaves nothing to be desired and isn't all that far behind, anyway.

The Equalizer 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For its Blu-ray release of The Equalizer 2, Sony has once again left the Dolby Atmos track for the UHD. The Blu-ray features a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. And the track is stellar even without an overhead component. The opening train sequence offers exceptional low end weight, full stage immersion, tons of harmoniously complimentary details, and first-rate elemental clarity. The seamless interconnection of surrounds and fronts is a highlight, but the sequence is defined by fantastic, penetrating bass. The track presents an assortment of seamless and high yield world ambience, including reverb in close quarters around the grounds of McCall's apartment complex, bustling city streets, blaring sirens, rolling thunder in chapter five, and background music in a book shop in chapter three. All examples are extremely well engineered and balanced, perfectly immersive and absolutely lifelike. Music is smooth, flowing around the stage with precision placement and faultless clarity whether score or more intensive beats such as those heard in chapter eight, which is followed by a great example of the track's low end prowess, a deep concussive blast that utterly dominates the listening area. Action is loud, aggressive, and like every other component takes full advantage of every speaker in the configuration, opening wide and drawing the listener into the world, all with harmonious balance, from nuanced effects to prominent bass. Every speaker is engaged in nearly every scene with some level of information. Dialogue is well prioritized, perfectly detailed, and firmly grounded in the front-center unless specifically called upon to emanate from elsewhere. No Atmos? No problem. This is the pinnacle of 7.1 lossless audio.

The Equalizer 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Equalizer 2 contains a fairly robust supplemental package. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. The release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Retribution Mode (1080p, DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, 2:19:12): Located under the "Play" menu tab rather than the "Special Features" tab and called "Vengeance Mode" on the last film, this is an in-film making-of/behind-the-scenes/commentary that occasionally cuts into the movie to present viewers with full-screen features, including interviews with Denzel Washington and Antonie Fuqua and clips from the shoot.
• Deleted & Extended Scenes (1080p, 23:18 total runtime): Included are Vegan, I've Got Your Name, I'm a High Level Paid Government Assassin, The Book, Grant Me the Serenity, Let Me Show You Something, I Wanna Get Outta Here, Watching, Come On In, All Clear, and Show Yourself.
• Denzel as McCall: Round Two (1080p, 7:00): This is Washington's first sequel of his career. It looks at the script, Washington's performance and persona, story and character details, and more.
• Seconds Till Death: Action Breakdown (1080p, 5:15): A quick look at the film's "honest, real, and vicious" action scenes and how they were made.
• Through Antoine's Lens: The Cast (1080p, 6:43): A piece dedicated to exploring the story and the characters who appear in it.
• TV Promos (1080p): Washington and Fuqua humorously audition NBA stars for the film in Auditions (3:12). Behind the Scenes (1:29) offers outtakes from Auditions.
• Equalizer Trivia: An in-film pop-up trivia track.
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

The Equalizer 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Equalizer 2 is a perfectly competent film that simply lacks the rich and layered character dynamics of the original. It's plodding and procedural, the story between McCall and his teenage project lacks interest, and the film's finale is spectacular but not quite enough reward for an otherwise slow-to-build and not particularly engaging storyline. It's but a decent successor to the wonderful original. Sony's Blu-ray, on the other hand, is just about perfect. Five-star video and audio are accompanied by a very good assortment of extra content. Recommended.