He wanted to have a quiet life, but he could not see a young girl being kidnapped and not trying to save her as we saw in Part One. Now Robert McCall is back in an exciting adventure in which he tries to do whatever he can to reach the people who killed his longtime friend, Susan Plummer.
The film's slow-burn approach matches that of the original. Fuqua is in no hurry and understands that building a story gradually pays dividends later in the proceedings.
This time around, Denzel's "Equalizer" is less of a Robin Hood-like hero for the helpless, and more of a Travis Bickle-like vigilante, shooting his way through a murder caper.
Suggests intriguing questions about the moral and ethical imperatives of justice...answers these questions with an Old Testament zeal: evil must be smitten by self-appointed good men.
With the secret behind his formidable skills out of the bag, all we have is a good guy who is good at things, and a sense of obligation to conjure up a convoluted syndicate of straw men for him to chop down.
Though it boasts some cool action scenes and a strong central performance, the movie is weighed down by a muddled script and bland storytelling efforts.