Denzel Washington Movie Where He Gets Paid With Black Card

"The Equalizer 2" is getting a lot of press because it's the first time that Denzel Washington has starred in a sequel to one of his own movies. You can infer a lot about Washington's connection to this material from that one piece of information, and about his (apparently quite positive) ongoing working relationship with director Antoine Fuqua, who directed both "Equalizer" installments, as well as "Training Day" and the 2016 remake of "The Magnificent Seven."

But perhaps the most important takeaway is this: Never pick a fight with Denzel Washington. It's been over two decades since the TV series "The Equalizer" debuted opposite Washington's hit series "St. Elsewhere," and now the actor has officially claimed the saga of ex-Black Ops assassin-turned-vigilante crime fighter Robert McCall for his own. The movies may be a mixed bag, but Washington brings his all to "The Equalizer 2."

The first "Equalizer" was a stylish, brutal and overlong action thriller starring Washington as McCall, a grieving widower who uses his special set of skills to exact vengeance for a victimized teenage prostitute (Chloe Grace Moretz). The action was thrilling but the real draw was Washington himself, who played McCall as an introverted obsessive-compulsive, setting the hero apart from most other action icons.

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McCall returns in "The Equalizer 2," and he's as laconic and emotionally scarred as ever. McCall now works as a Lyft driver, and when his passengers are in trouble he uses his special set of skills to help them out. In one scene, he beats up a whole roomful of privileged rich white kids who just put a woman in the hospital and thought they could get away with it. McCall slices them up with their own credit cards, and when he leaves he says, "I expect a five-star rating, you understand?"

It's easy to see why Washington is committed to the character of McCall. He's lived a long, painful life and he wants to prevent others from walking down similar, violent paths. Or worse, from being abused by other, similar, violent people. McCall takes it upon himself to be a positive role model for a young artist, Miles, played by Ashton Sanders ("Moonlight"). Miles is on the verge of joining a street gang, and McCall doesn't just give him the big speech about how "Man ain't spelled G-U-N." He also gives him a copy of Ta-Nehisi Coates's "Between the World and Me." He's a classy good guy.

"The Equalizer 2," like the previous film, isn't just a single episode in McCall's life. It's as though screenwriter Richard Wenk worked overtime to catch McCall in the middle of several stories at once. McCall isn't just trying to save a local teen from gangs. Over the course of the film he also has to find a missing painting for a Holocaust survivor, reunite a missing child with her mother, and avenge the death of his only remaining friend, Susan Plummer, played by Melissa Leo.

Also Read: 'Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again' Film Review: Lily James Makes Up for Near-Absence of Meryl Streep

It's nothing short of tragic to watch Melissa Leo get the same treatment Rinko Kikuchi suffered in "Pacific Rim Uprising," in which a powerful female character from the original film gets downgraded in the sequel to an inciting agent for the male hero's journey. Leo fights as best she can against her attackers, and against the filmmakers' limited imagination for her character, but there's only so much she can do.

On the top of it all, the revenge storyline is the least interesting part of "The Equalizer 2," with its predictable twists and a tacked-on action climax, which takes place in the middle of a hurricane. You'd think that would be a problem but it doesn't even stop McCall from making a run to the photocopy shop and wallpapering the alleyways with Melissa Leo's headshots. It should be the most pulse-pounding scene in the movie. Instead it's the most contrived.

McCall may be the thinking person's action hero, but "The Equalizer" and "The Equalizer 2" aren't quite as crafty as he is. The decision to treat these films as an adaptation of a whole season of a series is distinctive, and gives the film a satisfying "Netflix Marvel" personality.

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But in "The Equalizer 2" that approach makes the film feel as though it lacks focus. The main plot gets sidelined too often and fails to ramp up, bogging down the pacing. Even an attempt to connect McCall personally and emotionally to the film's villains gets sped through so quickly it feels like an afterthought.

"The Equalizer 2" makes more-or-less the same impact as "The Equalizer." It's a reasonably satisfying mid-budget action thriller, with slick style and an intriguing hero, who only uses violence when necessary, and as a means of redemption for himself and his community. Robert McCall is a great action hero, but all things being equalized, he deserves a better movie.

The Evolution of Denzel Washington, From 'Malcolm X' to 'The Little Things' (Photos)

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  Three Oscars, three Golden Globes, a Tony and a lifetime of memorable performances. Denzel Washington has proven that he is one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood today. Let's look back at his long career.

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  Here's a picture of him as a kid that was used in a Boys & Girls Club of America ad, just to show you he was born with that steely-eyed gaze.

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  After getting started in Maryland and Off-Broadway theatre, Washington got his first major role on the '80s hit medical TV show "St. Elsewhere" as Dr. Philip Chandler.

  NBC
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  In 1987, Washington earned his first Academy Award nomination playing South African activist Steve Biko in "Cry Freedom."

  Universal
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  Two years later, Washington won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for his work in "Glory." Washington plays Silas Trip, a bitter runaway slave who joins the Union in the Civil War, but who doesn't believe victory will bring him freedom.

  TriStar
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  In 1990, Washington worked with Spike Lee to make the film "Mo' Better Blues." Washington plays Bleek Gilliam, a jazz trumpeter whose life spirals out of control as he makes one bad decision after another.

  40 Acres and a Mule
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  Two years later, Washington reunited with Lee to make what is considered one of the defining works of both men's careers: "Malcolm X." Washington got his third Oscar nomination for his legendary performance as the legendary activist.

  40 Acres and a Mule
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  In 1993, Washington starred alongside Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia" as Joe Miller, a personal injury lawyer hired by a gay man with AIDS to represent him in a wrongful termination lawsuit connected to his disease.

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  In 1995, Washington began taking more high-octane roles, namely the lead in "Crimson Tide" alongside Gene Hackman. The two men play commanding officers on a submarine who engage in a bitter struggle for power while a rebellion in Russia threatens to re-start the Cold War.

  Disney
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  One of Washington's more polarizing films was the 1999 biopic "The Hurricane." He plays Rubin Carter, a boxer who was convicted of triple murder and spent 20 years in prison before he was exonerated. The film earned Washington a Golden Globe, but also received criticism for taking liberties with the facts of the case.

  Universal
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  In 2000, Washington introduced himself to a new generation of moviegoers in the Disney film "Remember The Titans" as the coach of a recently desegregated high school football team.

  Disney
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  The following year, Washington became the first African-American actor since Sidney Poitier to win a Lead Actor Oscar when he played against type as the corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in "Training Day."

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  2002 saw Washington make his directorial debut with "Antwone Fisher," a story about a Navy sailor with a troubled past that he sorts through with the help of a kindly psychologist.

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  In the mid 2000s, Washington built on his "Crimson Tide" reputation and starred in a series of successful thrillers. Among these was a remake of the 1962 classic "The Manchurian Candidate."

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  In 2007, Washington played against type again as infamous Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas in "American Gangster."

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  In 2012, Washington earned his fourth Best Actor Oscar nomination and sixth nomination overall for his work in "Flight." In the Robert Zemeckis film, he played an airline pilot who saves nearly everyone on board when he makes an emergency crash landing. Still, six people die in the crash, and the pilot's new popularity is short-lived when it is discovered that he was flying while intoxicated.

  Paramount
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  Fresh off receiving the Cecil B. Demille Award at the Golden Globes, Washington reunited with "Training Day" director Antoine Fuqua to star in a new rendition of one of the greatest Westerns of all time, "The Magnificent Seven." Washington played Sam Chisholm, a bounty hunter who rounds up a new Seven to protect a town from a vicious robber baron.

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  He earned two more Oscar nominations starring in (and producing) a screen adaptation of August Wilson's play "Fences," a tale of a former Negro League pitcher who struggles to deal with his new life as a garbage man. Washington played the lead role in a Broadway revival in 2010, for which he won a Tony Award.

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  To the surprise of many awards prognosticators, Washington earned Oscar nom No. 9 for his performance as a crusading attorney  in writer-director Dan Gilroy's 2017 legal drama "Roman J. Israel, Esq."

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  In July 2018, Washington returned to his thriller side with "Equalizer 2," the sequel to a brutal action thriller he made in 2014 about a widowed man who embraces his past as a ruthless vigilante to help the helpless. This is Washington's third film with Antoine Fuqua, who directed him in "Training Day."

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  In the 2021 thriller "The Little Things," Washington plays a small-town cop who teams up with an L.A. County sheriff's detective (Rami Malek) to hunt down a serial killer.

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Denzel Washington has enjoyed plenty of success in Hollywood

Three Oscars, three Golden Globes, a Tony and a lifetime of memorable performances. Denzel Washington has proven that he is one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood today. Let's look back at his long career.

Denzel Washington Movie Where He Gets Paid With Black Card

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/the-equalizer-2-film-review-denzel-washington-antoine-fuqua-melissa-leo/

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