The Equalizer 2: the story in this Antoine Fuqua’s action sequel (not usually something films of the genre care much about, to start with) takes quite a while to get going. That lull allegedly is being used to flesh out the main character, but he is such a cypher that not much comes out of the used time; additionally, this being a sequel, this feels like an unnecessary reintroduction to him. Denzel Washington is always a fine presence, but he is given a humorless, joyless character to play; nobody else in the cast has much to do, either. Action is, at best, nondescript and dull (early on); at worst, visually murky and geographically incomprehensible (in a situation that is foreshadowed the whole film, and doesn’t make much story sense), and also equally unexciting.

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