The Equalizer 2 Review: 6 Ups & 3 Downs

2. Too. Many. Subplots.

Tying into the movie's pacing issues are an overabundance of subplots which, while clearly a quasi-ambitious attempt by returning screenwriter Richard Wenk to elevate the series beyond a generic action thriller, ultimately fail to coalesce into a fully coherent whole.

There are countless plots in this film beyond Denzel tuning up bad guys for two hours: a close-to-home tragedy which sees Robert McCall (Washington) knocking down doors in the pursuit of revenge, a friendship he develops with a young artist (Ashton Sanders) living in his apartment block, a reunion with an old pal (Pedro Pascal), and most jarringly, helping an elderly Holocaust survivor (Orson Bean) track down a long-lost piece of art.

Though every single one of these plots benefits from strong performances, it ultimately feels like too much for a two-hour action movie to carry on its shoulders, especially as the cross-cutting between them often feels absolutely random.

Removing even just one of these plots from the film would've been enormously beneficial in terms of streamlining the overall movie.