Denzel Washington's The Equalizer from 2014 wasn't a blockbuster but it was a solid hit that made money, and these days that's all it takes to get your sequel greenlit. The newest trailer for The Equalizer 2 shows Washington's Bob McCall making money as a Lyft driver until he finds himself with a fare that springs him back into action. Check out the trailer below.
While the opening sequence of the trailer doesn't appear to be connected to the main plot, it's the focus here to remind fans of the first film, or inform those that missed it, that Denzel Washigton's character is not somebody you cross. When somebody drops a girl in Washington's car that has clearly been beaten up, he goes up to the room on the pretense of getting a new credit card, but instead takes down the entire room. While these guys are clearly violent, they're not trained like Bob McCall, so he doesn't have much difficulty in beating the crap out of each of them, selectively breaking whatever bones he feels is appropriate.
From there the trailer goes into the main story, which has already been revealed if you saw the film's first trailer. One of Bob McCall's friends from the old days, played by Melissa Leo, and returning from the first film, is violently killed. McCall decides to take revenge on everybody involved. However, it seems that whoever did this pretty high up in the government, as it means McCall will be going up against a highly trained contingent of military fighters in order to get his revenge.
The Equalizer 2 will be hitting theaters in just about a month and while it's not going to compete for the top of the box office with so many massive blockbusters coming out at the same time. There's a good chance that it will, once again, put up solid numbers and be a successful film. Denzel Washington is a star that will draw an audience and the action here looks like exactly the sort of the thing the summer movie crowd is looking for. If you're the sort of person who hits the theater most weekends during the summer, then this might be the perfect thing to keep you entertained before Mission: Impossible - Fallout comes out the following weekend.
Of all the various attempts that have been made to let aging action stars continue to be action stars, The Equalizer may be one of the more surprising successes, but when you've got Denzel Washington, you're halfway to success already, and director Antoine Fuqua takes you the rest of the way there. The Equalizer 2 hits theaters July 20.
