The Good Samaritan Killer Returns

2014’s ultra-violent ‘The Equalizer’ was a full-blooded (pun intended) action thriller in the tradition of macho B-movies from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s starring Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone.  That didn’t happen by accident, as the film itself was based on a mid-80’s TV show by the same name about a cloak-and-dagger “fixer” who took it upon himself to right wrongs, redress injustices and give the bad guys their just desserts.  Despite being panned by the critics for the most part, ‘The Equalizer’ nonetheless made nearly $200 million worldwide, proving that the charismatic Denzel Washington can still carry a movie no matter how weak it is in other respects.

 

In ‘The Equalizer 2,’ Denzel’s low-key and unassuming retired CIA operative Robert McCall is once again mc-called (pun intended) upon to use his “very particular set of skills” to help those who can’t help themselves.  After a jaunt in Turkey to reunite a mother with her young daughter, McCall was ready to settle down in semi-retirement as a part-time Lyft driver and indulge in the simple pleasures of life, such as reading a good book (as any decent ex-CIA wet works specialist should do).  Alas, things don’t go as planned and he is drawn yet again into his dark past after a close friend and former colleague was murdered in Europe.

 

Like its predecessor, EQ2 doesn’t offer much in the way of plot or character development, but that’s okay because otherwise it would just be pretentious.  EQ2 doesn’t apologize (or need to apologize) for what it is: a brutal no-holds-barred revenge flick that doesn’t shy away from a copious amount of carnage and mayhem.  Sure-handed veteran director Antoine Fuqua has worked with Denzel since ‘Training Day’ and is one of the best directors in the genre today, and Denzel is equally (pun intended, again) comfortable in a role he’s familiar with in earlier films such as not only EQ1 but ‘Safe House’ and ‘Man on Fire.’  Granted, EQ2 is little different from a Steven Seagal movie, but Denzel has more gravitas on his pinky finger and, besides, who wouldn’t want to see a black guy wasting white guys for a change?

Grade: B

 

Return of the Gi-Ant-Man

Paul Rudd returns as Marvel’s Ant-Man on the big screen in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp,’ the second installment of the trilogy which started with the funny and delightful 2015 origin story of how ex-con Scott Lang became an unlikely and diminutive superhero. As the third MCU movie so far this year following ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ one might be forgiven for wondering if we’re about to suffer a bit of “superhero fatigue.”  Unlike Star Wars (sorry, 'Solo'), it appears that the audience still can’t get enough of (Make Mine) Marvel, as the movie's $76 million+ domestic opening weekend take would suggest.

 

Size does matter!  After Ant-Man’s brief, oversized (as in 65-feet tall) appearance on Team Cap in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ in violation of the Sokovia Accords, he finds himself under house arrest (with an ankle bracelet), putting a damper on his superhero activities and making him a stay-home dad with his daughter, which suited the slacker just fine.  But when his former associates Hank (Michael Douglas) and Hope (Evangeline Lilly) Pym encounter trouble while trying to get mom back (the first Wasp, played by Michelle Pfeiffer) from the so-called “Quantum Realm,” Lang is suddenly thrust back into action to aid his creator and redeem himself for making the Pyms fugitives on the run due to his meddling in the Avengers’ internal squabbles.

 

'Ant-Man and the Wasp’ kept the light-hearted humor and near PG (but not quite) kid-friendliness of its predecessor.  It is funny without being offensive (like a certain "merc with a mouth" in tight red-and-black spandex), maintaining much of the charm and freshness from the original.   Rudd and Lilly (as the new Wasp) make a great team, alternately down-sizing and reappearing in full size (or even larger in Ant-Man’s case) like close-up magic in their well-choreographed melees with “Ghost” and the other bad guys throughout the film.  And as in the first movie, comic relief is in plentiful supply, not only from Michael Peña’s fast-talking Luis but also from an FBI agent played by Fresh Off the Boat’s Randall Park. 

Grade: A

 

Day of the Sicario

‘Sicario,’ Denis Villeneuve’s riveting 2015 “War on Drugs” political action-thriller featuring two morally ambiguous anti-heroes played by Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro who are not afraid to break a few eggs to make an omelet and a law-and-order FBI agent played by Emily Blunt, is a gritty and powerful meditation on how far our government can push the boundaries in the name of post-9/11 homeland security.  I loved that movie, so I was more than thrilled when I heard that the original did well enough commercially to warrant a sequel.

 

As if that’s even possible, ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado (Soldier)’ ramped it up even more than its predecessor.  In DotS, the main currency had switched from drugs (so yesterday) to the politically hot-button topic of people (as in illegal immigration).  This is the Trump Administration after all.  After a Kansas City supermarket was blown up by vest-wearing suicide bombers, the US government is quick to blame the Mexican cartels, since the cartels now engage in human trafficking and border agents nearly apprehended a muslim terrorist who tried to cross the Texas-Mexico border with the aid of the “underground railroad” run by the cartels before he managed to blow himself up.  Matt Graver (Brolin) and Alejandro Gillick (del Toro) are once again called upon by the government to conduct its dirty little secret war, this time to start one between rival drug cartels, allowing Uncle Sam to sit back and watch the ensuing fireworks while claiming “plausible deniability.”  And the icing on the cake is that there will be no meddling FBI agents raising ethical or legal questions this time.

 

Without the moderating influence of Emily Blunt’s FBI rep Kate Macer, I was expecting an unrestricted "weapons free" ROE that would make even the original seem tame.  But while the lean and tightly plotted DotS racked up an impressive body count to be sure, I was also pleasantly surprised by its restraint and heart.  Indeed, DotS showed us a softer side of the “sicario” (del Toro) as he wrestles with his conscience babysitting the rebellious teenage daughter of the very drug lord who ordered the deaths of his own family and set him on his dark path of vengeance in the first film (that family dinner scene at the end of 'Sicario' I will never forget).  Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that even Brolin’s Graver showed that he's "human" by doing the right thing in the end, orders be damned.

Grade: A- 

 

Dinosaurs in a Mansion

Since its inception some 25 years ago back in 1993, the five films of the ‘Jurassic Park’ (now ‘Jurassic World’) franchise have earned over $4.5 billion (and counting) at the worldwide box office, proving to be one of the most popular and enduring franchises in cinematic history.  Michael Crichton’s (may he rest in peace) greatest fictional creation captured our imagination while providing pulse-pounding suspense, even if the movies adapted from his work misfired critically more often than not.  The latest entry in the series and second in the rebooted ‘Jurassic World’ franchise, ‘Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom,’ is no exception.

Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron’s daughter) reprise their roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing in ‘Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom,’ set some six months after the “What could possibly go wrong???!!!” disaster that befell the recreated dinosaur theme park in 2015’s ‘Jurassic World.’  Their excuse for returning to the place they left behind?  To save the dinosaurs, of course.  You see, volcanoes on the island where Jurassic World is sited are about to erupt and render the surviving dinosaurs extinct for a second time.  Just as the world turned its collective back on the dinosaurs’ grim fate, Claire and Owen are recruited by the charitable billionaire Benjamin Lockwood and his unscrupulous aide Eli Mills to rescue as many of them as they can.  Or so they thought.

The five movies in the JP/JW franchise ranged from decent (JP, JW) to pretty bad (JP2:TLW, JP3), and this latest installment carried on the tradition.  JW2:FK is fun but flawed, an imperfect vehicle that made the most out of its limited material and ambitions.  But that’s okay, because the only thing audiences love even more than sharks are dinosaurs (especially genetically enhanced super T-Rexes and Raptors with the prefix “Indo”) running amok and wreaking havoc, and we get that in spades in JW2:FK.  You might even say that in JW2:FK, the stereotypical bad guys are truly FK’ed. 

Grade: B