The Equalizer 2

First Hit: Although the plot premise was slightly forced, I loved how Denzel Washington makes sure he’s on the right side of things.

I had difficulty understanding why the couple were murdered at the beginning of this film. Although the film attempts to provide enough information to make it understandable, for me, something was missing. It needed a bit of context in some way.

However, the subsequent murders by a small group of men, doing cleanup, had more clarity.

Meanwhile, we watch Robert McCall (Washington) living his life as a Lyft driver occasionally, using his killing skills to right a wrong to a friend or a societal criminal activity.

The strongest statement to McCall’s effectiveness as a do-gooder was when he rectifies the wrong done to a call girl by a group of young rich entitled men. After taking the woman to a hospital, he goes back to the apartment and pulverizes the group of men for their actions towards the woman.

His closest friend and former boss, from his active government days, Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo), investigates the initial couple’s murder and because she’s so good, the band of men responsible for the initial killing, decide to kill her as well.

This puts McCall over the line and how he’s out for complete revenge. When he discovers the responsible party for the killings are former men he worked with, he ensures they know he’ll come after them, and that his only sadness will be he can kill them only once.

There is a side story about his wife’s death and his inability to go back to where they lived together.

However, it is his guidance towards Miles Whittaker (Ashton Sanders) that really brings out his deep seated patience, caring and mentorship. Miles is torn between wanting to join a gang to earn some coin for himself and his mama and his ability to draw. His brother died by a bullet and in some ways he wants to get revenge. The other, more sensitive side of him, wants to honor his talent for drawing and painting. The film does take time to explore this side as well.

Washington is perfect as the thoughtful, competent killer. His ability to break into a smile, then look someone down with a glare that exudes death is perfect for this role. Makes me want to hope for yet, another episode. Leo is perfect as the no nonsense former leader of a secret government assassination team. Sanders was wonderful as the young man trying to find his way. Pedro Pascal (playing Dave York) as McCall’s old running mate when they worked for the government together. Thought he carried his role with perfectly. Richard Wenk and Michael Sloan wrote the script. For me, the beginning wasn’t set up well enough with the killing of the couple, but other than this, I liked how it unfolded. Antoine Fuqua directed this film. What didn’t work well for me, besides the opening couple’s murder sequence, was the having the final war between McCall and the clean-up team be shot in a storm. For me it didn’t add to the tense ending only made it harder to follow.

Overall: I love Denzel in this role and therefore I enjoyed the film.

The Magnificent Seven

First Hit:  The original 1960’s film had heart, this one doesn’t.

As much as I like Denzel Washington (playing Chisolm) and Chris Pratt (playing Josh Faraday) in films, this one felt dead. No character was really given a story to care about until the end when Chisolm shares why he really took the job to kill and defeat Bartholomew Bogue’s (Peter Sarsgaard) group of men who controlled the small western town. But until this moment, there was only some “telling” as to why this small band of men decided to protect this small town versus engaging the audience in a story having heart.

It is a shame, because there's a slew of wonderful actors in this film but they cannot make up for a mediocre script by Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto and direction without vision. Yes, director Antoine Fuqua got the action of movement and shooting to kill reasonably well. He even got the small western town set well, but the heart of the film, the townsfolk’s fear as shared by Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett), lacked depth as did most of the Seven hired men.

The strong points of the film were initial discovery of each of the characters. But after this, it fell flat. Besides Chisolm, the main characters were:  Faraday as a self-professed great lover and fast drawing gunslinger. Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) and Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee) as a team of two who bet on their skills of speed to take people's money. Goodnight, who was formerly a confederate sniper with legendary rifle abilities haunted him. The overall story about his connection with Chisolm is that Chisolm saved Goodnight from self-destruction.

As in kind, Rocks, a foreigner, was being help to interpret the West by Goodnight. Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) was the least defined character. Still not sure how or why he joined the group. Red Harvest (Martin Sensmier) was a Comanche Indian that was ousted from his tribe and seemed like he needed something to do.

The most amusing and fun character was Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio) who was a bear mountain man sort of a guy. He was fond of pontificating religious beliefs and sayings all the while being part of the team of seven. The basic story is that these seven men help a small town from a siege by Bogue and his army of killers that have taken over their gold mines.

Washington did what he could do to make this film work, but the lack of a good screenplay and an action only focused director, let him down. Pratt made the most of his character and, although he didn’t seem to care about the lack of story, he made it fun for himself and the audience. Sarsgaard’s role didn’t work for me. He didn’t seem to embody the role from the inside although his actions were rather ruthless. Bennett did what she could to create caring about the town and its hapless citizens. She was one of the stronger characters. Lee was OK and seemed to relish his role as fast with a knife. Garcia-Rulfo did what he could but I didn’t get his particular “role”. Hawke was OK but his fear of killing more people wasn’t developed very well. Sensmier had a strange role in that I never got why he would bother helping this band of white men in their quest. I did like his handling of the Indian character on Bogue’s team as it was inevitable that these two would tangle. D’Onofrio was very engaged in his role. He embraced the nuttiness of this man bear. Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto’s screen play from the famous Akira Kurosawa Seven Samurai screenplay was poorly conceived. It lacked heart and a way for the audience to care. Antoine Fuqua did the action part OK, but everything else was empty – no soul.

Overall:  Don’t bother seeing this version go back to the 1960 version – much better.

Southpaw

First Hit:  Although at times hard to watch, this is an extremely well-crafted and acted film.

It is hard to see someone get hit in the face. It is even harder when they mug and beg the person to hit them.

Boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) does this time and time again as a way to get angry enough to beat his opponent. As the Light Heavyweight Champion he uses this tactic to win all his fights. Outside the ring he has one focus, his family. When he looks over the ropes, face looking like beaten hamburger, his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) gives him the look – the look that says “I love you and let’s go home”.

When he finishes the job, she takes him home, and he goes to his daughter’s Leila’s (Oona Laurence) room and becomes a heart filled father. Maureen and Billy have a single focus around their love and interdependence; recoup from the battering Billy takes and ready himself for the next one.

Maureen and Billy were both brought up by the State of New York and share a deep bond and connection that works perfectly for this film. Maureen makes all the decisions for their family; when to fight and when to rest is the primary focus. She is his rock and life, while he is the spirit and strength. A tragic shooting sets Billy’s life spinning out of control and everything falls apart. Billy becomes lost and he’s left to find his way back home.

This is when Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker), who owns a boxing gym becomes a trusted guide for Billy’s salvation. All the fight scenes are extremely well choreographed. The settings and feel of the locker rooms, boxing arenas, charity gatherings, and the 300 square foot apartment Billy finds himself living in are spot on. 

The dialogue (of which Billy has little) between everyone; Jordan (Curtis Jackson 50 Cent) the fight promoter, Willis, Leila, Maureen, Hoppy (Skylan Brooks) the kid who’s looking for guidance, and all the characters is well timed, has the right flavor and are perfect for the roles.

Gyllenhaal is jaw-dropping amazing. By far and away, performance of the year. He does so much with his eyes, face, posture, that one doesn’t notice that he doesn’t steal the film with dialogue. McAdams is wonderfully centered and perfect for the role of a beautiful woman brought up in a tough life and who loves her man. Jackson (50 Cent) was a very good opportunistic promoter who’s only thinking of himself despite his words. Whitaker, as usual, steals every scene he’s in – you just can’t take your eyes off him (he seem always on the edge of bursting). Laurence was sublime and if this young person’s performance is any indication of her future – we’ll be seeing a lot more of her. I won’t list them all here and everyone’s performance in this film was very well done. Kurt Sutter wrote an amazing script that captured the tenderness and bravado of the people in the sport of boxing. Antoine Fuqua got everything and more from the script and actors – not sure this film could have been done any better by anyone.

Overall:  This film is filled with the highest level of craftsmanship imaginable by everyone who had a hand in creating it.

The Equalizer

First Hit:  Satisfying film with powerful acting by Denzel Washington in a story that has a slow burn buildup to the inevitable.

Robert McCall (Washington) is a quiet mentor to the people he’s around at the home building supply store where he works. He rarely sleeps at night, reads a lot, and has very specific behavior patterns that he uses to keep his life intact.

From the beginning you have the sense that McCall has a history, one of which he’s not proud, one where he was one of the best, and he’s sad without his wife. He shows up to his peers at work by helping them eat right and supports them to live their dreams. He also rights the wrongs to his friends and he does this with cool calculation.

You see early on he’s an expert at killing and making things right. He gets into a conflict with the Russian mob through late night café meetings with Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz) who wants to be a singer but works as a prostitute to some hardened Russians. When they hurt her, McCall becomes the man who will right this wrong all the way to the top.

His main protagonist Teddy (Marton Csokas) is good for this film as he is as self-assured as McCall is competent. They are a good matchup and the way this film delivers this adversarial relationship is great.

Washington is so clearly perfect in this role. I cannot think of another actor that could have pulled this off as well as he did. Moretz is excellent as the girl who portrays both protective strength and childlike vulnerability. Marton Csokas was perfect as the Russian mob enforcer and guy that fixes problems for the head of the gang. David Harbour (as corrupt policeman, Masters) does a good job of being a hard ass corrupt jerk. Richard Wenk and Michael Sloan wrote a very strong script that allowed us to know Washington’s character not through words but through actions. Antoine Fuqua did an excellent job of directing this action film. My only criticism of this film from a director’s point of view is that it was a little long.

Overall:  Although long, I enjoyed and was totally engaged with this film.

Olympus Has Fallen

First Hit:  Despite big holes in the plot and feasibility, it was entertaining enough.

It is hard for me to believe that a big, prop driven, slow plane such as the one that riddles Washington DC with Gatling gun bullets, could and would get as far as it did.

If our defense system consists of two jets (with follow-up planes as well) and they cannot figure out how to shoot down this big slow plane at the outset then… oh we wouldn’t have had a film. Anyway, the timeliness of this film about a North Korean dissident Kang (Rick Yune) trying to teach the US a lesson about the Korean Peninsula made me smile just a little.

The film sets the audience up by showing the close relationship between Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), President Asher (Aaron Eckhart), and his family (wife Margaret – Ashley Judd and son Connor – Finley Jacobsen). Through no fault of his own Mike gets excused from the protecting the President by protecting the President.

When the Korean’s storm the White House, Mike gets back into action and does what he can to save the President, his country, and to save his own life. Another hole in the story is that when the President is shot, and everyone knows there are no more bad guys, no-one rushes into the White House to assist the wounded President – they waited until Mike and Asher slowly made their way out of the rubble – all for drama.

Butler is OK at portraying the troubled agent – but it wasn’t a stretch at all. Eckhart was OK as the President doing the Presidential and honorable acts by letting his Secretary of Defense give up her code to keep her alive. Judd was fine in her small role. Yune is good as the dissident. Morgan Freeman was very good as Speaker Trumbull who ends up being the President in Charge. Angela Bassett as Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs was good. Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt wrote a script that had an interesting concept but too filled with holes. Antoine Fuqua directed this with the idea of fantasy not reality.

Overall:  It might be something to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon at home, but not worth the money to see in the theaters.