With a script by action specialist Richard Wenk ("The Expendables" and "The Equalizer") and directed by Antoine Fuqua ("The Magnificent Seven" 2016) this one never lags.

Part of Fuqua's cast: 

• * Denzel Washington ("Fences") Robert McCall has a new problem based on an old one, he can't overlook a wrong, and something very wrong has just happened.
• * Melissa Leo ("Snowden") Susan Plummer is a friend McCall can trust. 
• * Ashton Sanders ("Moonlight") Miles is a neighbor boy our hero can see is going off the rails. Something must be done and we in the audience find ourselves deeply involved in his story.

As you might expect, this R-rated action-filled thriller brings exactly what we expect to the screen. We bounce from Washington D.C., to Boston, then to Brussels and back. Having never seen the first movie, I was interested to hear screening audience veterans describe the difference between the 2014 version and the sequel. The general consensus is that this one is far more involving and has more humanity, despite brutal R-rated fight scenes and point-blank killshots.

 

With two Academy Award-winning actors on tap plus lots of action and suspense, our audience left the theater exhausted but happy.