Poster © Sony Pictures Releasing. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Crime & Mystery
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 1 min
ReleasedJuly 20, 2018
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorAntoine Fuqua
StarringDenzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders
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The Equalizer 2 (2018)
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| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Equalizer 2's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Crime & Mystery |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 07/20/2018 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 1 min |
| Budget | $62–79M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | The Equalizer by Michael Sloan Richard Lindheim |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| The Equalizer 2's Interests | |
| General | Stopwatches, ride-share small talk, stacks of classic novels, courtyard murals, quiet routines. |
| Music | Harry Gregson-Williams |
| Movies | The Equalizer (2014). Where McCall's quiet retirement first went sideways. |
| Television | The Equalizer. The 1980s series that started it all. |
| Heroes | Miles Whittaker. Real talent, and finally someone in his corner. |
| The Equalizer 2's Crew | |
| Director | Antoine Fuqua |
| Writers | Richard Wenk |
| Producers | Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Denzel Washington, Alex Siskin, Steve Tisch, Antoine Fuqua, Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge, Michael Sloan |
| Cinematography | Oliver Wood |
| Music | Harry Gregson-Williams |
| Edited By | Conrad Buff IV |
| Production | Columbia Pictures, Escape Artists, Zhiv Productions, Mace Neufeld Productions, Picture Farm |
| Distributed By | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Somewhere inside The Equalizer 2 is a lovely little drama about a ride-share driver quietly fixing his neighbors’ lives, and it keeps getting interrupted by a spy movie you’ve seen plenty of times before. The good half is great. Denzel Washington’s scenes with Ashton Sanders as Miles, a talented kid one bad choice from trouble, have real warmth, and the night McCall lays out exactly where Miles’s life is heading is a stunner. The other half is a generic conspiracy with a betrayal you’ll spot the minute the right actor walks in. Then the plot hauls everyone to a seaside town in the middle of a hurricane, which makes for a striking finale, wind and rain hiding everyone, though it drags. It made $190.4 million worldwide on a reported $62 to $79 million, and crowds gave it an A CinemaScore. A 5.0 because Denzel’s calm is magnetic and the spy plot is a rerun. $658 says you tip your next ride-share driver extra, just in case they’re retired from something.
What works: The quiet Boston scenes, especially McCall pushing Miles toward his art, give Denzel room to be warm and intimidating at the same time.
What doesn’t: The spy conspiracy is generic and its villain is obvious early, and the hurricane finale stretches a simple standoff way too long.
Who it’s for: Denzel fans who’d happily watch two hours of him fixing his neighbors’ problems with a book under his arm.
Spoilers
McCall’s old partner Dave York turns out to be behind Susan’s death, along with his team of former agents. McCall lures them to the evacuated seaside town where he once lived and takes them on in the hurricane, with the last showdown against York in a storm-battered lookout tower.
Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) lives quietly in Boston now, driving for a ride-share app, working through a stack of books and helping strangers who need it, whether they asked or not. He's helping an elderly man, Sam Rubinstein (Orson Bean), search for a painting tied to his family's past, and letting Miles Whittaker (Ashton Sanders), a teen artist in his building, paint over the vandalized courtyard instead of drifting into trouble. Then a case in Brussels lands on the desk of his old friend Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo), and his former partner Dave York (Pedro Pascal) gets called in too. Antoine Fuqua directs. One hundred twenty-one minutes, every second timed.
Anyone who needs help and can't pay for it. He'll probably find you first.
| Denzel Washington | Robert McCall |
| Pedro Pascal | Dave York |
| Ashton Sanders | Miles Whittaker |
| Orson Bean | Sam Rubinstein |
| Bill Pullman | Brian Plummer |
| Melissa Leo | Susan Plummer |
| Jonathan Scarfe | Resnik |
| Sakina Jaffrey | Fatima |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +520 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $190.4M; Domestic box office $102.1M; Opening weekend $36M; Profit / loss (est.) -$10.5M; Rotten Tomatoes 52%; CinemaScore A; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 52% (211 reviews); Metacritic 50 / 100; PostTrak audience 86% positive; CinemaScore A; IMDb users 6.7 / 10 (234,389 votes); movie.guru score 5.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.