Review: Equalizer 2 (4K)

Equalizer 4K ReviewSony Pictures Home Entertainment has officially announced that it will release on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray Antoine Fuqua’s action thriller The Equalizer 2 (2018), starring Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, and Jonathan Scarfe. The two releases will be available for purchase today.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and Written by Richard Wenk, The Equalizer 2 is based on a television series by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. The film is produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Denzel Washington, Antoine Fuqua, Alex Siskin, Steve Tisch, Mace Neufeld, Tony Eldridge and Michael Sloan, with Molly Allen and David Bloomfield serving as executive producers.

Plot: If you have a problem and there is nowhere else to turn, the mysterious and elusive Robert McCall will deliver the vigilante justice you seek. This time, however, McCall’s past cuts especially close to home when thugs kill Susan Plummer — his best friend and former colleague. Now out for revenge, McCall must take on a crew of highly trained assassins who’ll stop at nothing to destroy him.

Director:  Antoine Fuqua

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Runtime: 121 min

Rating: Rotten Tomatoes 51% & IMDB 6.8/10

Packaging (see below)

Equalizer 4K ReviewSpecial Features:

  • “Retribution Mode” with Denzel Washington and Director Antoine Fuqua
  • 11 Deleted & Extended Scenes
  • “Denzel as McCall: Round Two” Featurette
  • The Equalizer 2 Pop Up Trivia Track
  • Four Featurettes:
    • “Seconds Till Death: Action Breakdown”
    • “Through Antoine’s Lens: The Cast”
    • Two NBA Promos

Equalizer 4K Review

Review & Conclusion:

The second installment of The Equalizer was shot with 2.8K cameras, so you will get a 2K Digital Intermediate for this release. That means it’s an upscale, but don’t worry, Sony never seems to disappoint in this circumstance. As per the norm, it was given a HDR color grade for your viewing pleasure. Overall this UHD disc is a good jump from the standard Blu-Ray, but not by leaps and bounds. There are some soft shots in this film, but nothing that takes away from the overall effect it was going for.

With this UHD you will get some top notch black levels, detail and color. When it comes to the black levels, you will see an increase in the shadow detail and a crush that appears completely superior compared to the Blu-Ray. There are even scenes where the blacks and shadow detail are too good! (I didn’t know that was a thing.) As you can assume, the great black levels also bring out and enhance any color on screen because of the contrast between the two.

Detail specifics can be seen in what the format does best; in the up close and personal shots! You will see this highlighted in various facial features including pores, beard stubble, sweat, blood, wounds and even in the stitching of the characters clothes. It’s the little things that can shine through with this type of work.

When it comes to the colors, it’s more of the little things like the way the light bounces off surfaces both during the day and night. The contrast from the prior mentioned black levels really helped that bit of color come through. In many occasions, aspects of color had a luster type of feel from the reflecting light.

A point in the movie I really enjoyed was the car attack when Denzel was in the drivers seat and the attacker was behind him. There were a lot of sharp shots full of action from start to finish and that final BAM! is amazing. I don’t want to spoil anything, but that BAM! is really awesome.

A big highlight was that final battle in the middle of the hurricane! There were a bunch of explosions that had a wide range of oranges which did just that on the screen, explode! The scene was pretty devoid of color with a lot of blacks and grays, so as before, it only made the color better. Little things like flying debris, rocks and rubble looked really sharp. They did a great job creating the atmosphere in the climatic scenes and you really can see that come through on this disc.

In conclusion, this 4K UHD disc will not blow you away, but it’s another solid addition to the format. You know how Sony works, it’s a great picture with all the fixings, so I give it my recommendation and two thumbs up. Picture quality aside, you also get a great film.

Make sure you pop into the New Year with Denzel and go pick this up!

Cheers,

Matt.

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