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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 19 July 2018

Denzel Washington kills in ‘The Equalizer 2’

By MARK KENNEDY, AP En- When a group of smarmy,
tertainment Writer cocky Wall Street types
You won’t usually find Den- abuse an intern during a
zel Washington in a movie coke-fueled party, Wash-
sequel. He just doesn’t do ington drives her to the
them. Something about hospital and then returns
not wanting to repeat to wreck vengeance, slic-
himself. So there must be ing one dude with his own
something special indeed luxury credit card and
for him to break his own then taunting his bleed-
rule for “The Equalizer 2.” ing victims with “I expect
Fans of the first film will in- a five-star rating.” It takes
stantly know why Washing- him a scant 29 seconds to
ton is drawn to the charac- destroy the room full of rich
ter of Robert McCall, a qui- snobs; he times it, naturally.
et middle-aged retired spe- The film somewhat confus-
cial-ops agent who fiercely ingly toggles through vari-
believes in justice, likes to ous initial threads before
help others and dispenses landing on the main one
the occasional lethal killing — someone crucial to Mc-
for those deserving. Call’s murky past is mur-
“We all have to pay for our dered in Brussels and that
sins,” he tells a group of reveals a barrel of bad gov-
very bad guys in the new, This image released by Columbia Pictures shows Denzel Washington in a scene from “Equalizer 2.” ernment apples. The film
highly satisfying edition, be- Associated Press thus strays far from its roots
fore vowing to hunt each Melissa Leo. folded napkin and arrang- he encounters. He’s kind as a vehicle for McCall to
one dead. His only regret? McCall first appeared in es the cutlery just so. But, to old people (a Holocaust be the avenging angel for
He can kill them only once. the mid-1980s on TV with when prompted, his vision survivor, for extra depth) a needy stranger.
“The Equalizer 2 “ recon- Edward Woodward play- suddenly becomes hyper- and little kids, who adore But we get to see McCall
nects many of the people ing him as a bit of an Eng- clear and he meticulously him. He mentors a troubled solve the crime from his Bos-
behind the 2014 debut lish dandy. In the film series, pre-plans every step in tak- teen (Ashton Sanders), ton apartment by putting
alongside the always-vital Washington plays McCall ing down a room of thugs, hoping to steer him away himself in the crime scene
Washington — Antoine as a tad obsessive-compul- often without a gun. He’s from drug dealing and to- like an episode of “Crossing
Fuqua returns to direct, as sive, but not consistently. like Monk crossed with Sher- ward art school. Jordan” and then avenge
does writer Richard Wenk, He’s the kind of guy who lock Holmes. Few people could pull off the death. Oh, there’s also
and actors Bill Pullman and brings his own tea bag to The second film takes this cheesy sainthood like a hurricane crashing up the
a restaurant in a neatly place sometime later, with Washington, oozing cha- East coast, timed for the cli-
McCall now a Lyft driver, risma and self-assured mas- max, a little over the top if
selectively helping people culinity. we’re being honest.q

Dax Shepard finds creative

fulfillment with new podcast

By ALICIA RANCILIO
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Dax
Shepard acts, writes and
directs, but his latest cre-
ative venture is fulfilling him
in ways he didn’t expect.
He’s begun recording pod-
casts called “Armchair Ex-
pert” in a guest house attic
on property he owns with
his wife Kristen Bell. New
episodes drop Mondays.
Shepard says his experi-
ence as a guest on other
podcasts sparked the idea
of starting his own. In this March 11, 2017 file photo, Dax Shepard poses for a portrait
The first episode was with -in West Hollywood, Calif.
Bell. He’s since added Associated Press
conversations including El- about parenting strategies. road with episodes record-
len DeGeneres and Jimmy He ranks Donald Glover as ed in front of an audience.
Kimmel and various experts No. 1. on his “never-end- Tickets will be available for
in their fields, like a clinical ing” wish list. upcoming events in Texas
psychologist who can talk “Armchair” is going on the and Toronto. q