Back in 2014, The Equalizer rebooted the 1980s TV series of the same name. With 2018’s The Equalizer 2, we find the continued adventures of Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), an avenging angel who helps the helpless.

Former CIA operative McCall maintains a “day job” as a Lyft driver, but he moonlights as a vigilante. This takes him all around the world, and he earns powerful enemies.

Along the way, a friend of his ends up dead. This doesn’t sit well with McCall, so he embarks on an attempt to take out the appropriate parties.

I wasn’t wild about the 2014 Equalizer, so I can’t claim I entered the sequel with high hopes. Relentlessly mediocre reviews didn’t do provide any encouragement either.

Despite these factors, I thought Equalizer 2 offered a pretty decent little action experience. While it blazes no new trails, it does more than enough to keep us interested.

As was the case with the first film, Washington gets a lot of the credit, as he provides an effective action hero. The actor may now be in his sixties, but he creates a believable bad-ass, and he brings weight to a role that otherwise could be thin and silly.

Equalizer 2 boasts a solid supporting cast as well. With solid actors like Melissa Leo, Pedro Pascal and Bill Pullman in tow, the film adds a good layer of depth across its different characters.

No stranger to action films, director Antoine Fuqua keeps things gritty and visceral but he also tones down the graphic content that bothered me in the first film. While Equalizer 2 still clearly earns its “R”-rating, it doesn’t revel in gore the way its predecessor did, and I prefer that approach.

Fuqua certainly stages the many action scenes well, and “Equalizer Vision” still works nicely. These sequences show how McCall quickly breaks down threatening situations, and it’s a fun way to get inside his head.

Though Equalizer 2 comes with plenty of visceral segments, the finale fares best. Shot in a massive storm, the ending becomes borderline operatic, and it brings the film to an effective conclusion.

Some aspects of the film’s story feel a bit superfluous, and we occasionally lose touch of the tale’s main thrust, but these issues don’t become notable flaws. Overall, Equalizer 2 provides a lively, exciting action tale.

The Equalizer 2 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a good visual presentation.

Overall sharpness worked well, as the vast majority of the image seemed accurate and concise. Only a handful of slightly soft shots materialized, so most of the flick looked well-defined.

I saw no issues with jaggies or moiré effects, and the image lacked edge haloes. Print flaws remained absent.

As one would anticipate, the movie opted for a mainly teal palette, with splashes of orange on occasion. Despite the cliché nature of those choices, the image replicated the hues in a positive manner.

Blacks showed good depth and range, while shadows brought good clarity. Low-light shots managed to become smooth and well-defined. Overall, this turned into a solid image.

Expect an action-packed DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack from Equalizer 2, as the audio broadened to fill out all the channels in a lively manner. The movie consistently depicted a wide sense of atmosphere, so even subdued scenes still showed a nice feeling for settings and events.

Obviously, louder sequences added more impact, and those fared well. Various sequences with violence used the spectrum in a dynamic manner, and these instances helped flesh out the action in a compelling manner. The climactic segment show in a massive storm brought out arguably the most memorable auditory moments, but the whole thing blended nicely and packed a good punch.

Audio quality was more than satisfactory. Music was full and rich, while dialogue appeared natural and concise.

Effects offered excellent reproduction and delivered firm, rich bass when appropriate. The soundtrack suited the film and added to it.

In the same vein as a component on the first film’s Blu-ray, Vengeance Mode brings a series of video clips that pop up as the movie runs. In these, director Antoine Fuqua and actor Denzel Washington discuss a mix of topics.

They appear 12 times during the movie and they cover aspects of the sequel’s creation, cast and performances, story/character areas, stunts and action, sets and locations. In total, we find 18 minutes, 15 seconds of comments from Fuqua and Washington.

On their own, these clips work fine, as they give us some interesting tidbits. However, they create a distraction when they interrupt the movie, and they don’t act like a real commentary, so there’s no need for the videos to accompany the film. We’d have been better served by a simple featurette with Fuqua and Washington.

Another feature that runs alongside the film, Equalizer Trivia offers text blurbs about the movie and its creators. While these bring us some worthwhile notes, they pop up too infrequently to be of real value. The Blu-ray should’ve combined “Trivia” and “Vengeance”, as that would’ve made for a more satisfying package.

11 Deleted and Extended Scenes fill a total of 23 minutes, 18 seconds. These mainly offer extra exposition, some of which proves useful, though much of the material seems only mildly helpful.

Still, the clips tend to be interesting, even when insubstantial. That makes them above average and worth a look.

A few featurettes follow, and Denzel As McCall offers a seven minute program with info from Washington, Fuqua, producers Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal, screenwriter Richard Wenk, executive producer Molly Allen, and actors Ashton Sanders, Pedro Pascal and Melissa Leo. We find a few insights about Washington’s work and his character, but mainly this show exists to praise the actor.

With Seconds Till Death, we get a five-minute, 15-second reel that offers notes from Black, Fuqua, Washington, Pascal, Blumenthal, Wenk, Allen, and stunt coordinators JJ Dashaw and Jeffrey Dashaw. “Death” looks at the movie’s stunts and action, and it does so in a quick but competent manner.

Through Antoine’s Lens goes for six minutes, 43 seconds and features Fuqua, Washington, Wenk, Blumenthal, Pascal, Sanders, Black, Leo, and actor Bill Pullman. “Lens” looks at supporting characters and cast. It becomes a passable view of the topic.

Two TV Promos follow: “Auditions” (3:12) and “Behind the Scenes” (1:29). In the first, we see pro basketball players “try out” to play McCall, while the second gives us a look at the shoot. Both offer amusement.

The disc opens with ads for Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Superfly (2018), Venom, White Boy Rick, Searching and Girl in the Spider’s Web. No trailer for Equalizer 2 appears here.

A solid sequel, The Equalizer 2 improves on the first film. More emotional and compelling, this becomes an involving action experience. The Blu-ray brings strong picture and audio along with a decent set of supplements. Equalizer 2 brings a largely enjoyable action flick.