Movies: Unfriended: Dark Web, Equalizer 2

First, a big shout out to all those comments lately.  We love them.  Keep ’em coming!

Only two reviews this week.  We are heading North for a road trip to explore Northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  (Post to follow).

J&J

Unfriended: Dark Web

Where to begin?!  Credit monitoring and identity theft   companies market services to protect people from “the dark web” but how much do we really know about it?

In this film a group of 20 somethings get together for a weekly “game night”.  When one of the group “finds” a MacBook and takes it as his own only to discover the owner tracks the device once it’s turned on.

All hell breaks loose after that.  Threats, intimidation, bullying, and much worse.  Some of it not plausible, some of it terrifying if true.  In writing this review, we discovered there are two different endings in release.  We do not like spoilers so we will not disclose either ending on the  chance someone decides to see this film.

Critics and audiences are mixed on this film.  It’s rated R for some disturbing violence, language and sexual references.  Its genre is listed as a Horror.  It’s run time is 88 minutes.

Rating  

Equalizer 2

We had forgotten the original Equalizer from 2014 was based on the TV series in the 1980s.  (Oh my, don’t do the math.)  We don’t remember much about the original except it was very good.  Among Denzel Washington’s best work at the time.

It’s interesting from the get go.  The story goes back in time a bit with clips that remind the viewer that Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) was a highly trained international operative.  His world is rattled in the present when his long time associate and friend Susan is mysteriously murdered.

The cast is compact.  Denzel Washington is the lead.  Melissa Leo plays lifelong friend Susan.  Bill Pullman plays Susan’s husband.  Pedro Pascal and Jonathan Scarfe are excellent bad guys.  22 year old Ashton Sanders gives a noteworthy performance as the young neighbor.

Reviews were surprisingly tepid.  50% to 60% favorable.  We thought it was much better than that.  Our screening was packed.  There were some children in attendance much to our surprise.  (We feel this film is not appropriate for young viewers.)  It is rated R for brutal violence, language and some drug content.  It is listed as Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense.  It runs 129 minutes.

Rating 

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