Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Rating: ★★½
Based on a 1980s television show of the same name, Denzel plays Robert McCall, an ‘Equalizer’ who dishes out his own unique brand of Hollywood justice on those he deems deserving of it.
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| Meet Robert McCall. Actually, no, you really don't want to... |
As a retired government operative, Robert spends his days working in a hardware store and his nights reading classic literature in a grimy café. It is here he meets Alina (Moretz), a young teenager sold into sex slavery as a child, and when he decides to assist her in doling out vengeance on the people she works for, all kinds of crazy things begin to happen.
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| Robert and Alina start an unlikely friendship. |
Can one man take on the Boston-based Russian mob? Well, yes, apparently. But not without copious amounts of blood being spilt.
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| Alina just wants to escape the life she was sold into... |
In the same vein as Taken, The Equalizer is cashing in on the recent popularity of the brutal revenge thriller themed films starring well-known actors playing pretty grim parts.
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| Things Robert enjoys: reading, teaching, killing |
The character of Robert McCall is a complete bad ass: someone you certainly wouldn’t want to mess with. I think that we are meant to like him, but as soon as he unnecessarily rips someone’s eyeball out, I realised that this movie was going to be a lot less fun then I thought it would be, mainly because I stopped being on his side when we discover that he is actually just a deranged killer.
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| Don't mess with The Equalizer. Seriously, don't. |
The Equalizer has the schlocky violence of Total Recalland the brutality of Olympus Has Fallen, but takes itself so seriously that it isn’t enjoyable, exciting or edgy like a good cheesy 80s/90s action movie pastiche should be- it’s just unsettling and disturbing.
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| Robert is always watching. And waiting... |
With a fairly bland but detestable villain called ‘Teddy’ (Csokas), who also plays it completely straight, The Equalizer reminded me slightly of Skyfall in that it is trying too hard to be serious when the premise is completely ludicrous. What should be a silly disposable thriller, like so many great action thrillers, is instead a very raw and deeply harrowing journey of a disturbed man who goes around murdering people.
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| Teddy and Robert really don't like each other. |
Another allusion to Skyfallis the Home Alone inspired finale in a hardware store, except this ending is much more vicious, thrilling and tense- and is stronger for it. The graphic violence is sometimes too much, but, overall, if people want to see this type of action thriller then they would probably enjoy it. I just found the entire premise morally bankrupt, mainly because the idea of a vigilante dolling out inhuman ‘justice’ left me with an unpalatable aftertaste. I’m surprised Denzel would do a movie like this, but, then again, he did do Man On Fire, which is pretty much the same thing, but better.
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| We've come a long way since Home Alone, people... |
It’s strange to see Denzel playing such a sick character, and what makes it worse is that we are meant to be on his side. Sure, he’s killing horrible people, but it’s still unsettling to watch him pitilessly murder people.
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| If Robert is coming for you, then you'd better run... |
The Equalizer does what it says on the tin, and because of that, is a watchable movie. Whether or not I would say it was ‘enjoyable’ is another matter entirely. Maybe I’m getting too old, but I’m starting to dislike films that really glorify retributive violence in a believable way, which is exactly what The Equalizer is all about.
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