The Equalizer (***)
Starring: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, Johnny Scourtis, David Harbour, Haley Bennet, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, David Meunier
Seen: September 28th 2014
*** Out of ****
Whenever Denzel Washington decides to go mean and hard, it makes for an entertaining and riveting movie – in fact, he does not need to go mean and hard for that. To lift out one among a plethora of great ones, just look at the fantastic Man on Fire, directed by the late Tony Scott. It featured Washington as Creasy, an extremely capable bodyguard acting out of compassion for a helpless and kidnapped young girl; an absolutely fantastic movie. The Equalizer is not as good as Man on Fire, but it’s a good… almost… continuation of Man on Fire. Had Creasy survived the events of Man on Fire, he might have even become Washington’s Robert McCall in The Equalizer.
Robert is a remade man with a mysterious past working at a local hardware store. He is close to a few people but no-one has any idea of where he comes from, what his previous life entailed. Some of the employees even have a bet running on what he used to do before. He helps his friend Ralphie (Scourtis) to train so he can pass his test to become a security guard and is generally a good guy to everyone. He isn’t interested in any of his old life, focussing on being good to everyone and on reading all the books his late wife wanted to read but never did. Every night Robert has a cup of tea (for which he supplies the teabag) at a local diner, where he meets the young prostitute Alina (Moretz). He sees Alina being publically mistreated by her pimp, and when she does not return the next night, he decides to find her. She is in a hospital bed, recovering from a severe beating, and Robert manages to get a name from Alina’s friend…
Robert finds out where this particular pimp, Slavi (Meunier) is holed up and he assaults the night club, brutally and expediently killing Slavi and his men. Robert has connections in the shady government entity he previously worked for, and through the grapevine he learns that he did not simply take out a pimp and his men, but the West-Coast hub of the Russian mafia. Soon the boss back home, Pushkin, sends his enforcer Teddy (Csokas) after Robert, along with a crowd of ex-military mercenaries. This brings everything to a big showdown in the hardware store that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Denzel Washington is again his usual great self, but this Robert McCall will forever stand in the shade of his Creasy from Man on Fire. Marton Csokas is good and chilling as the Russian enforcer, but doesn’t really bring much that has not been seen before from Russian bad guys. Chloë Grace Moretz is surprisingly absent from the movie, her presence forms a bookend to open and close proceedings and not much more. David Meunier is a welcome face for fans of the brilliant TV series Justified, and he is menacing until he is despatched with brutal efficiency.
The big action only comes nearer the end with the big showdown, with approximately the first hour being solid dramatic exposition and buildup with two punctuation marks of quick and brutal action that doesn’t last more than half a minute. The Equalizer is good entertainment, and even though it shares a bit too much with a far superior movie, it is well worth the watch.
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