Certification. 18
Running Time. 2 hours 12 mins
Director. Antoine Fuqua
Cast. Haley Bennett, Marton Csokas, David Harbour, Melissa Leo, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bill Pullman, Denzel Washington.
Rating. 65%
Review.
The Equalizer sees Antoine Fuqua reunite with Denzel Washington for the first time since the impressive Training Day (2001).
The film is loosely based on the television series co-created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim which aired on CBS from 1985 to 1989 and starred Edward Woodward as former intelligence agent, Robert McCall. Denzel Washington reprises the role of Robert McCall, a character with a mysterious past who routinely spends the wee small hours of the morning in a local diner, reading great works of literature. It is here he befriends a young call girl, Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), and when she is savagely beaten, McCall feels compelled to act.
The plot is all too familiar - from Shane to John Wick, there is little innovation in the story of a reluctant (but highly capable) hero addressing injustice and exacting retribution on behalf of those routinely persecuted.
Antoine Fuqua has previously demonstrated that he is capable of staging an effective action sequence. In The Equalizer, crisp visuals and stylised set pieces are a result of Fuqua's highly attuned eye for action. The set pieces are well-choreographed, and like McCall himself, steadily-paced, controlled and meticulous. Although, the final confrontation at Home Mart is somewhat frustrating as McCall fashions lethal traps from an array household products and power tools. At some point, surely it would have made more sense to pick up one of the automatic weapons from one of the nameless, tattooed Russian gangsters despatched early on?
The supporting cast are almost incidental. After she is hospitalised, Moritz is conspicuously absent for the remainder of the film, while Marton Csokas seethes as the Russian psychopath sent to resolve the situation. But this is Denzel Washington's film. After Man On Fire, this role isn't much of a stretch for Washington - one of the finest actors of his generation - but even when not challenged, he remains as watchable as ever.
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