Look, nobody has been more critical of Denzel Washington over the last few years than me, and it has nothing to do with the man's ability to command the screen. Washington is one of our great treasures, a timeless star with a seemingly endless reservoir of cool. But fulfilling roles are few and far between. For every chance he gets to star in something like Flight, he'll do three or four mediocre but money-making films like 2 Guns, Safe House, and Unstoppable. On the surface The Equalizer would seem to fit into that latter category. It's a throwback that checks all the boxes in the tortured action hero model. There's even a slow-motion walk away from a gigantic explosion. But there's also something to be said for a film that allows Denzel to do his best Charles Bronson in Death Wish, and even if there aren't many surprises The Equalizer is one kick-ass film from start to finish.
Many will recognize The Equalizer from the cult favorite 1980s TV
series led by Ed Woodward, but they'll see few similarities in the bleak and
bloody version directed by Training Day's Antoine Fuqua. Something about
when Denzel hooks up with Fuqua that brings out the best in him. It's the
freedom to show his dark side, and Denzel always eats up those opportunities
when they come around. He plays Robert McCall, a genial, helpful stock guy at a
Home Depot-type store. This being The Equalizer, we know that no guy can be
quite as happy as McCall seems to be. His barely-furnished home reeks of
loneliness, and unable to sleep McCall frequents the same diner each morning at
2am. There he meticulously arranges the condiments, reads his book, and
converses with Elena (Chloe Grace Moretz), the headstrong yet troubled
prostitute apparently using the place as her base of operations. Their
conversations are friendly, but distant. She has hopes of something more out of
life and he's eager to encourage her out of the business. When a bunch of
Russian goons beat her up, sending her to the hospital, McCall does what any
average Home Depot employee would do, which is systematically destroy her
attackers with a lethal flurry of violence. It's not just that he wipes out
four heavily-armed goons all by himself; it's how he does it. Coldly, calmly
assessing the situation beforehand, McCall's impulses kick into action. So what
if he's a bit slower than he was back in the day (yes, he sets his stopwatch to
clock everything), this is McCall in his natural element; not stacking plywood.
This is Denzel in full Man on Fire-mode; confident, brooding, a lean
mean murdering machine who makes killing look smooth and easy. His slick
demeanor is matched by the bottled ferocity of Marton Csokas, who plays Teddy,
a psychotic Russian fixer sent in to discover who has disrupted the mob's
operations. What McCall doesn't know is that his moment of vengeance has
attracted the attention of some people in very high places, and they want him
dead. What ensues isn't really a game of cat and mouse as it is cat vs. cat.
McCall and Teddy are pretty brazen and upfront about what they intend to do to
one another, and the body count skyrockets before the inevitable showdown. That
McCall has a nemesis worthy of being feared is a credit to screenwriter Richard
Wenk, who along with Fuqua's unsubtle direction creates a film that glorifies
its violent excesses. Fuqua loves tough-guy movies like this and is well-suited
to the task. Visual inventiveness has never been his specialty and The
Equalizer doesn't demand it from him. All you need to know about Wenk is
that he also wrote The Expendables and 16 Blocks. There's not a
lot of nuance to be found in the story itself, but Denzel adds what layers he
can to McCall's evolution into a street vigilante. He's a man who has always
prided himself on righting wrongs, but a promise to never resort to killing
again has him torn and seeking the help of old CIA friends (Melissa Leo and
Bill Paxton in minor cameos) before embarking on a dark path. 
The Equalizer is brutal stuff, and the constant bloodshed could have
been numbing if Denzel wasn't such an engaging hero. Even during the wildly
ridiculous final showdown which has McCall butchering his foes with power tools
(worst product placement ever!!!), you can't help but cheer for the guy. Is he
probably just as much of a monster as the people he's killing? Maybe, but
that's a question that's never really asked and desperately needs to be
explored. Its possible McCall will ask himself that question in the already
green lit sequel. Or perhaps not. The Equalizer doesn't bother with the
heavy stuff; it does what it promised to do which is deliver an entertaining,
action-packed experience and one of Denzel's better recent performances.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
