The Equalizer (2014) Review

The Equalizer (2014)

The Equalizer follows Robert McCall, who, after a friend of his is put in the hospital, goes after the men responsible, dismantling the Russian mob piece-by-piece. 

Coming out the same year as John Wick, and rivaling it in terms of it’s creative new approach action movies, The Equalizer immediately differentiates itself as something fresh and very inventive. Whereas the modern action star is one of careless ambition, with zero regard to the people or things in his path, Denzel Washington is made into something entirely different. A man of care and precision with no backstory other than he’s a bad, bad man who’s not to be messed with. Every step of the way, he feels in complete and total control, dismantling the Russian mob and with it, their enforcer Teddy. There’s no explosions (okay, well there’s one), no car chases, and the fights are kept brief, but everything is played out so methodically in efforts to portray just how precise Robert is. 

He’s got this superhero/vigilante quality about him, of a man whose abilities can do some real good and he’s quite frankly sick and tired of sitting around while the world goes to shit. And it’s evident he’s a man whose ambition is to truly make the world, or at least his little neck of Boston, a safer place, putting an emphasis on caring for the little people that surround his every day life. This is a fun as hell movie though, and even though it relies a bit too much on a plot we’ve seen a million times over, it’s all done with such thrilling care that it doesn’t much matter. 

We get a pretty solid cast as well, starring Bill Pullman, David Meunier, Johnny Skourtis, Haley Bennett, Melissa Leo, David Harbour, Chloë Grace Moretz, Martin Csokas, and Denzel Washington. Though he could’ve easily been another self-righteous hero, Denzel approaches Robert very methodically and with care, while still bringing a necessary grit to the role, which is actually quite refreshing in a cause & effect type of film like this that we’ve seen a hundred times. 

The Equalizer, directed by Antoine Fuqua, is no doubt as formulaic and predictable as it gets these days, but it’s performances and careful approach to Robert’s ambitions in taking down the mob make this super fun popcorn flick all the same. 

8.3/10