The Equalizer
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Written by: Richard Wenk, based on the Television series by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim
Starring: Dezel Washington, Martin Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Haley Bennett, David Meunier, Johnny Skourtis, Alex Veadov, Vladimir Kulich
Action/Crime/Thriller - 131 min
Written by: Richard Wenk, based on the Television series by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim
Starring: Dezel Washington, Martin Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Haley Bennett, David Meunier, Johnny Skourtis, Alex Veadov, Vladimir Kulich
Action/Crime/Thriller - 131 min
When Denzel Washington’s name pops up on a new action film movie poster, there is a very good chance it will be a cut above the average fare. They are not always winners, but consider this short list: The Book of Eli, American Gangster, Déjà vu, Inside Man, Man on Fire, and Training Day. These are just some of Denzel's action roles. The Equalizer is better than just about all of them, save for Training Day. Working together again with director Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer is an impressive addition to the mystery man out for justice genre. The script is top-notch, the score is impressive, the acting is effective, all in all, The Equalizer is a great action thriller.
Based on the 1980s TV show, Robert McCall (Washington, 2012's Safe House) is a man with special skills. His skill set reminds us of Liam Neeson’s character in Taken; toss a coin on who would win a head to head match up between these two. Present day McCall seems affected by his past. We have no idea where he comes from or what has affected him so deeply, all we know is he is a widower who lives alone, drinks tea, and reads in the midnight hours in the local diner because he can’t sleep. There are allusions to ‘bad things’ and the dead wife but that is all we know. The Equalizer concerns the here and now, never the back then.
Based on the 1980s TV show, Robert McCall (Washington, 2012's Safe House) is a man with special skills. His skill set reminds us of Liam Neeson’s character in Taken; toss a coin on who would win a head to head match up between these two. Present day McCall seems affected by his past. We have no idea where he comes from or what has affected him so deeply, all we know is he is a widower who lives alone, drinks tea, and reads in the midnight hours in the local diner because he can’t sleep. There are allusions to ‘bad things’ and the dead wife but that is all we know. The Equalizer concerns the here and now, never the back then.
McCall gets to know one of his diner regulars, a young prostitute named Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz, 2013's Carrie) who looks like she is not surviving the rigors of her profession none too well. Teri has ambitions to make something of herself but has no way of escaping her occupational predicament and unforgiving bosses. After a particularly vicious punishment lands her in the hospital near death, McCall’s long-buried inner demons start to stir. Tracking down Teri’s assailants, he offers them a sum of money to buy her release and also save himself from returning to what he once was, a man of violence, a man out for justice through any and all means necessary.
The organization McCall runs up against is the Russian mob, not the kind of men who will accept a payoff to let a girl go; there are precedents and appearances to consider of course. When the violence finally beings, it begins with a bang. McCall never uses guns; he does not carry one. He employs whatever objects are close at hand. The first bloody scene takes place in an office with a bar in it; therefore, we see McCall use glasses, an ashtray, and a corkscrew to dispose of the bad guys. The corkscrew in particular kills a man in a way I believe is a first for a motion picture.
One of the strongest reasons for The Equalizer’s high recommendation is the camera work. There is no shaky cam, a noticeably rare decision in today’s action films. We know exactly where everyone stands in relation to one another and in the room. Fuqua (2013's Olympus Has Fallen) slows down some fight scene sections to emphasize a move, the introduction of a new weapon, or a specific and gruesome kill. The audience never gets lost, which is extremely rare nowadays with cameras jumping all over the place or sped-up action where all we see are blurry sequences before someone ends up on the ground.
There are multiple bad guys running around but the main villain, Teddy (Martin Csokas, 2014's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), a Russian with an interesting English accent, is McCall’s main foil. Teddy is a cold-blooded sociopath who feels nothing. Dead or alive is the same to him. The Russian mob bosses employ Teddy as the clean up man; he will straighten out any mess or menace causing the organization to hemorrhage money. Csokas is eerily effective and gives a tremendous villainous performance. Frequently, roles such as Teddy are thankless and his job is to provide just enough friction on the hero before good triumphs over evil. Writer Richard Wenk amps up this villain though. Just like McCall, there is no background, but there is a particular intense scene between the two of them staring each other down over a dinner table judging and examining each of their strengths and weaknesses.
Is there anything wrong with The Equalizer? Well, Sony’s product placement is far too obvious. If you did not know Sony owned Columbia Pictures, you will certainly figure it out before the end credits. McCall is working his way through the Top 100 novels you are supposed to read before you die and there are a couple way too obvious references to "The Old Man and the Sea" and "Invisible Man". Finally, the climax is set in McCall’s place of business, the Home Mart, which is a knockoff Home Depot. Home Mart just happens to have every sort of object a man who does not use a gun can use to kill another human being. It is like Macaulay Culkin from Home Alone, except Denzel is killing henchmen with drills, hammer claws, and glass shards.
These peccadillos are simply details to poke holes in an otherwise top-notch film. Action thrillers tend to run together with each one resembling the last dozen or so before it. The Equalizer stands out for its originality, its enjoyable script, and fight scenes you can easily watch and understand, even if a corkscrew or a drill bit are going places they are not supposed to go.
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