The Equalizer –
Dir. Antoine Fuqua (2014)
It's been well over a decade since director Antoine Fuqua
and Denzel Washington first collaborated on Training
Day, a movie that earned the latter an Academy Award for Best Actor. While
Washington has been churning out a combination of action and drama, Fuqua's
output hasn't been quite as fruitful. He's helmed a couple of arguably decent
action flicks (Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen) and some forgettable
fare (King Arthur, Brooklyn's Finest). Now, the pair has teamed
up for the second time for a film that is most definitely not Training Day.
The Equalizer is based on the 80's television series about Robert McCall (originally played by Edward Woodward), a former CIA agent, who became a freelance troubleshooter for anyone in need. Think of him as a one man A-Team. Washington easily steps into the role with McCall's background much more mysterious this time around. What we do know is that he's retired from his former life and now living in a Spartan, one bedroom Boston apartment. He's the manager at a Home Mart (a Home Depot-esque megastore) and offers kindly advice to those around him. He spends many sleepless nights drinking tea and reading all those novels people tell you to read at a 24hr diner straight out of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." There, McCall befriends a young girl named Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is forced to work as a prostitute for particularly nasty Russian gangsters.
McCall quickly dispatches with the villains after Alina is nearly beaten into a coma. Too late does he find out that they weren't lowly pimps, but integral cogs in the east coast arm of the Russian Mafia. The powerful head of the organization, Mr. Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich), sends in his chief enforcer Teddy (Marton Csokas) to clean up the mess. Meanwhile, McCall keeps himself busy dealing with a stick-up man and two dirty cops.
The Equalizer is based on the 80's television series about Robert McCall (originally played by Edward Woodward), a former CIA agent, who became a freelance troubleshooter for anyone in need. Think of him as a one man A-Team. Washington easily steps into the role with McCall's background much more mysterious this time around. What we do know is that he's retired from his former life and now living in a Spartan, one bedroom Boston apartment. He's the manager at a Home Mart (a Home Depot-esque megastore) and offers kindly advice to those around him. He spends many sleepless nights drinking tea and reading all those novels people tell you to read at a 24hr diner straight out of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." There, McCall befriends a young girl named Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is forced to work as a prostitute for particularly nasty Russian gangsters.
McCall quickly dispatches with the villains after Alina is nearly beaten into a coma. Too late does he find out that they weren't lowly pimps, but integral cogs in the east coast arm of the Russian Mafia. The powerful head of the organization, Mr. Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich), sends in his chief enforcer Teddy (Marton Csokas) to clean up the mess. Meanwhile, McCall keeps himself busy dealing with a stick-up man and two dirty cops.
The Equalizer
isn't about shattering genre conventions, but wallowing in them in the best
possible manner. This is the type of movie where cargo ships and oil tankers
explode as Denzel calmly walks away without ever looking back. He dispatches
bad guys quickly and efficiently with the fighting style we've seen plenty of
times in the Taken and Bourne films. In a nice touch, McCall
generally uses whatever is handy to kill his enemies. This is especially
spotlighted during the climax inside the Home Mart, which plays out like an
R-rated version of Home Alone.
While the action is fun, there's no flair to it. Fuqua's direction is surprisingly pedestrian. Even the sequences where McCall goes into Equalizer-vision, slowing things down and assessing the situation, were done far better by Guy Ritchie in Sherlock Holmes. Only occasionally do the visuals pop, such as when Fuqua references Rear Window in a scene where Teddy claims another victim. The screenplay by Richard Wenk (The Mechanic, The Expendables 2) doesn't grasp the concept of subtext. The novels McCall reads, like The Old Man and the Sea and Don Quixote, serve as obvious commentary for the various acts of The Equalizer.
While the action is fun, there's no flair to it. Fuqua's direction is surprisingly pedestrian. Even the sequences where McCall goes into Equalizer-vision, slowing things down and assessing the situation, were done far better by Guy Ritchie in Sherlock Holmes. Only occasionally do the visuals pop, such as when Fuqua references Rear Window in a scene where Teddy claims another victim. The screenplay by Richard Wenk (The Mechanic, The Expendables 2) doesn't grasp the concept of subtext. The novels McCall reads, like The Old Man and the Sea and Don Quixote, serve as obvious commentary for the various acts of The Equalizer.
At 59, Denzel doesn't look his age at all. Along with Liam
Neeson, he's got the presence and instant credibility to serve as an action
hero. Here, Denzel dials it down and underplays the role to enhance the
character's cool demeanor and ordered lifestyle. It's a stark contrast to
Marton Csokas playing it as an old school, menacing Bond villain with tattoos
of devils across his torso. Melissa Leo and Bill Pullman are a welcome sight as
they pop in quickly as McCall's former CIA handlers. There's definitely a Taxi Driver element to the friendship
between McCall and Alina, but Chloe Moretz disappears for a majority of the
movie when it decides death and destruction are more interesting.
The Equalizer is a
perfectly acceptable compliment to similar action movies such as Man on Fire, Taken, and Jack Reacher. The
basic elements are enjoyable enough to forget that Fuqua and Denzel do little
to transcend clichés.
Rating: *** (*****)
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