The Equalizer

Vigilante films are very popular especially in this day and age where, so much of the time, the victim of a crime seems to get less and less justice, and the criminal gets away with 'murder'--quite literally in some cases. So with a populace more and more up in arms with the 'status quo', it's no wonder how films like "The Equalizer" would be more popular today than ever.

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when McCall meets Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by--he has to help her. Armed with hidden, lethal skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. McCall soon realizes that by attacking and killing a good deal of the gangsters, he just opened up 'Pandora's Box' in the process. All this only alerted the Russian kingpin, Teddy (Marton Csokas) to come to the U.S. to now have to get involved, and this is when it really gets ugly. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help, because he is The Equalizer.

Others to round out the cast are David Harbour as Masters, a corrupt cop helping the Russian mafia, Haley Bennett as Mandy, Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo as Brian and Susan Plummer, former colleagues of McCall, David Meunier as Slavi, Johnny Skourtis as Ralphie, Alex Veadov as Tevi, Vladimir Kulich as Vladimir Pushkin and E. Roger Mitchell as Lead Investigator.

This was directed with such underlying intensity by Antoine Fuqua ("The Replacement Killers" '98, "Bait" 2000, "Training Day" '01, "Tears of the Sun" '03, "Lightning in a Bottle" (Documentary) '04, "King Arthur" '04, "Murder Book (TV movie) '05, "Shooter" '07, "Brooklyn's Finest" '09, "Olympus Has Fallen" '13, "Exit Strategy" (TV movie) '14). The character of McCall could have played out in an over-the-top type character, and would have been effective, however with Fuqua's fine directing along with the incredible acting of Washington, this man possessing a subtle, calculating, slow-fuse, underlying, seemingly quiet individual made this man more dangerous to these brutal killers than the other way around. In other words, it was the mouse chasing the cat and not visa versa. This was well written By Richard Wenk based on the TV series by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. You must be patient with this film--it starts off a bit slow, however, after a point, you'll see why. This must give the audience the feeling of what McCall does in this is truly justified, and to accomplish this task, Wenk had to let you get to know this guy on many levels so we can see that he's a 'regular' guy, but if push comes to shove, what's going to send him over that edge? All of this is delineated at the beginning--it is extremely important to take this in. This is not perfect, but considering there is only a couple of choppy places, those are not enough to impede on this story, and watching Denzel is just so effortless, one has a tendency to forget everything else on the screen.

As said above, even if you're not into vigilante films, Denzel's performance will keep you riveted to that seat, and that alone is worth the price of admission.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                Rated: R                              131mins.