MOVIE REVIEW: The Equaliser

McCall (DENZEL WASHINGTON) talks to Slavi in Columbia Pictures' THE EQUALIZER.

McCall (DENZEL WASHINGTON) talks to Slavi in Columbia Pictures' THE EQUALIZER.

Published Sep 26, 2014

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the equalizer

DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua

CAST: Denzil Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Pullman, Melissa Leo

CLASSIFICATION: 16 LV

RUNNING TIME:

RATING: 2 stars (out of 5)

Theresa Smith

WOW. AMERICANS are unimaginative when it comes to swearing. They know two words. The f-word and … wait. It is pretty much all a variation on that one word.

The bad guys in The Equalizer are all typified by their unimaginative use of the word whenever they get angry at main character, Robert McCall ( Washington, pictured), and they let rip every five minutes.

So, too, the film is rather unimaginative in the use of Washington as the ex-special forces, or maybe CIA, or maybe – who knows what – but what-ever it is, he learnt how to kill really well for a dude who, well, kills.

He is living incognito, having given up that life, working at a Home Mart (think Builder’s Warehouse, but just bigger) when events happening around him simply become too much.

When his co-workers and a prostitute he befriends at an all-night diner become victims of the Russian mob’s violent tendencies, McCall calls to bear his skills and tries to equalise the situation a bit.

What follows is brutal and nasty violence, and basically a set-up to redo the ’80s TV series.

Director Fuqua goes for visual style over substance, throwing huge tracking sequences at the screen every five minutes when he is not focusing on Washington’s face, a study in how to narrow your eyes in a meaningful way.

Washington does his best to invest the character with OCD ticks and quirks, but the director keeps on calling attention to the killing part, and drawing attention away from the humanity part.

Csokas plays a psychopathic Russian cleaner (as in clean up the business mess, not a person armed with a mop), but there is not much to interest the audience because there is no humanity to empathise with.

So, too, Moretz doesn’t have to stretch too far to play a brutalised, but still fresh-faced teenage prostitute.

The beautiful aerial shots of Boston, Massachusetts, are a warm contrast to the coldly lit action sequences, which are all about the bloody bodies and goriness. It is typical action-hero stuff – the main man walks away from an explosion in slow motion, the bad guys can’t aim and there is always a plucky side-kick to be found at the last second. Like with Olympus Has Fallen, Fuqua struggles to gracefully find the off-switch and goes on for at least 30 minutes too long.

What we all want to watch is Denzil Washington after all – and he kicks butt like no one can.

But, Washington did this better in Man on Fire, which was a much more coherent effort of stylishness married with an intriguing plotline and excellent characterisation.

This is a paint-by-numbers popcorn-muncher, but when compared to Fuqua’s previous work, this is more akin to the stylish, if predictable Replacement Killer than a brutal police drama with the excellent characterisation of Training Day.

If you liked Shooter or Brooklyn’s Finest you will like this.

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