THE EQUALIZER (R)
Review by Adam Mast
Word coming out of Sony Pictures is that THE EQUALIZER test screened higher then any other movie in the studio’s history. If this truly is the case, then it begs the question, what is the worst test screened film in the studio’s history? This isn’t to suggest that THE EQUALIZER is a straight-up bad movie, but it is generic, punishingly long, and surprisingly dull.
Loosely based on the ’80s TV series starring Edward Woodward, THE EQUALIZER features Denzel Washington as Robert McCall, a mild-mannered home improvement store manager who decides to take matters into his own hands when a call girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) whom he barely knows is beaten within an inch of her life by a pack of foreign thugs. Robert’s altercation with said thugs sets off a chain reaction that brings the man with a past face-to-face with a Russian mobster, a plethora of corrupt Bostonian cops, and a city full of scum.
THE EQUALIZER was directed by TRAINING DAY helmer Antoine Fuqua. The action sequences, while derivative of the visual bravado at the heart of Guy Ritchie’s SHERLOCK HOLMES movies, are well executed, and it’s clear that the director has a strong rapport with his lead actor, but from a story standpoint, THE EQUALIZER borders on parody (cue massive explosion in background as Washington struts in slow motion in the foreground). It’s one obvious shootout and fist fight after the next, and it all ends in a routine climax that I like to call HOME DEPOT ALONE.
While the “R” rating allows for the sort of violence and seediness that seemed to be lacking in the watered-down but much-loved Liam Neeson actioneer TAKEN that doesn’t necessarily make this the better movie. In fact, with its grim, ugly, cynical look at the world and its depiction of the hardened man who exists to restore order in that world, THE EQUALIZER plays like a fusion of a poor season of 24 (and there are a few of those to speak of) and a second-rate DEATH WISH. Had THE EQUALIZER succumbed to its own ridiculousness and not taken the proceedings so seriously, it might have worked in the same way all of those great, over-the-top ’80s action movies work. Instead, this is more of a MAN ON FIRE retread. I suppose that’s good news for MAN ON FIRE fans. I’m not one of them.
As a beacon of justice, Washington commits as he always does, and that steely stare of his is effective. Marton Csokas is creepy and quietly menacing as Robert’s soulless adversary. In the few scenes that these intense actors share together, Washington and Csokas give THE EQUALIZER a much-needed spark, but it isn’t enough to save the film as a whole. In the end, the best compliment I can give THE EQUALIZER is that it was better than TAKEN 2, faint praise indeed.
