THE EQUALIZER
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour
I was a HUGE fan of this TV series back in the 80s. Robert McCall was cool. He was suave and had skills and when h said I can help you, you damn well believed it.
The movie I watched had very little to do with the TV show and it wasn’t until around the last quarter of the movie that there was any similarity. The last 5 minutes did turn around and what I saw was something based on the show. The majority of the movie is basically a prequel setting up Robert McCall to become the Equalizer.
For the uninitiated it will most likely come off as a decent action/revenge flick. For me it really felt like Death Wish until the very end. If they manage to do a second movie it will probably feel closer to what I expected, some how I doubt there will be a second film.
“So what is the movie about you rambling weirdo?”
Robert McCall is a guy leading a quiet life, happy working his job at a Home Depot like box store. He’s friends with people who work there and a good guy. He doesn’t talk about his past. He has trouble sleeping and hangs out reading in a small diner where he makes friends with a young girl who is obviously a reluctant prostitute. Something bad happens and McCall gets mad and very quietly and efficiently kicks some ass to make thing right. Cue scene, repeat a few times. Enter the Russian mob, mad about some dead bad guys and looking for blood, we build up to a huge fight scene in the fake home depot with power drills and barb wire. Of course right before this we FINALLY get a clue as to McCall’s background. Ex-secret agent, tired of the life and politics involved he fakes his death and gets out. Now his quiet life is interrupted and he uses his skills to put thing right in his little piece of the world.
I did enjoy the very end when he was on a computer looking at an ad he placed that said “Odds Against You? Need Helps? Contact the Equalizer”. The problem is for me is that it took too long to get there. The beginning needed more context because I kept waiting for things that reminded me of the show.
All in all, it’s an OK movie. If they do a second I will see it, but after it’s on DVD and discounted.
Jon Jordan
