The Equalizer (2014)

The Equalizer: Directed by Antoine Fuqua. With Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour. A man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him cannot stand idly by when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters.

“Antoine Fuquau0026#39;s big screen adaptation of the 80′s TV series The Equalizer opens with an impressive tracking shot through an open window, and into the orderly and near empty apartment, belonging to Robert McCall (Denzel Washington). McCall lives a Spartan existence; for the first twenty minutes of the picture, he hardly says a word. Fuqua (Training Day) gives a lengthy shot as you watch McCall fold something delicately into a napkin. When you see him unfold the napkin at his regular diner, and place the teabag into a cup of hot water, you understand immediately that this man is a creature of habit, firmly set in his ways. Every night heu0026#39;s there, reading a book. Heu0026#39;s such a regular, that he strikes up a familiar acquaintance in a young teenage prostitute, Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz)), which eventually grows into something of a friendship. There is something undeniably hidden within him, however. When he realizes the danger Teri is in thanks to her nefarious Russian pimps, he forgoes his cautious life, and willingly brings on the pain.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirector Fuqua accordingly really brings on the style for these sequences. His relative quiet touches give way to mayhem. Before every murder McCall commits, the camera slows down, taking on a golden hue, and you literally see McCall breaking down every element of his victims: tattoos, facial expressions. And then he lets loose: even timing himself to see if he can voice dispatch Mafiosi in 30 seconds or less.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd The Equalizer is undeniably fun. Itu0026#39;s one of those thrillers that begins moody and atmospheric, and then decides it would be more fun to see how many people can be dispatched with nail guns or corkscrew openers; and it is similarly unconcerned with logic in the idea that McCall decides to take down the entire East Coast hub of the Russian mafia, simply over one teenage prostitute. But with Fuqua this stylistically assured, and Washington equally game, does it really matter?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs Teri, Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick Ass, Carrie) forgoes the sarcastic strategy Jodie Foster used as a teenage hooker in Scorseseu0026#39;s Taxi Driver. Teri is arguably much more frightened of her violent handlers, and is less given to false bravado as result. And even though her character really amounts to little more than a glorified supporting part after she is sent away, she is a great deal of fun to watch, and she holds her own more than capably against Denzel Washington (The Book Of Eli). The habit of extended cameos in The Equalizer is even more extreme in the case of Melissa Leo as Robertu0026#39;s former CIA contact, who pops up to give a vital piece of information on the evil mobster, and to tentatively tiptoe around the subject of his wife, while offering a small measure of comfort. The bit part parade reaches u0026quot;blink-and-you-miss himu0026quot; cameo status, by casting a reputable star like Bill Pullman as Leou0026#39;s husband, and giving him no more than four lines (though of course itu0026#39;s possible that this may be a larger part that met with cuts in the editing room).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf anything, a weakness of The Equalizer is that McCallu0026#39;s troubled personal life is left as somewhat ambiguous. Who can blame it really? The opening aims for a quiet kind of profundity, and it succeeds, but isnu0026#39;t really interested in following through. For all its thin characterization, there is something just as nice in watching Denzel Washington coldly and calculatingly firing a nail gun in righteous vengeance.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eSee more at: www.mediumraretv.orgu003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003e”