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THE EQUALIZER – The Review – We Are Movie Geeks

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THE EQUALIZER – The Review

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It would be easy to call the pulpy revenge thriller THE EQUALIZER a standard action movie. It has all the trappings of a tired Hollywood genre effort: a loner with a mysterious past, a young hooker with a heart of gold that provides the catalyst for his return to action, and an army of sneering Russian gangsters for our hero to dispatch in all variety of gruesome manner. Put these elements in the hands of someone like Brett Ratner or another Hollywood hack and you’ve got the makings of a mundane, lifeless drama. But thanks to star Denzel Washington and his talented director Antoine Fuqua (who directed Washington to his TRAINING DAY Oscar), what should be tired and tenuous has a weird, electrifying life all its own. Sure, there are moments when THE EQUALIZER overdoses on bullets and explosions and the cliché-heavy script by Richard Wenk offers one too many convenient contrivance, but the end result is still a stylish, engaging thriller that knows there’s nothing really new to say within said cinematic style, but still gives it a roaring, bloody try.

In THE EQUALIZER (which doesn’t seem like a movie based on a TV show though it is), Washington plays McCall, a man who leads a quiet life riding the Boston public transportation system, putting in a 40-hour work week at Home Depot, and reading the 100 greatest novels at an all-night diner plucked right out of that famous painting by Edward Hopper. There he meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a teen call girl under the control of merciless Russian gangsters. When they beat her half to death, McCall can’t stand idly by – he has to help. Armed with hidden 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.

There may be less to THE EQUALIZER than meets the eye, but what does meet the eye is badass. The violence kicks off at about the half-hour mark with a remarkable scene in which McCall dispenses with five scar-faced Russkies in less than 20 seconds after a lengthy, wordy standoff that ratchets up the tension to an excruciating level. It’s a wild, eye-gouging, skull-smashing, corkscrew-through-the-jaw sequence that you don’t expect to be topped – and yet it is in the film’s climax which takes place in McCall’s place of employment. The final showdown is TOOLBOX MURDERS redux with death by power drill, pruning poll, barbed wire, and nail gun. It’s all such a gory, over-the-top blast that you just gotta smile and admire. Washington emotes little but his familiar charisma and brooding presence effortlessly carries the film through its 131 minutes and Marton Csokas’ psychotic Russian mob fixer Teddy is one of the more repellant movie villains in recent memory. I feel a little guilty about so enthusiastically endorsing THE EQUALIZER; its violence is excessive, its central character is a complete cypher, and the film certainly isn’t meaningful in any deep way. But Fuqua is a notably accomplished filmmaker, and there is much here that is fun – and funny. Harry Gregson-Williams turns in a full-blooded score, the Boston locations are used to strong effect and the action never lags.  McCall may only be the creature of a filmmaker’s imagination, but Washington and Fuqua bring him to life with a forcefulness that’s seductive. THE EQUALIZER is highly recommended.

4 of 5 Stars

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