I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: of all the distinguished actors who decided to hop aboard the aging action hero train, Denzel Washington is still the most baffling. It’s not that the guy can’t hack it – Washington can stir up all the imposing menace of a Liam Neeson without even trying – it’s just that pure action never seemed like that much of a comfortable fit for him; anyone remember Virtuousity?
And yet here we are, with a third installment of his action/thriller franchise, The Equalizer, debuting in cinemas as we speak, I suppose there is an audience for watching Denzel give his particularly commanding brand of advice before beating pumps, crooks and rogue government agents to death like animals. However, while the first movie was an undemanding, yet suprisingly brutal, slice of vigilante fun, the second film kind of felt that the series was already going through the motions. Can the returning team of Washington and Antoine Fuqua give Robert McCall a big finish, or will this third movie merely equalise the mistakes of the second?
We rejoin, Robert McCall, unlikable, ex-CIA operative and OCD fist of the voiceless, as he is in the midst of doing what he does best – tearing criminal organisations to pieces like a righteous cross between Michael Myers and virtually any incarnation of Marvel’s The Punisher that you’d care to name. However, after ripping through a mafia vineyard like a rottweiler through a pediatric burn unit, Robert catches a rare burst of return fire and as he drives out of Scicily, even he can’t ignore the fact that he’s rapidly bleeding out.
However, Robert awakes in a small village in Southern Italy after a local, kindly doctor (whom I’m assuming hasn’t seen The Borne Identity) removes the offending bullet and saves his life despite haven’t not the singlest clue as to who his patient really is.
While Robert heals in these picturesque surroundings, he slowly bonds with the gentle and welcoming townsfolk and gradually he starts to believe that he was not only destined to find this place, but he may have finally found somewhere where he can settle down.
Of course, it’s not going to be that simple and soon enough Robert finds that the Mafia have their tendrils wrapped around even this little place, with cold-blooded entrepreneur, Vincent Quaranta looking to turn this sea-side vista into a string of hotels and casinos by any means necessary. However, by any means necessary is also a motto that Robert tends to live by, so after he has healed up, he sets his sights on removing this vicious blight on his potential paradise by killing everything in his path. However, while McCall does his thing, he enlists the aid of bemused CIA agent Emma Collins for mysterious reasons best known to himself.
Regardless of whether you think the Equalizer movies are underrated, action/thriller classics or just a repetitive excuse for Washington to get his action on before he gets too old, you have to admit that director Antoine Fuqua has amassed a slick looking franchise that certainly fits the bill for those looking for satisfyingly gruesome takedowns of unrepentant criminals. Unsurprisingly, Fuqua has delivered yet another handsome kill-fest that takes the lush, Italian backdrop and uses it to its fullest as Washington puts on his best mulling face as he drinks in the gorgeous surroundings.
Those familiar with the franchise will find that all the usual basics have been reliably filled as the movie capably balances Washington’s abilities to still be one of the most overtly empathic leading men in Hollywood with some truly jaw dropping, Mortal Kombat style fatalities, however, despite the ad campaign stating that we’re about to witness the final chapter, there’s nothing in this threequel that convincingly ups the stakes.
Oh sure, McCall’s lost a step or two (a bullet to the back would fo that to anybody), but despite his wound, or the fact that Washington is noticably older and thicker round the middle than before, the film refuses to play up to the fact that, physically speaking, his days of being as avenging angel are fast coming to an end. Instead, the story chooses to focus more on McCall spiritually coming to the end of a quest no one actually asked him to do and while the scenes of him gradually achieving peace are nicely rendered via random passers by teaching him the customs, the threat that puts everything in peril isn’t really anything our hero hasn’t handled before.
Compared to Marton Csokas’ gangland enforcer or Pedro Pascal’s murderous agent, Andrea Scarduzio’s sharp suited mobster hardly registers, even when he’s getting his men to hang an infirmed, wheelchair-bound old man in full view of his screaming family. Likewise his bull-head younger brother and numerous faceless henchmen barely get time to build themselves up as genuine threats before Washington blows through them as easily as a bullet proof vest made of Kleenex. As a result, the real lack of genuine threat makes the boasts of a final chapter seem way less threatening that it should as the stor is less about McCall finally meeting his match and more about him finally putting his feet up for a bit.
Still, Washington is as watchable as ever, the backgrounds are legitimately beguiling and we even get a nice callback to our lead’s earlier, vigilante days with the appearance of Dakota Fanning giving us a genuinely sweet Man On Fire reunion. However, due the fact that Equalizer 3 barely adds a single new wrinkle to a very familiar trilogy, it’s once again the extraordinarily splashy deaths that force you to sit up and take notice. An early sequence that sees McCall go through his usual, countdown-based, schtick sees a chateau literally filled to the brim with mutilated goombas (which Fuqua does us the common courtesy of lingering on), gives way to a truly startling moment when he pushes the barrel of a gun through the eye of one attacker and then shoot another through the goon’s skull. Later, after giving another gangster fair warning while having him in a nerve hold that could cause him to “shit all over himself” if more pressure should be applied, he answers their refusal to listen by using everything from a knife to a Runaway van to make his point.
But while watching the former Malcolm X find that sweet spot between gratifying and jarring as he garrotes a man to the point of decapitation, still proves to be oddly watchable, McCall’s third go around barely has an original thought in its head and you wonder if the whole enterprise wasn’t just excuse for Washington and Fuqua to get an all expenses paid trip to Italy.
Still, while it falls below the standards set by the original, The Equalizer 3 is noticably better than part 2, but still struggles to prove that the third time apparently is the (c)harm.
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