Good, But More of the Same

Rating: 6/10 (6 October 2014)

This film is based so loosely from the 1980s TV series starring Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, an ex-agent who helped poor individuals who have no one else to turn to in their crime-related problems. But the McCall (Denzel Washington) is here no dapper English gentleman, but he is a genial quiet employee of a Home Depot-type warehouse store who kept pretty much to himself.
One day, he meets and befriends a teenage prostitute Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz) at his usual dining place. When she had been beaten up by the Russian mobsters who handled her, McCall gets shaken out of his neat little routines, and an unparalleled killer of immeasurable means gets unleashed to champion the cause of the helpless masses.
This is another oft-told tale in Hollywood these days, an ex-CIA agent with superhuman abilities saving the day for some damsel in distress. This year alone, we have seen it in "A Walk Among the Gravestones" with Liam Neeson, and "November Man" with Pierce Brosnan. With "The Equalizer" though, we are given Denzel Washington in the lead role, by the same man who directed him to his Best Actor Oscar, Antonio Fuqua.
The action sequences are well-planned and orchestrated, but I can't really say they are all that original. They are of extraordinary violence and gore, I'd give them that, hence the local R-16 rating. The whole "seeing small details around him while planning an attack" routine has been done before, and with much more logic, in the Sherlock Holmes films. The whole climactic "walking away from a series of big fiery explosions behind the hero" gimmick is practically a staple in countless A, B or C level action films before this one.
The best scene in the whole film was probably the one where McCall talks face-to-face with the vicious Russian gang leader, Teddy (Marton Csokas). That scene was one big mind game where McCall exposes the weaknesses of his enemy using mere words. That was an exciting psy battle of wits at its best, better than all the shootouts and explosions in the film.
For me, Denzel Washington did not look like he had the right physical look to realistically convince me that he could do the stunts McCall was doing. However, in these intense face-to-face confrontation scenes, you know he is the type who could psych you out crazy even with his penetrating stare alone. This is what gives "The Equalizer" an edge over all the other run-of-the-mill action thrillers with the same basic story. 6/10.