The Equalizer

Rating: 5/10 (5 October 2014)

This film is based on the television series that starred Edward Woodward, the trailer for it certainly made it look entertaining, so I went to see it and hoped for the best, directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, King Arthur, Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen). Basically in Boston, Massachusetts lives Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), an obsessive compulsive Home Mart hardware store, he has befriended many of his co-workers, including Mexican security trainee Ralphie (Johnny Skourtis) who he is helping pass his exam, in fact Robert is a former black ops government operative who promised his recently deceased wife to leave his old life behind. Late at night he has befriended young prostitute Teri, real name Alina (Chloë Grace Moretz), when he sees her mistreated by her pimp Slavi (David Meunier) he is compelled to act and help her, her life has been destroyed since age five or six as a victim of sex trafficking by Russian Mafia and is now a sex slave and prostitute because of it, he takes real action when Alina is hospitalised after a severe beating. McCall enters the Russian mob territory and attempts to get the pimp to release Alina for a $9,8000 payment, he refuses taking insult, McCall pretends to start walking out, but then takes Slavi and his men down with their weapons, timing himself in half a minute, Slavi drowns in his blood as McCall tells him he should have taken the money, and he leaves, taking security camera footage with him. Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich) retaliates and sends enforcer Teddy (The Lord of the Rings' Marton Csokas) from Moscow to find and eliminate the culprit, meanwhile Ralphie gives up his security guard application after his mother's family restaurant was set fire by corrupt cops as an act of extortion, McCall forces the policemen to pay back the money they have extorted or face humiliation, following this Ralphie passes his qualification and becomes Home Mart security guard. Teddy pinpoints the culprit as McCall, but tries to capture him for his skills rather than kill him, while continuing vigilantism he is able to evade the Teddy, captors and assassins, McCall visits fellow retired operatives Brian Plummers (Bill Pullman) and Susan Plummer in Virginia who give him intelligence about the activities of Pushkin and Teddy, real name Nikolai, after leaving Susan remarks he did not want help, he wanted permission. Corrupt Bostonian policeman Frank Masters (Quantum of Solace's David Harbour) is then captured by McCall and placed in a car to suffer threatened suffocation by carbon monoxide flooded, Masters relents and helps him destroy Pushkin's money laundering operations in Boston, and slowly his empire. After being threatened by Pushkin, who is unsatisfied by his progress, Teddy now wants to kill McCall, who meanwhile destroys one of Pushkin's container ships meant for smuggling, Teddy and his men attack Home Mart, taking Ralphie and other workers hostage, threatening to kill them if McCall does not surrender, but he manages to disable the lights and takes out the henchmen one by one with a series of booby traps. The last of the men are killed after Ralphie helps activate a microwave activate explosion, and Teddy is defeated being shot several times with a nail gun and a shot in the throat, finally McCall travels to Moscow, Russia and kills Pushkin with combined water and electricity, in the end McCall returns to Boston, where Alina has recovered, McCall decides to set up an online ad for his services, calling himself "The Equalizer". Washington is a good choice to play the retired skilled agent and silently aggressive good Samaritan, you could argue the similarities to Death Wish and Taken, there is not much originality in it, but with the title character using his "particular set of skills" you can't complain too much, the action and violence used, including an interesting use for DIY tools, is fun to watch, so it is a slick enough thriller drama. Worth watching!