A dark nasty little action thriller that we don't get to see much of anymore

Rating: 8/10 (6 October 2014)

The best thing for me about The Equalizer was that it felt, in some ways, like an old-school 80's/90's adult action thriller. Its one of those dark, gritty twisted films that bucks genre elements and says "I'm gonna be violent and dark and if you don't like it don't watch it." The Equalizer is brutally violent. I'm shocked they got this released without being severely watered down. It could be called an action/thriller/drama/horror hybrid and there are few films like that. Add in the fact that you have the extremely strong charisma of Denzel Washington and a complex and captivating character and you have one hell of a good time at the movies. Its Death Wish meets Batman meets Jason Bourne and how can you go wrong with that sort of mix? The film opens at a slower pace, carefully introducing our main character and giving him significant depth that you wouldn't normally get in your typical action film. By the time this movie is done you will be left breathless but you'll be asking yourself questions about our anti-hero Robert McCall for hours later. Who is he? What is his training? Where did he come from? What does all the subtle hints at his past add up to? The creation of this character is absolutely brilliant and if they serialize this...they could unravel him as they go.
I have always liked Denzel Washington. He is a brilliant actor with an amazing career. However, I have also said before that he often exudes a certain egotism in his performances. That is toned down in this part but it is there a little bit but its also necessary. He is a man with insane unstoppable killing abilities trying to control them and dealing with a lot of his own dark demons. The character has significant OCD and it only serves to add to a host of questions. Is his condition in order to control his killing? Does it have to do with training? Is it PTSD? Washington IS this character and he is perfect in it. The brilliant young actress whom I adore Chloë Grace Moretz is good in a unfortunately small role as a wayward girl who Robert McCall takes a protective role with. When she is hurt and nearly killed, it inspires him to get back into action righting wrongs and crossing off thugs. Moretz is very good and this is a very adult role for her but it works. Her innocence and down to earth charisma makes you feel a lot of empathy for her character. We have a number of villains or "Big Bads" in the film, each of varying degrees of mobster. David Harbour is very good as a crooked cop and a formidable foe to Washington for awhile at least, David Meunier is sold but short lived as a scumbag pimp but Marton Csokas absolutely steals the show as THEE main villain. He is a cold blood psychotic killer with skills not unlike Washington's and he is the sort of action hero villain you simply don't see anymore in films. He is terrific!! His final scene opposite Washington might go down as one of my favourite in action films. Johnny Skourtis is also really great as McCall's good friend and sort of partner (think Equalizer's Reginald VelJohnson of Die Hard...make sense?) He adds some humanity and down to earth qualities to Washington's character. Despite top billing Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo are barely there as cameos mid-way through the film.
As expected Antoine Fuqua holds no punches. There are some downright nasty, blood splattering death scenes that had me cringing and really forcing myself to stare at the screen and not cover my eyes. He directs the action scenes to near perfection because while we get two or three full on violent hand to hand battles, many of the fight scenes are implied. We know McCall can kill, we know how he does it and we can imagine him doing it so we come in after he's already done it or jump over it as he's walking away. This way we don't get tired of seeing him in action and are inundated with his insane skills. This is a rare film because our hero is literally very nearly unstoppable. He is a killing machine and hardly gets a scratch on him. By the end of the film you figure he must be very close to the most deadly man alive and he has this deep emotional attachment to the human race that he wants to protect the innocent. When I first heard of this film my initial thought was that it wouldn't be the same as the TV Series(which it isn't at all) because it would be one single case he was dealing with. Fuqua cleverly handles this by giving him more than one instance where he helps the innocent. He handles like a good superhero origin story. The film is straight up excellent. I will watch it again, I was completely entertained, it is far from mainstream junk and it is one of the most entertaining movies I have seen in a very long time. I feel as though the quality of future instalments would not be nearly as good (which may deter Washington from doing them at all) but I will be there if they do because I want to know more!! 8.5/10