Passable action gimmick that could have been something more.

Rating: 6/10 (29 May 2017)

The first few scenes of the Equalizer suggest that it is going to be an intelligent movie, and then it turns into a gimmick....Denzel Washington the untouchable action hero.
There are individual scenes in the movie that are quite rousing and filmed with flair and panache. It's easy enough to argue that The Equalizer is a perfectly good action movie, but for the intelligent viewer, it is too hard to get completely emerged in because there are too many distractions.
The script has a disjointed feel to it and it leaves its hero under underdeveloped. It's always nice to see Washington as a top tier bad ass, who is as untouchable as the younger Steven Seagal, but after fter one action scene you get the feeling that this movie is going to allow him to come away from every fight without even a scratch or a moment of hesitation. And then comes the ultimate action gimmick of all; a scene concludes with him walking away in slow motion from an explosion.
The climax of the movie involves a one against ten face off in hardware megastore. Here we start to border on satire as Washington disposes of his enemies one at a time using the merchandise. these images will put a smile on your face, but they go on too long.
The Equalizer, like Taken, is an action movie that doesn't rise above the sum of it's parts and leaves you a little dumbfounded about how seriously to take it.. There are dramatic undercurrents in they story that would have elevated the movie if director Antoine Fuqua has not chosen to abandon them.