Watch it and learn

Rating: 5/10 (12 December 2014)

Generally speaking, Denzel Washington tends to be excellent in everything he is ever in.
So maybe The Equalizer has him being excellent but, you would have a hard time placing his acting coherently in this over-simplified, excruciatingly phoned-in script with repetitive stock characters.
You see, a good director will use the actor's expressions to punctuate important sections of the script. But the script in this film is so dull, so lifeless and predictable, the main entertainment comes with finding out *how accurately* you, the audience, can predict what will happen word-for-word, rather than being left in wide gaping amazement at the twists in the story.
Spoilers ahead:
Denzel whatsisname is a CIA man. he is THE, most brutal, death personified CIA man who is living a quiet life, without explanation because who needs plot. He takes under his wing a random prostitute because who needs character development.
He then proceeds to butcher a ton of Russian Mafia guys through the cliché' "you think the bad guys are badass, but our hero is so much badasser", with a healthy escalation of badassery throughout.
the end.
The Equalizer is a perfect example of how to NOT make a film. This is by far, the most obvious, blatant, predictable, unspoilable film i have ever seen.
Sure Denzel is a pleasure to watch, and i am sure his performance could have been used to great effect if cut out and placed in a proper film, but as it stands now, i cannot give this film anything more than
my final vote: 5/10 - watch it and learn what to avoid in filmmaking.