Generic Thriller Not Based On A TV Show

Rating: 5/10 (17 April 2015)

Oh THE EQUALIZER , where a limey who used to work for the CIA has now branched out in to freelance work where if you have a problem with criminals you can hire him and he'll sort out the problem while taking a large fee while giving you long lectures about why it's a bad idea to get involved in crime on any level , including being a victim of crime . If I remember correctly the show started forgetting to include the criminal angle and just became a social conscious show that went as far as equating a child who got HIV through blood products as being the same as an adult alcoholic . The adult in this episode was conducting a violent lynch mob campaign against the child and his mother and you've got this type of moral equivalence being brought in to a show it's time to bail out . It's probably a forgotten show in this day and age and if it's remembered at all it will be remembered for a slightly misleading title sequence which gave the show a hook it didn't deserve and a great and funky theme tune by Stewart Copeland
This is a film version of the 1980s series but isn't really . The lead character is called Robert McCall and that's the only real connection between this and the TV show . McCall now works in a warehouse and gets involved with a prostitute involved with the Russian mafia and this posse of Russian bad guys are coming to America in order to have a monopoly on the American criminal dream . In other words it's a completely generic thriller where if you changed the name of the central character you would not for a moment fall out of your seat and gasp " Hey wait a minute this is just like that show from the nineteen eighties starring Edward Woodward . I do hope for this film company's sake there aren't any lawyers watching" . It's also rather nasty and violent which again is not in keeping with the source material which was terminally talkative but this isn't necessarily a recommendation