Summary
The Equalizer is back to drink cups of tea and kick ass — and this small town prefers coffee.
In anticipation of this film, the second sequel that Denzel Washington has ever done, I went back and read my reviews for the first two films. I still genuinely can’t remember much about what happened in either of them. Of course, that scarcely matters in the blood-soaked opening sequence of THE EQUALIZER 3, the fifth collaboration between Washington and director Antoine Fuqua.
Originally based on the TV series of the same name, a house full of bodies left in the wake of former U.S. Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall’s (Washington) actions certainly separates it from the source material. After getting shot while on the job, McCall recovers in a small southern Italian town thanks to the kindness of strangers.
As he gets stronger, and believes he has found a new home, he tips off federal agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) about a major drug shipment. It is soon evident that there is a Camorra presence in town, led by a pair of ruthless brothers. It doesn’t take long before the two things converge and things get violent again.
While escalating the bloodletting to astronomical levels at times, THE EQUALIZER 3 feels like a throwback Eurothriller in every other way. Veteran Italian actor Remo Girone adds some gravitas, but the rest of the cast feels like grist for the mill. Here is a film that barely needs an excuse to go from zero to slaughter, perhaps recognising that its audience sits somewhere between the John Wick series and whatever Liam Neeson is up to this month.
It’s refreshing actually, especially given the multiple storylines and threads that never really paid off in The Equalizer 2. Sure, there’s flashbacks and callbacks to previous entries, but this is very much a self-contained actioner. In between idyllic shots of the Italian coastline – and they are beautiful – Fuqua continues to demonstrate a mastery of the short and fast action sequence. At one point, you could almost blink and miss McCall taking out a small gang of baddies in an alley. At the very least, Washington seems to be enjoying the Italian holiday.
The climactic final moments are not so much a fated showdown as a slaughter, but one suspects that’s exactly how the filmmakers and audiences like it. So, while this may seem like an ending for McCall’s current arc, one suspects this won’t be the last we’ve seen of his antics.
2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Antoine Fuqua | WRITERS: Richard Wenk (Based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim) | CAST: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Releasing | RUNNING TIME: 109 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 31 August 2023 (AUS), 1 September 2023 (USA)
