Denzel Washington plays Robert McCall, a man who cannot sleep. He lives in Boston, works at a big-box home improvement store, and spends his late nights reading at an all-night diner. There he meets Teri, a teenage sex worker trafficked by the Russian mafia. A badly injured Alina is later admitted to the ICU, and McCall learns from her friend Mandy that Slavi is responsible. Then McCall stops reading and starts killing.
Trailer, via Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Denzel Washington and the All-Night Diner
The Equalizer is a 2014 vigilante action-thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk. It is based on the 1980s TV series of the same title. Washington’s McCall is a retired Marine and former DIA/DCS officer. The film runs 132 minutes and opened worldwide on September 26, 2014, after a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2014.
The first act is the best thing in it. Fuqua lets Washington be quiet and still. McCall helps his colleague Ralphie train to become a security guard. He listens to Teri talk about wanting to be a singer. Her real name is Alina. The film earns its violence by making you wait for it.
Marton Csokas as Teddy
Then the waiting ends. McCall finds Slavi and his men at their restaurant, offers to buy Alina’s freedom, is refused, and kills them all. It is fast and ugly, and it works.
What follows is the problem. Slavi and his men turn out to be part of a much larger crime syndicate led by Russian oligarch Vladimir Pushkin. Marton Csokas arrives as Teddy Rensen, Pushkin’s enforcer, and the film becomes a series of set pieces. McCall blackmails two corrupt cops into returning racketeering money to Ralphie’s mother. He beats a gunman with a hammer after a robbery at the hardware store. Teddy beats Irish mob lieutenant “Little John” Looney almost to death to send a message.
The cast is deep and mostly wasted:
- Chloë Grace Moretz as Teri
- Marton Csokas as Teddy
- David Harbour as Masters
- Haley Bennett as Mandy
- Bill Pullman as Brian Plummer
- Melissa Leo as Susan Plummer
A Hammer and an Heirloom Ring
The hardware store is the film’s one good idea. McCall works retail. His vigilante tools come off the shelf. When he beats a gunman with a hammer and takes back a coworker’s heirloom ring, the movie briefly remembers it has a setting and a class.
Teddy kills Mandy after learning she concealed information about McCall. He visits McCall’s apartment. Both men try to intimidate each other. It is the closest the film gets to a real scene between equals, and Csokas is the only actor who seems to enjoy the assignment.
The Numbers
- Runtime: 132 minutes
- Release date: September 26, 2014
- Premiere: September 7, 2014, Toronto International Film Festival
- Worldwide gross: $193 million
- Metacritic: 57/100
What the Franchise Cost Us
The Equalizer grossed $193 million worldwide and got two sequels, The Equalizer 2 on July 20, 2018, and The Equalizer 3 on September 1, 2023. That is the real story here. The film is a competent, overlong pilot for a franchise.
The tagline asks, “What do you see when you look at me?” The film answers with a body count. It should have answered with the man reading at the counter.
5.7 of 10.
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