The Equalizer
TV from the 1980's was full of shows involving revenge or sticking up for the little person. One of those shows was The Equalizer which involved and old man in a trench coat who would help the helpless and equalize the odds for the little man. Now in 2014 Denzel Washington pulls on a black outfit and does it for our generation. This one is more violent, more real, and ultimately awesome. In movies like Training Day (this film is directed by Training Day's Antoine Fuqua), Man on Fire, and Safe House, Denzel has excelled at playing bad ass. Simple. You mess with him, you are probably not gonna survive this movie. It is a calling card. The Equalizer is just as satisfying as Man on Fire but lacks the emotional connection of Man on Fire between Creasy and Dakota Fanning's Pitta. Still you can just enjoy the violence and bad assery of a Denzel Washington going up against the worst of odds but still having the upper hand.
Denzel stars as Robert McCall, a mild mannered worker at a Home Depot like store. He lives his life in peace, going to work, coming home, reading his books and not sleeping well. Since he can't sleep he finds himself at a diner drinking tea and engaging (verbally not sexually you pervs) with a teenage hooker named Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz). He also helps a co-worker get in shape so he can become a security guard at the home depot like store...ok let's just call it what it is...this place is a home depot. Don't bullshit me into thinking it's a Home Smart or any other tool store. Come on. When Teri stops showing up after Robert witnesses her pimp forcibly remove her, he learns that she was beaten and put into the hospital. Robert, a man with a past, can help but should he. Of course he is going to. The rest kind of spirals away from that. Robert visits the pimp, a low level Russian mobster, and ends up killing five people. It isn't long before Robert is up against it with the Russian mob and a devious little sociopath named Teddy (Marton Csokas) who is sent to deal with the problem caused by 5 dead men.
The fatal flaw of any man in this type of movie is not realizing the total lack of fear the bad ass character has. Any time a man stands around while people pull guns and knives and he is outnumbered 5-1, you might want to pay attention to him. Hell if one of those guys just pulls his gun and shoots him in the opening scene, movie over...nothing equalized. Of course they don't by reason of movies...but sometimes you just wonder if they would bother to realize that a man probably doesn't walk into a deadly situation without a reasonable plan. I mean, stop, think, shoot. It's that easy. I liked the Equalizer for what it was. Denzel is steely and a bad ass. Chloe Grace Moretz plays a hooker well...is that a good thing? Isn't she a bit young to be a prostitute? Maybe that's the point? Teddy is a well formed psycho who just finds himself out psychoed by Denzel Washington. There are moments in this movie where you say "Why didn't they just kill him there?" or "Why are they taking hostages? Just kill them...same point made." These are all things you can overlook because you want to seem Denzel turn the Home Depot into a maze of death. Sure the bad guys have guns but he has a plethora of everyday items to kill you with.
I'd wish that there was a little more build up to the turn to bad ass. One thing I love about Man On Fire is the movie spends 45 minutes letting you get to know the family and fall in love with Dakota Fanning as Denzel's Creasy does. Then when they kidnap her, you as a viewer want revenge, want to see a man with a bomb up his ass get blowed up. Man on Fire was an effective movie and The Equalizer continues on in that vain. Spending a few minutes with Chloe Grace Moretz's plucky wanna be singer prostitute does not equal connection with her character. Why would Robert McCall give up the life he has for a girl he barely knows? These are issues with the movie but in the end, does it really matter why he does what he does? He's standing up for people. He's helping to equalize the world a little bit and killing the people who need to be killed. They do it well here... and that's enough for me. Is it enough for you?
Mr. Unhappy sez: Satisfied but not overwhelmingly so...who cares? Bad guys got killed in awesome ways. That's enough for little old Mr. Unhappy.
