Review: The Equalizer

Denzel Washington is in a league of his own. Soon to be sixty, his career spanning nearly four decades and still going strong, he has made his mark in television, theater and film, winning a slew of awards along the way. This is a movie star par excellence who seems to have escaped the highs and lows that have befallen his brethren; a consistent moneymaker whose films have made billions without the benefit of a franchise. Unlike some of his peers, he hasn't appeared to have done films simply for the paycheck and, if he has, he certainly has never phoned it in. Regardless of the material, Washington is faultless.

Reteaming with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, Washington brandishes his star power to elevate The Equalizer. Loosely based on the Edward Woodward television drama that ran from 1985 - 1989, this update centers on one Robert McCall, a quiet man who works at a Boston Home Mart by day, goes home to his sparsely furnished apartment at night, and whiles away his insomnia at an all-night corner diner, sitting unbothered as he drinks his tea and reads his books.

Trouble comes calling when Alina (Chloë Grace Moretz), a Russian teenage hooker he befriended, winds up in hospital after being badly beaten by her pimp. Tracking down Alina's victimiser and his gang of lowlifes, McCall methodically dispenses what he later learns is the Eastern hub of the Russian mafia. The set piece, which establishes the level of stylish ultraviolence to which the film will cleave, ends with McCall watching as the last breaths leave Alina's pimp. McCall may be avenging angel but this is a man who takes a modicum of pleasure in observing his victims' deaths. He's done some things he's not proud of in his past, and this is clearly not a man to be messed with.

Neither is Teddy, the fixer sent by the Russian mob to clean up the mess McCall has made. As played by Marton Csokas, Teddy is velvety smooth, articulate and deeply dangerous, gliding about like a Nosferatu descended upon the city, a comparison reinforced by a remarkable shot of Teddy's tattooed torso angled so that it hangs over the Boston skyline. His unrelenting assault on an Irish goon and the suffocating calmness with which he questions another hooker on Alina's whereabouts are sequences filled with palpable tension and dread. Let's not pretend that Teddy will be victorious at the movie's end, but the cat and mouse game is all the more pleasurable because he is such a formidable opponent for McCall.

The Equalizer is not without its weaknesses - a touch overlong and the final showdown between McCall and Teddy dissolves into an extended music video - but it is crowd-pleasing which bodes well as a potential franchise for Washington.

The Equalizer

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Written by: Richard Wenk

Starring: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, David Harbour, Johnny Skourtis