The Equalizer (2014)

The Equalizer is yet another in a recent line of films where Denzel Washington embodies the saintly bad ass; other films such as The Book of Eli, Man on Fire, and Safe House, to name a few, have all starred the reliable action star in similar roles, but none of them have quite worshipped Denzel’s prowess the way this film does. Although all of those films mentioned previously are mostly about style over substance, The Equalizer embraces its style to a fault, to the point where all substance is completely overshadowed.

From the beginning, we can tell that Denzel’s character is a man that can do no wrong. He helps the overweight kid at his job lose weight and get fit for a security guard test, he’s beloved by all his co-workers and he reads books for crying out loud (of course it’s because his wife died, the wife always has to be dead doesn’t she?); but what we quickly find out is that not only can Denzel do no wrong, apparently he can just do whatever he wants, because he’s Denzel.

Several times Denzel encounters what seem to be insurmountable odds, and he just simply sets his watch (he times everything he does, from washing the dishes to killing several people at a time) and deals with them rather matter-of-factly. At first, I personally was content to go along with this, but I have my limits and I think I reached my limit right around the Denzel-walks-away-from-explosion-in-extreme-slow-motion scene, where any human in their right mind would quickly run to a safe distance (or at least set a decent timer), but not Denzel, he’s content to just slowly walk through the plumes of flame and smoke… and be totally fine.

What’s frustrating is that Denzel’s character initially seems to be rather unique and interesting; he’s a former secret agent or something like that, who has noticeable OCD. He’s constantly adjusting things on the table and making sure the binding of his book is lined up to the edge and stuff like that, and his obsessive timing could also be interesting, but in the last half of the film he turns into some saint who for unknown reasons must take it upon himself to kill all of the Russian mafia because they totally beat up this girl (prostitute) that he talked to occasionally at a diner. If this seems like shaky motivation for Denzel to release the beast (after mentioning that he promised his dying wife that he would never kill again) then I would have to agree with you. This weakness in the movie plagues the story, and serves to make the ending all the more ridiculous.

(SPOILERS) This is a movie with an end so ridiculous I just have to mention it. After taking out the main baddie sent to stop him here in America, Denzel is left bleeding and bruised (I had hope that maybe he would die a hero’s death, but alas not in this movie, Denzel is too good to die) one might think the movie would stop here, but of course it doesn’t. Realizing that simply killing the guys who work for the mafia isn’t good enough, Denzel decides he must “cut off the head of the snake.” That’s right, Denzel travels all the way to Moscow, tracks down the head of the RUSSIAN MAFIA, and then kills him using simple electronic household appliances (his use of gardening tools as weapons earlier in the film is impressive as well). He then walks out of this house (passing several corpses on the way, more of Denzel’s handiwork) and just flies back to America, his mission now complete. Now as ridiculous as this whole ending is, its made all the more ridiculous by the way the film acts as if the conflict is just suddenly resolved now. I can’t imagine Denzel just killed every Russian in Russia (although in this movie universe I’m sure he’s capable of it) so logic follows that someone will succeed the now deceases head of the Russian mafia, and I’m sure whoever that is will be looking for revenge. Then again, maybe they’re saving that for the sequel. (END SPOILERS)

The Equalizer could easily have been a passable action movie, or even a good one, something along the lines of Safe House or one of Denzel’s earlier efforts, but the movie is so obsessed with style and portraying Denzel as the ultimate bad ass with a conscience that it just becomes distracting. When the credits finally hit the screen (this movie is about twenty minutes too long) I was bewildered by what I’d just seen and not in a good way.  A tip for the next director who takes on a Denzel movie, give him at least one real fault, it makes the character a thousand times more interesting.

-Ryan Maples

Rating: 6.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455944/