Denzel Washington returns for a third time as Robert McCall aka The Equalizer in a new Italy-set outing. He brings a special flavour to this model of action cinema, writes Daniel Rutledge.
The Equalizer 3
The opening scene of The Equalizer 3 announces loudly that this ain’t your daddy’s Equalizer. These are all violent movies to be sure, but as our protagonist drives a pistol through a man’s face and then, with the barrel poking out the back of his skull, shoots another man in the face, it’s clear this one is pushing things to a new level. That arguably isn’t even the nastiest piece of violence shown before the film’s title comes up, even if it is the most ambitious and gory.
It’s a great way to kick things off.
Denzel Washington brings a special flavour to this model of action cinema, in which a retired elite killer is morally compelled to kill again to save good folks. The swagger and gravitas he brings to the role of Robert McCall really do lift the enjoyability levels. Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua also hits on a great tone where it’s clear that even though these guys are having fun, things never get jokey or unserious, maintaining a certain grittiness despite how crazy it is.
But each of the three films has gotten progressively pulpier, with this third and potentially final one very comfortable to settle in as just another genre franchise playing the hits for fans in a new, exotic setting. Some will definitely see it as a trilogy of diminishing returns, but the base thrills have been cranked up.
However, following that opening scene, things do slow down for quite some time. McCall must slowly heal from a serious wound and finds himself increasingly at home and at peace in the small southern Italian town of Alomonte, clearly enamored with the sweet, simple locals. The mafia meanies sure are mean and despite us all knowing McCall will inevitably kill them, the pic takes its sweet time getting there.
Still, when an old lady McCall’s said maybe two or three words to presents him with a lemon and a loving smile, and then another lady sincerely tells him “They see you as one of us now,” it feels rushed and comically unearned. All he’s really done is drink tea and smile at people, so that sort of hokeyness may be displeasing if it’s not delightful.
But then we get to the meat of the movie and what all movies like The Equalizer 3 are all about: those mobster scumbags are going to pay for victimizing these lovely townsfolk.
The sadism on display in this film is turned up to levels that won’t sit right with every viewer. Many of the baddies McCall dispatches are made to suffer before they die, for reasons that aren’t clear. He could snuff them quicker than he does, but instead he taunts them, frightens them and sometimes even tortures them before killing them.
That shit sits just fine with me.
As much as I liked the first two Equalizer movies and the similar Man on Fire, the whole-hearted leap this one takes toward exploitation cinema is super pleasing. McCall may be wanting to retire in Italy, but I dearly hope he doesn’t, and that we see him brutally equalize plenty more bad guys soon.
