THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The interesting thing about heroes is that they differ from one another. Most of the time, the reason can be from how they handle the situation. In one case, not everyone does it like The Equalizer.
PLOT
Based on the 1985 original series created by Michael Sloan & Richard Lindheim, the 2014 film follows Robert McCall,a retired DIA agent and former US Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who now lives quietly in Boston, Massachusetts, working at a hardware store dubbed 'HomeMart'. In his spare time, he helps his colleague Ralphie (Johnny Skourtis) train to become a security guard. Since he's unable to sleep, he chooses to spend late nights reading at a diner. There, he would befriend a prostitute named Alina who goes under the alias 'Teri'. One evening, she takes a stroll with him and shares her aspirations to be a singer until being taken away by her pimp Slavi (David Menunier). Some time after this, Robert would discover that she got admitted into the ICU for being brutally assaulted. When he visits her, her friend Mandy (Haley Bennett) who is also a prostitute, reveals Slavi is the one who harmed her as an act to put other girls in check. Robert would then decide to take action by confronting the pimp. He would offer to pay $9,800 for Alina's freedom, only for him to refuse. This would result in Robert killing him and his associates in the office. Unbeknownst to him, they were part of a larger operation hired by Russian oligarch Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich). The incident would trigger Pushkin's enforcer Nicolai Itchenko/Teddy Rensen to investigate. His first move would be to canvas rival gangs in the area, sending a message by killing Irish mob lieutenant Little John Looney (Shawn Fitzgibbon). In the meantime, Robert would continue his acts of vigilantism by blackmailing two corrupt cops into returning racketeering money from the restaurant owned by Ralphie's mother, giving Ralphie the chance to successfully apply as a security guard. He would also track down a gunman and beat him with a hammer for robbing HomeMart. As Nicolai investigates, he would kill Mady for concealing information of Robert and her friendship with Alina. He does visit him in his apart under the guise of a police detective, but McCall sees through the lies and knows he's being warned. Nicolai would try to have someone kill him at the diner, but he successfully defends himself and escapes. This would lead to him reaching out to former DIA colleagues, Susan Plummer and her husband Bill (Bill Pullman). As it turns out, Robert faked his death years prior with the intent to live quietly. He asks for Susan's help to identify Teddy. Thankfully, she does so and discovers his skills come from being a Spetsnaz operative. She would also reveal that he killed the two corrupt cops from before and another named Masters has not been heard from in days. When Robert decides to confront Masters, he threatens him into helping take down one of Pushkin's laundering warehouses, resulting in the dirty cop to be taken down by the clean ones. He would then confront Nicolai again, threatening to keep doing damage if continuing to pursue him. Shortly after this meeting, he would destroy two of Pushkin's oil tankers. This would lead to Nicolai holding Robert's co-workers hostage and forcing him to meet elsewhere. Instead, McCall goes straight to HomeMart and saves his friends by killing each henchman with impoverished weapons throughout the store. When Nicolai gets there, the protagonist is able to kill him as well. 3 days after this incident, he tracks down Pushkin and has him killed as well. Some time after this, he would find a recovered Alina who says goodbye to him as he now plans to pursue her music career with the money he left her. The film would end with Robert replying online to help someone else in need.
THOUGHTS
It's hard to get the attention of a grounded action film when the modern moviegoers are getting a kick out of the consistent superhero genre. So I was grateful to make the time for this one because this was dope. Director Antoine Fuqua succeeds in making one of the dopest in his filmography. Patience is all it takes to be struck with incredible sequences that shock you on how violent it can get. When starting with the isolated office fight to the extravagant HomeMart climax that is a violent homage to Home Alone, both of which were impressively shot with the rest of the film thanks to John Refoua's editing and Mauro Fiore's cinematography. Whenever you hear Harry Gregson-Williams' score, you know this adventure will be intense yet satisfying in the long run. Looking past these roots, this whole movie works because it is able to teach us there is no shame in sentimentality; If you know you can help someone no matter the scenario, you know it'll be worth trying. With such a strong lead, it wouldn't be hard to miss. The icon Denzel Washington is not a stranger to the action genre, but the role of Robert McCall is so distinguishable compared to other ass kicking protagonists in between. The reason comes from how this character has the nobility. He wanted to live quietly out of respect to his late wife, but can't help it to help those who may not be able to help themselves. For so long he didn't have to because he fought for his country long enough, but he was in a position feeling like he wanted to instead. What happened to Alina troubled him deeply because he knew she deserved all the pain she went through. He doesn't tell his enemies who he is because he knows they don't deserve that answer. And that is understandable because we see Chloe Moretz do an incredible job in portraying her as one who is desperately trying to figure things out and didn't know how to get out of trouble. She found solace in Robert because he was harmless towards her. Little would we expect him to take down an entire Russian mafia for her. Now that he gave her a way out, there is no doubt she'll make the absolute best of it. Of course, Robert would've not went as far as he did without the aid of a friend who knew him well. Within a minimum amount of time, Melissa Leo made it count in playing Susan as one whose knowledgeable enough to know how far Robert will go to do the right thing, thus not wasting time to look into Nicolai for him. Robert going to her as an act of permission for what he would do symbolizes how much he shares his wife's spirit, thus having uncanny respect towards one another. Although she doesn't have extensive screen time either in the sequel, it doesn't ignore how important she is to his life. While Robert made it look easy, it never was because the forces he went up against were dangerous in their own right. Nicolai may have not been the main man pulling the strings, but Marton Csokas made clear he was his own force to be reckoned with, being sociopathic with each action he chooses to take. He takes his time in going after Robert because he wants to know exactly who he's going after. Had he not done that, there's no telling who it would've factored. If there is any character you gotta pity, it's Masters by a default. The whole time, David Harbour portrayed him as a guy who gave up hope on his beliefs and caved in going against what he was supposed to stand for. So I could care less to what happens to him after his arrest. I don't kid when I say I enjoyed this movie, but solid entertainment doesn't excuse its own set of issues I caught onto upon re-watching. For example, I can admit it's cute for Ralphie to hide chips in his sandwich because I would do the same, but come on. He may not know Robert's past, but he should know by now how observant he is. He would also later mess up not announcing himself to Robert when trying to rescue him after knowing how skilled he is. He's lucky he didn't kill him on accident. I would give thanks to the counterman (Steve Sweeney) telling Robert what happened to Alina, but how the hell did he know that? I know we need an excuse for Robert to start kicking ass, but it's so odd for the counterman to know without giving details on who told him. Also, why would wait until going home to wash his hands? That's insane of a decision considering how professionally stealth he's supposed to be. I don't know about you, but even if Teddy was gonna kill Little John anyway, I don't see the point in Masters telling Teddy not to call him by his nickname. Of course he didn't know what he was gonna do, but he should've he wasn't gonna listen to him. And why the hell would the corrupt cops do a shakedown with witnesses around? I mean that's asking to get caught even if Robert was bound to get leverage on them. It's even cool for Robert to put back on sledgehammer just after using it as a weapon on the robber, but even he is asking to get caught since he's wiping the blood off in advance in the middle of his shift. That's more annoying than not seeing him use it on the robber. It's also pretty stupid for Teddy to allow his group to split up when pursuing Robert after knowing he's a skilled individual. It then feels crazy for him to not tell the local members of the gang what Robert looks like if infiltrating, which he fucking does. And how did Robert hide from o the first goon he kills in the Home Mart shootout? There was one frame where he's nowhere near the door, only for him to quickly come back and save Ralphie. That is way too fast for his age. Other than that, you're still in for a hell of a good time. In short, The Equalizer is one of 2014's underrated films for being finely action packed, yet builds its heart in the process. If you love action, this one is meant for you.
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