The Equalizer


"Whoever did this specialized in killing."   - Nikolai


release year: 2014
genre: drama/action
viewing setting: home Bluray 11/19/23 and 3/22/21 and 3/25/18 and 11/25/16 and 3/11/16 and 5/25/15 and 12/30/14

synopsis: A quiet man with a mysterious past turns out to be heavy-duty bad news for the Russian gangsters who piss him off.

impressions: This reminded me a lot of Taken; the protagonist was always thinking laterally, several steps ahead of everyone else, and exuded a quiet confidence, and was also able to kill quickly and efficiently when necessary. The movie works hard to make the bad guys really bad (which makes them even more deserving of their eventual demises.) Definitely some creative use of tools during the final part, which takes place in a big hardware store.

acting: Denzel Washington tops his quietly-capable role in Man on Fire with an even better one here, as the mysterious McCall. Marton Csokas (who the astute viewer may recognize as Lord Celeborn from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) is the primary bad guy (not the highest-ranking one, but the one with by far the most screen time and bad-assery) and is quite menacing. Chloe Grace Moretz is the teenaged victim whose beating starts things moving. Johnny Skourtis is a young co-worker of McCall who wants to be a security guard.

final word: Outstanding low-key action and ass-kicking movie.

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