The Equalizer 2014
A home improvement store employee with an enigmatic past is a well trained killer it turns out and when a young Russian prostitute is put in the hospital there will be hell to pay.
***
As much as I like Denzel in it and as attractive the
photography is (I was really won over by the look and visual approach by Fuqua
and his team), The Equalizer has little meat on the bones, essentially a
vigilante movie where the star wipes out Russian mobsters operating illegal
businesses (prostitution catching the attention of Denzel’s mysterious
character, Robert McCall, as he befriends a Russian girl, a teenager brought
over to earn quite a profit due to her age and young beauty (played by Chloë
Grace Moretz)) when they “poke the bear”.
Moretz is Alina, named Teri by her Russian “slave owners”, making small talk with Robert in a diner every night, as he read books and she eats a small meal before having to fuck slobby rich clients. Her pimp is the sickening cretin, Slavi (David Meunier; not a far cry from the Kentucky crook he portrayed on Justified), and he beats her so bad it puts her in the hospital. Well, let’s just say that Robert pays him a visit, offering almost 10K to “rescue her” from the hooker trade. When Slavi laughs this off, Robert decides, much to his disappointment, to just kill him and his goons in nineteen seconds! This sets off a chain of events that pits Robert against another far more unstable Russian “cleaner”, named Teddy (Marton Csokas, the stereotypical cold-blooded maniac, with tattoos all over his body and icy to the core when it comes to systematically killing or severely harming those that either lie to him or provoke his anger) and more gangsters with guns.
The Equalizer, to me, is every bit the oft-used description of “style over substance”. Denzel is such an absolute star, he can carry films like this effortlessly, and with Fuqua quite talented in offering to us a product so aesthetically cool, The Equalizer certainly held my attention. And I am a sucker for a one-man-army action flick where the hero is so underestimated by those up against him. Csokas is ideal for the chief villain because he seems impervious to conscience or guilt. He suffocates a really pretty prostitute by using a chokehold around her throat, cutting off her breathing, with the death happening slowly and painfully. He just pummels unmercifully an Irish adversary who is sort of a partner with the Russians although his kind hates them vehemently. So when the Russians invade the warehouse (to a Lowes/Home Depot type business where he works in the shop cutting wood and doing other manual labor deeds) looking for him, they have a surprise in store for them…they might have machine guns but he has tools available to him…a drill, nail gun, blow torch, etc.
Loosely based on the marvelous Edward Woodward show in the 80s, this film follows a similar skeletal approach (a man uses his special skills to help out those wronged by criminals that are able to dodge the law and sometimes even are supposed to uphold the law, as we see when two corrupt cops threaten store owners if they don’t “pay a fee” to them) but isn’t as well plotted as what inspired it.
If you want to see Denzel, ever the smooth customer, coolly invade the territory of the enemy, do so seemingly without fear, and astutely massacre those that stand in his way, then The Equalizer is certainly worth seeking out. Denzel's ability to produce characters that have such standup qualities and earn your respect through their actions continues here. Sure he has to execute people, but the movie makes sure to provide the kind of scuzzy scum you wouldn't miss. Peddling teenage girls from out of the country into the States to exploit for sexual purposes definitely holds them out there as the lowest of bottom-dwelling vermin. Even when he plays shady characters he can make them likable or charming (Fuqua's own Training Day, which is one of his most frightening characters, and the recent Safe House where his motivations and reputation cast him suspiciously), so even if his past included using specific killing talents, when Robert apologizes in this moment of repentance as Salvi lies dying as he bleeds out it is realized that he felt he had no other choice.
Moretz is Alina, named Teri by her Russian “slave owners”, making small talk with Robert in a diner every night, as he read books and she eats a small meal before having to fuck slobby rich clients. Her pimp is the sickening cretin, Slavi (David Meunier; not a far cry from the Kentucky crook he portrayed on Justified), and he beats her so bad it puts her in the hospital. Well, let’s just say that Robert pays him a visit, offering almost 10K to “rescue her” from the hooker trade. When Slavi laughs this off, Robert decides, much to his disappointment, to just kill him and his goons in nineteen seconds! This sets off a chain of events that pits Robert against another far more unstable Russian “cleaner”, named Teddy (Marton Csokas, the stereotypical cold-blooded maniac, with tattoos all over his body and icy to the core when it comes to systematically killing or severely harming those that either lie to him or provoke his anger) and more gangsters with guns.
The Equalizer, to me, is every bit the oft-used description of “style over substance”. Denzel is such an absolute star, he can carry films like this effortlessly, and with Fuqua quite talented in offering to us a product so aesthetically cool, The Equalizer certainly held my attention. And I am a sucker for a one-man-army action flick where the hero is so underestimated by those up against him. Csokas is ideal for the chief villain because he seems impervious to conscience or guilt. He suffocates a really pretty prostitute by using a chokehold around her throat, cutting off her breathing, with the death happening slowly and painfully. He just pummels unmercifully an Irish adversary who is sort of a partner with the Russians although his kind hates them vehemently. So when the Russians invade the warehouse (to a Lowes/Home Depot type business where he works in the shop cutting wood and doing other manual labor deeds) looking for him, they have a surprise in store for them…they might have machine guns but he has tools available to him…a drill, nail gun, blow torch, etc.
Loosely based on the marvelous Edward Woodward show in the 80s, this film follows a similar skeletal approach (a man uses his special skills to help out those wronged by criminals that are able to dodge the law and sometimes even are supposed to uphold the law, as we see when two corrupt cops threaten store owners if they don’t “pay a fee” to them) but isn’t as well plotted as what inspired it.
If you want to see Denzel, ever the smooth customer, coolly invade the territory of the enemy, do so seemingly without fear, and astutely massacre those that stand in his way, then The Equalizer is certainly worth seeking out. Denzel's ability to produce characters that have such standup qualities and earn your respect through their actions continues here. Sure he has to execute people, but the movie makes sure to provide the kind of scuzzy scum you wouldn't miss. Peddling teenage girls from out of the country into the States to exploit for sexual purposes definitely holds them out there as the lowest of bottom-dwelling vermin. Even when he plays shady characters he can make them likable or charming (Fuqua's own Training Day, which is one of his most frightening characters, and the recent Safe House where his motivations and reputation cast him suspiciously), so even if his past included using specific killing talents, when Robert apologizes in this moment of repentance as Salvi lies dying as he bleeds out it is realized that he felt he had no other choice.
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