THE EQUALIZER

Reviewed by Paul Gibbs and Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: A+
Starring Denzel Washington, Chloe Grace Moretz, Martin Csokas,  David Harbour, Johnny Skourtis, Haley Bennett,
Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo
Screenplay by Richard Wenk
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Rated R (Brutal violence, profanity, sexuality)
Reviewed by Paul Gibbs and Patrick Gibbs


Adapting a TV series into a movie is inherently one of the most challenging forms of adaptation, because there is a huge difference between an open-ended premise for a weekly series and the self-contained plot of a truly satisfying movie. By far the film which has most successfully managed this transition was Andrew Davis' The Fugitive, in no small part because that was really a better plot for a movie than premise for a TV series. But the 1980's crime drama The Equalizer was pure TV: retired government agent Robert McCall (Edward Woodward) atones for the sins of his former life by using his skills to help out people in need, standing up against drug dealers, pimps and others who trade in human suffering. It was sort of like a grown up, one-man  A-Team. As such, it's a bit surprising that director Antoine Fuqua's new version of The Equalizer is a spectacular success, not only standing up there with the best of the TV series turned movies, but providing a much needed boost for the idea of grown up, contemporary thrillers just when The November Man had us wondering if the whole concept is was obsolete.

Denzel Washington stars as McCall, who works for a thinly disguised version of Home Depot during the
day, and spends his nights reading the classics in a coffee shop. McCall strikes up a casual friendship with a young hooker named Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz), and encourages her to pursue a better life. But when Teri is viciously beaten by her "manager", McCall finds himself wrestling with the demons of his past. He's promised never again to be what he once was, but at the same time, he knows he's the only one who can help Teri and the other people he cares about who are being pushed manipulated and abused by thugs, which include corrupt members of the Boston Police Force. But McCall's intervention greatly escalates the situation, and soon a Russian mobster (Martin Csokas, in his most engaging performance in some time) comes to America to find out who is getting in the way of his operation.

Washington may not be a dead wringer for the white-haired, very British Edward Woodward, but he has the same air of dignity and class, and as such is a superb choice to give a portrayal that invokes the Equalizer of the series while becoming a character of its own. Washington is such a master at expressing thoughts and emotions with his eyes and face, and from him a slight Southern drawl is as classy as Elizabethan English.  We're instantly pulled into his McCall, and his early scenes of interaction with the Moretz are so strong that we almost didn't want to see the film turn into an action movie, we just wanted to see these two excellent actors doing dialogue scenes together as these compelling characters. Luckily, when the action and suspense come, Fuqua handles them with first-rate skill and finesse. In the past we have considered Fuqua's work to be largely forgettable, with biggest exception being last year's Olympus Has Fallen. which we genuinely hated. But here he shows a deft hand that recalls Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet and even Alfred Hitchcock. He absolutely knocks the action, suspense and characterization out of the park, and there are some truly brilliant shots in this film (including a gorgeous master image shot that recalls In Cold Blood without merely being lifted from the way we saw in The Ides of March.). Fuqua has risen to the occasion and found the perfect match of director to material in much the same way that Andrew Davis did with The Fugitive, and an Oscar nomination may be in order. But equal credit has to go to screenwriter Richard Wenk, who tightly weaves the story and characters in expert fashion, never wasting a moment. This is writer who knows what makes a good screenplay, but doesn't lean too heavily on tired tropes.

In the end, our only caveat about The Equalizer is that it's brutally, shockingly, even sadistically violent, beyond the level of violence in a standard R-rated thriller`(think Braveheart or even Inglorious Basterds, but not nearly as cartoonish as either.) McCall is a brutal killer, there's no getting around it, and he's very good at it, and very creative. We don't get the sense they he gets any kind of thrill from it (it's a means to a very decisive end) but he's alarmingly comfortable doing it, using whatever method is most effective in the given situation. He's somewhere in between Clint Eastwood and Dirty Harry and Clint Eastwood as William Munny: he doesn't like violence, and would rather live in a world without it, but barring that, he's going to make sure that those who hurt the innocent get hurt even worse. Wenk and Fuqua make it work by not wasting a single character and making you care so much about each person that McCall is protecting, and putting him into Die Hard style show downs that leave you finding it hard to judge the character for his severe actions and even questioning if he really has other choices. If you can get past the brutality (and we really don't blame you if you can't), The Equalizer is a triumph, a film that re-energized us for the possibility that Hollywood can still make thrilling, compelling popcorn fair without CGI. It's a masterpiece that we'll revisit many times in the years to come.

The Equalizer is rated a well deserved R for brutal violence, quite a bit of profanity, and some sexuality (no sleazy sex scenes, but the degrading world of prostitution is an important part of the plot and it is referenced frequently and bluntly.).