Everyone deserves justice is the basic premise of this adrenaline action thriller where the forces have reunited Antoine Fuqua on one side and Denzel Washington on the other side of the camera. The inspiration to make The Equalizer, a film about a man with a strong sense of justice, was found in the television series of the same name from the 1980s. Richard Wenk adapted the narrative to the new socio-political circumstances, which resulted in us seeing the Russians as bad guys again, with the difference that they replaced the red communist uniforms with the image of fierce, tattooed guys, very attached to the evil Russian mafia.
It is a well-organized criminal organization whose tentacles reach out to corrupt American police officers and greedy congressmen, and anyone who stands in their way and endangers their interests is simply removed. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? The idea of helping someone who desperately needs help, served here as the initial capsule on which the plot is built. Robert McCall (Washington) lives in seclusion, so to speak, in an ascetic way of life. During the day he works in a huge mega market selling household equipment, and at night he mostly reads literary classics and hangs out at a nearby restaurant. There he meets a young Russian woman – prostitute Alina, a girl who dreams of starting again, secretly believing that one day she might become a singer. When he is personally convinced of the methods of brutal treatment of violent Russian mobsters by the disobedient Alina, the former CIA agent decides to step out of the shell of comfort and neutrality and start a showdown with gangsters.
Located on the sidewalks of Boston, the story gained in intensity by showing an urban environment in which foreign businessmen have found a suitable ground to develop their dubious businesses from which they can live more than comfortably. Of course, their external collaborators, local law enforcement agencies, steeped in corruption, turn their heads the other way, unequivocally proving that the smell of money has this special, magical power to confuse reason and help to forget who they are supposed to serve. In such circumstances, the psychological profile of an individual who once served the homeland and did some things he is not proud of has been established.
Now he gets a chance to redeem himself in some way, firmly convinced that his altruistic intentions can help someone and maybe turn his life around for the better. This would make at least a small, selfless contribution to make this crazy, corrupt world a little better, to replace the light there, at least for a moment. Known as a filmmaker specializing in the action genre, Fukua received very decent screenwriting material here, with the task of making a film that will have some special features, and not only spectacular sequences of fierce fights and loud shooters. It could be said that he successfully completed the set task, because he gave us an action that has a well-designed background.
As a whole, it works quite well, because it has a provocative plot (in the domain of the genre, let’s be clear), has the desired dynamics and sends us messages that merge into the essential question of whether we are ready to do something to help improve things around us. It is no problem to immediately understand how such a character was created for Denzel Washington, an actor of emphasized charisma, such a sensibility that allows him to play an archetypal hero with ease. He is only one of us, the only one who has such skills that he is able to rescue others (helpless, weak and all ordinary people whose cry for help reaches him), but also himself from the clutches of the intruder.
Despite not being much in the focus of the camera, the young and getting better Chloë Grace Moretz has taken another step towards her ambitious goal – to become a top, character actress. After all, the impression is that time works for her and that her upcoming projects will undoubtedly bring her full acting affirmation (about the Oscars, Golden Globes and the like, I would not take this opportunity). However, it would be unfair to omit the phenomenal performance of the Australian actor of Hungarian origin, given that Marton Csokas is the perfect counterweight to Washington. Smooth psychopath, fine manners, ready to go to the end, to do the job for which he was paid at all costs.
From a technical point of view, here we have approximately all the necessary ingredients for the production of an excited blockbuster. More specifically, the special effects are convincing, so the action scenes provide visual pleasure and at times raise the level of adrenaline (pay attention to the enviable creativity in liquidating mercenaries). In accordance with that, in some segments, and above all in the finale, shrewd shots were skillfully inserted, packed in an unusual scenographic setting (this time it is a huge sales space), so that Fukua remained consistent with the specific directorial style he has cultivated since the beginning of his career. career.
Aggressive music is in a way acceptable, because it is used as a sound expression of a violent note that runs through the entire plot. Thus, at the check-out rush hour, we can hear Eminem’s new song, which he recorded in collaboration with his colleague Sio. It is fair to say that the length was excessive, that a couple of scenes could have been dropped or at least shortened, and that the end itself was a bit awkwardly done. So, not everything turned out perfectly, because the screenwriting concept did not remain immune to some well-known ailments, manifested for who knows how many times in the action genre. So predictably, somewhere in the middle of the film, and here and there an unnecessary emphasis on the superiority of our hero.
