Overview
In 2004, Denzel Washington starred in Man On Fire, a violent action thriller about an ex-special forces loner named John who establishes a special bond with a young blonde girl and then embarks upon an uncompromising vengeful rampage against a cartel that assaults her. His latest film The Equalizer is entirely different in that his character's name is now Robert.
Not that there's anything wrong with typecasting yourself every now and then, especially in this genre. Liam Neeson's practically become a synonym for 'gruff vigilante', though when Denzel busts out his busting chops, he's as good as anyone at rocking the unflappable one-man-army vibe.
In The Equalizer, the unfortunate recipients of Robert's wrath are a gang of Russian mobsters, who he coolly dispatches in a Sherlock Holmes-esque sequence of blow-by-blow preemption. That enrages their Moscow-based kingpin, who orders his 'fixer' (Marton Csokas) to track him down and restore order. Instead, Robert begins to singlehandedly dismantle every tier of the crime lord's operations. It's bloody, violent and wildly implausible, yet — like so many of these recent vigilante flicks — also largely satisfying.
The Equalizer was directed by Antoine Fuqua, whose previous collaboration with Washington in Training Day garnered two Academy Awards. While his leading man has lost none of the cool that made his turn in Training Day such a powerhouse performance, what's lacking this time round is tension. Robert is simply too good at kicking arse, thereby making The Equalizer a victim of the 'Superman zone' wherein a character's ostensible invulnerability robs the film of any suspense.
It's a solid action film, but without at least a hint of peril for the main man, you're left feeling like you just saw a superhero movie minus the superpowers.
