Movie Review - The Equalizer

The Equalizer **** (R) I never watched the old TV series on which this first-rate action flick is loosely based, but the title character, as played by Denzel Washington, is such a cool hero, it’s made me curious. Washington seems like a reclusive good-guy, toiling at the bottom in a Home Depot-style store, living small in the big city. He’s well liked by his fellow laborers, but reads a lot and keeps to himself away from the job. He’s obviously got far greater talents than he’s using, but it takes a chatty hooker (Chloe Grace Moretz) he knows from a local late-night diner to awaken his dormant self, which turns out to be everything Jason Bourne and James Bond could hope for.

One attempted favor leads to a slew of complications, pitting our guy against many foes and seemingly overwhelming odds. But the plot is not the big asset. It’s the style.

Director Antoine Fuqua’s extensive track record in crime and action fare, including Training Day with Denzel, makes this a superior example of how to blend violence with character development for a product that not only works on the adrenaline level, but pushes all the other right emotional buttons, including how we feel about many of the minor players. Even without the sort of high-octane sequences of the Transporter or Fast and Furious branch of the genre, this one still managed to seem much shorter than its 131 minutes, and left me hoping for a sequel. It don’t get much better than that, dude. (9/26/14)