Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Denzel Washington, Eugenio Mastrandrea, David Denman, Gaia Scodellaro, Dakota Fanning
Intro:
… should satisfy those who are just looking for an undemanding showcase of Denzel Washington being cool, charming, and dealing capital-D Damage on Mafia goons.
The purported final chapter of a trilogy of films from director Antoine Fuqua, writer Richard Wenk, and star Denzel Washington, The Equalizer 3 feels… slight. Admittedly, being released in the same year as John Wick: Chapter 4 will make just about any comparative film look minor, but even when taken in context with its own predecessors, this still comes off as underwhelming.
Robert McCall (Washington) and his surgical brutality in dispatching bad guys are both intact here. Taking things on the road to Italy, his self-appointed mission to rid a town of the local Mafia shows that his sense of forthrightness is still as strong as ever, as is his willingness to go the extra mile just to do what he thinks is right. Denzel’s charisma and coolness on-screen still conveys both his ruthless efficiency and his adherence to his own moral code.
However, for a vigilante hero with such a healthy track record for creativity and homemade ingenuity, none of the scenes here carry the same punch as the hardware store finale of the first film or even the use of a credit card in the second. Admittedly, the first real fight scene shows off an interesting variation on the classic head-shot, but otherwise, its consistently graphic nature (and sudden shift into slasher imagery during the finale) isn’t enough to cover up the lack of fresh ideas.
This is also true for a great deal of the writing, from the blandness of just about every other character here that isn’t played by Denzel (boring bad guys, boring good guys, and Dakota Fanning exists mainly as time-delayed and rather unnecessary fanservice), to the thinness of the main villain’s criminal operation (less “brick by brick, dollar by dollar”, and more like kicking over a Lego house), to the odd choices as far as where and when to reveal who characters even are and why they are here. Considering this is the material that is meant to bridge the ever-widening gaps between the ultraviolent fight scenes, it doesn’t do a whole lot to maintain interest or justify this being the story worth capping off the trilogy. It’s not exactly ‘shootout with former friends in the middle of a hurricane’, is it?
But even with all that said, there’s still something about this film and its idealistic approach to vigilante thrills that kinda works. It’s definitely banking on Denzel’s screen presence, and the step-down in actively interrogating that same vigilante justice is a bit disappointing. However, the motive behind The Equalizer’s actions still has power to it. Hell, it might even be enough to excuse the weakness of the villains –they’re beneath McCall’s skillset, which only adds to the idea that, for our hero, there’s no problem too insignificant or removed that he won’t apply his trade to correct.
The Equalizer 3, for all its faults, is an alright action-thriller. It’s definitely the weakest of the three films, and there is no shortage of things to point at and go ‘Surely, there was a better way of handling this’, but as a bread-and-butter vigilante flick, it still evens out into something that should satisfy those who are just looking for an undemanding showcase of Denzel Washington being cool, charming, and dealing capital-D Damage on Mafia goons.
