The Equalizer 3

Peace. In this third installment of the Antione Fuqua/Denzel Washington collaboration, Robert McCall is looking for peace. He thinks he has finally found it in the wholesome Italian village of Altamonte, Sicily… save for a strand of the Italian mafia, hell-bent on controlling the land and citizens of the city through unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty. Thus, despite his protestations for peace, Robert McCall must protect his new home from the worst kind of people. 

The film opens with a shot similar to how the first film closed: bodies strewn all over a mansion. When the owner arrives, McCall is calmly sitting in a seat folding a napkin with two guns on him. Denzel delivers his lines with his signature focus and blank stare that let us know a scene of impressive stylized violence is about to unfold. This time, Denzel’s foe is the head of the Quaranta family, brothers Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio) and Marco (Andrea Dodero). The brothers’ crimes are especially heinous, and the film does an excellent job in building up an immense amount of contempt for them from what they do to an elderly wheelchair-bound man up to what they do to a shop owner. The Quarantas prove to be more than menacing adversaries for McCall at this point in his life.

Washington is known for not doing sequels or franchises, but he’s simultaneously so incredibly charming and chilling as McCall that it would be an injustice if he hadn’t continued. Fuqua ups his game as well, particularly when it comes to the action sequences. The first two films had the slow-motion pan into McCall’s eyesight, so we could get an idea of his thought process and what made him unique as a threat. While this was a special touch to the revenge actioner, Fuqua dispenses with it in this film in favor of more simplistic, hardcore brutality. It’s a welcome change.

Denzel is also joined this time by Remo Girone, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Gaia Scodellaro, and his Man on Fire co-star, Dakota Fanning. While there is no tie-in to their former film, there is a reveal for Fanning’s character that actually fits this universe (although it does feel like a cheap ploy to get butts in the seats). Unfortunately, Fanning is given little to do here otherwise. She can still hold her own against one of the greats, but it would’ve been nice had she gotten a more active role in the film than what she does. Alas, her character is an underwritten filler role that could’ve been played by anyone. 

To no one’s surprise, the best aspect of this film has to be the sheer screen presence that is Denzel Washington. He can elevate any material he is given, whether he’s in an awards player or an action movie franchise. His level of expertise has made the Equalizer franchise as strong as it is, and The Equalizer 3 is no exception. Washington conveys so much calculating intensity in these films that you are both awed and afraid every second of the way. There’s a line where he asks, “Do I look like a killer?”, and it’s genuinely terrifying how much he doesn’t seem like one despite the events we’ve witnessed onscreen. To that end, Denzel doesn’t even have to change his look for these films. McCall’s fighting style is patient, knowledgeable, and precise. Washington doesn’t have to lose weight or get in shape to play this role. As long as he keeps his debonair smile and cold stare, he is more than capable of being a bona fide action franchise protagonist. 

The film doesn’t reinvent the wheel or do anything fundamentally different from films you’ve seen before: it does everything expected quite well, and that’s all I needed from it. The Equalizer 3 blesses audiences with a reliable action film, one of the most gifted actors of all time, a smoothly paced runtime, stylish visuals, and realistic fight choreography. It doesn’t give you the glitzy neon lights and katana battles of a John Wick, nor the high-octane thrills of a Mission Imposible, but it never had to. This one-man army film bestows good old fashioned beatdowns, choke-outs, and mallets to the face upon its audience. It’s sophisticated fisticuffs for a new generation, and I pray there’s still more to come. 

8/10