When it comes to portraying desperate heroes, films always do one thing that manages to capture the audience. This one thing is prevalent in a tonne of movies. Whether you pick up a movie such as Logan starring Hugh Jackman, or a film such as Mad Max, or even the Denzel Washington starred The Book of Eli. There is always one connexion that is constant between these movies, and that is that these heroes try to save a particular person. Perhaps, The Equalizer is one of the weakest ones that have come out of this type of hero trope.
How to Stream or Download The Equalizer (2014)
To stream or to download Equaliser, click on the Download button located below this review. Check out also the sequel to the film – The Equalizer 2 (2018).
The Movie Review
The story follows the perspective of Bob McCall, a retired marine and former DIA operative who faked his own death and preceded to live a peaceful life because of a promise he gave to his late wife Vivian. He’d been living a peaceful life working at a hardware store for many years. However, after offending a young Russian prostitute named Alina, he soon gets thrown back into a world of violence that he had successfully managed to avoid for decades. Now, with years of experience and an era worth of skills, Bob McCall must fight for Alina’s freedom.
The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who previously directed feature films such as Training Day, Shooter and Olympus Has Fallen. While the director does manage to do a good job of keeping the film at a steady pace, the script itself is honestly very mediocre. It does the same thing that many other films have been doing for ages, it showcases a desolate hero lonely and missing a means to live for.
Eventually, like every other film of its category the hero manages to find somebody that he should care for and look out for. This gives our hero meaning and motive to keep on living and pushing forward.
While the film doesn’t really have much of a great story, it does have some amazing action sequences. The best part about these action sequences is the insane amount of gore. Every single battle or gunfight leads to blood flying around and guts laying on the floor. Well, it’s not as hardcore as you would find in Japanese mafia films, it’s still pretty good for American audiences.
I love Denzel Washington, every single feature film of his has been one of my favorite films ever. However, with a film like this, he doesn’t really have to do much to be the main character. Denzel plays the main character Bob McCall, who isn’t a very talkative person. The only moment that he does act like a different character, is when he’s talking to Alina. For the rest of the movie, he’s just kind of a grumpy old person, who kills a lot of people. Speaking of Alina, Chloe Moretz does a great job of portraying the character in a very vulnerable and nuanced way. Other actors also do a decent job, however, the one cameo by David Harbour is one of the most fun parts of the film.
Well, I wouldn’t say this is a pretty film in any regard when it comes to cinematography and overall angles that are featured here in the film. I’d still like to mention that this movie has some decent lighting and production design, with very few hallways and sets that you can just get behind. I appreciate the detailing that it does with its visual effects on guns and guts. The soundtrack itself is actually also decent, while I don’t really listen to it often or will listen to it anytime soon, it is pretty good when it comes to the context of the overall film.
The Bottom Line
So in conclusion, The Equaliser isn’t anything as exceptional as you would have thought it could be. You get Denzel Washington in a film, and you don’t make an amazing movie out of it? That’s a missed opportunity right there. Overall though, The Equaliser does manage to do one thing right come on and that is being a fun movie. It’s not technically impressive or storytelling-wise either, yet it’s a fun action movie that you can just enjoy on a Sunday afternoon.
