The Equalizer

I cannot in any good conscience label The Equalizer a bad movie, but I can certainly label it a disappointing one.  This is a movie that works as a superbly well-crafted slow-burn action thriller for a little over an hour or so, and then little by little, it declines into repetitive one-note mindless action.  It's a gradual decline, but a noticeable one.  When it was over, I had to wonder how something that started out so fascinating and involving could end on such a ludicrous climax, as this one does. 

The Equalizer is based on a TV series that ran for four years from 1985 to 89.  I remember the show being on, but have never actually watched it.  So, if you are looking for a review that will tell you how close this movie follows the original show, this isn't the one.  This review, instead, will focus solely on the film itself.  It features Denzel Washington in the lead role, and he manages to give a strong performance, even when the screenplay is requiring him to take out the bad guys with power tools, microwave ovens, and other assorted things that he finds off the rack of a local Home Depot-like warehouse store, where the film's climax occurs.  Heck, the last half hour or so is like one long product placement shot for Black & Decker.  He plays Robert McCall, a seemingly simple man "with a past".  He lives a fairly solitary life, until some local Russian mobsters start roughing up a friend of his.  That's when he starts to show his talents for killing people in graphic and improvisational ways, which hints at the kind of past he has.

I really enjoyed the first half of the film, where we get to witness both sides to Washington's character.  In his everyday life, he's quiet, charming and supportive of the people around him.  The movie gives him some nice relationships with his co-workers at the warehouse store where he works, such as an overweight guy that he's helping to become a security guard for the store.  He also strikes up a friendship with a teenage girl (a very good Chloe Grace Moretz) that he sees every night at a local diner.  She's a prostitute with dreams of leaving her current life behind and starting a singing career.  They talk casually each night (usually about whatever book Robert happens to be reading over at his table), and over time, the two strike up a genuine bond.  However, she is under the thumb of the Russian mob, and when she winds up making her bosses angry, they rough her up to the point that she is hospitalized.

Robert tracks her pimp and his goons down, and wipes them all out in a scene so brutal and strong, it's kind of a shock to the audience, considering how low key the film has been up to this point.  This is the first time we get to witness his talent for taking out a room full of bad guys in a matter of minutes (if not seconds), but far from the last.  The men that he killed were low-level thugs, and now the higher level mobsters come out, seeking who pulled off the hit.  The villains are led by Teddy (Marton Csokas), a chilling and smooth-talking killer who works for a mysterious crime boss whom we seldom see.  When Teddy and his men start hunting Robert down, he in turn must try to stay ahead of them, and get the jump on them whenever he can.  This is the point where my interest began to wane little by little.  This complex and likable character that Washington was playing turns into the generic sort of action hero who walks away from explosions in slow motion, as flames erupt behind him.

For a good part of The Equalizer, the film strikes the perfect balance between character and action.  I was involved and interested, and wanted to see how the movie would handle both of Robert's worlds (a quiet, unassuming man and a cold-blooded killer) colliding with one another.  Much to my disappointment, it doesn't.  Little by little, Robert loses his humanity, and simply gets involved in one shoot out after another.  The characters that he had built friendships with during the first half are also pushed completely out of the picture, so the main character can just run and gun his way through every scene without consequence.  Sure, the supporting characters do come back at the end, but the movie never deals with their reaction to seeing someone they've gone to work with everyday suddenly snapping necks and setting up explosives in the employee lunch room microwave.  Nobody really says anything, or even seems all that surprised.

The action also gets increasingly silly as the film goes on.  In one scene, Robert is at his favorite diner, when one of the Russian thugs shows up, disguised as an electrician.  The guy working the counter at the diner steps into the back room, allowing Robert to kill the power to the entire place, and murder the violent thug.  And no, we never see or hear from the guy who went out back while this is happening.  You would think the power going off in the building would have at least gotten his attention.  Oh, and the other bad guys?  They're parked across the street from the diner, but they can't see what's happening, because a giant truck pulls up in front of them, blocking their view.  Right.  The only way this set up could be more to the hero's advantage is if the villain sent to kill him actually put a gun to his own head and shot himself.

I really want to recommend The Equalizer, because the movie starts out so well, and it's genuinely well-acted.  But, I'm sorry, the more it went on, the more detached I became.  Should it be successful enough to spawn a franchise (as the ending suggests), I hope the filmmakers will study what made the first half work, and ignore the second.  If they can carry the tone this movie starts with all the way through, they'll have a guaranteed winner.

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