September 1, 2023 · Watch the trailer
The odds of a classically trained actor like Denzel Washington making a sequel, let alone a franchise, were so low that it was stunning to see him appear on the big screen more than once as 1980s television character Robert McCall from “The Equalizer.”
It made sense for the original film – which saw him paired with his “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua in 2014 – but a return to the character in 2018 felt unnecessary despite the sequel being decent action fodder.
Washington and Fuqua have decided to complete the trilogy with “The Equalizer 3” hitting theaters as the second highest grossing film ever over Labor Day weekend behind Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” proving Washington to be a major box office draw despite a lack of a press tour given the current actors strike in Hollywood.
The film follows former Marine and Special Ops assassin Robert McCall as he tries to quietly live his life and secretly help strangers take on crime lords while seemingly on retirement in Italy. After his work puts him in the crosshairs of the Sicilian mafia, McCall must protect his new-found friends while also helping the U.S. government stop a drug syndicate by any means necessary.
If there’s any reason to see “Equalizer 3” in theaters, if at all, it’s for the effortlessly engaging talents of Washington in the lead role. It’s crazy to think that the best actor of his generation has spent three films shooting and carving up baddies with relative ease, and yet, Washington has a fluidity to his performance that perfectly blends his natural charm with a callous brutality that makes his Robert McCall feel more like a western hero like Shane than John Wick.
Washington is so magnetic in the role that it makes almost everyone he interacts with over the course of the film completely and entirely disposable.
Perhaps the only other performance of any consequence is partially of Washington’s doing as well, reteaming with his “Man on Fire” costar Dakota Fanning who plays a CIA analyst with similar goals to Robert. There’s a fun dynamic that loosely plays on the protector/protectee element from their first film together and in a film where the plot is just a rehash of a Clint Eastwood style Western like “High Plains Drifter,” scenes between the pair are especially memorable.
Director of photography Robert Richardson makes “Equalizer 3” look far better than the third movie in an action trilogy based off a television show should look, with a hazy hue over most of the cinematography that gives off both a gritty vibe to the entire picture while also bathing Italy in a distinct charm and beauty with a sinister underbelly.
The film’s many action sequences are brutal, bloody affairs that certainly earn an R-rating while not being exceedingly graphic. Much of the violence in “Equalizer 3” happens at such a rapid pace that it almost feels like a blur and some viewers who wince or turn their heads might miss the gore altogether.
The action quality isn’t nearly on the level of a “John Wick,” but that isn’t entirely the point of a Washington-led film and the symbiotic relationship Fuqua has with the veteran actor just draws out dramatic scenes far exceeding what might possible in most action-heavy films.
Washington’s charisma and the film’s exotic location beautifully captured by Richardson make “The Equalizer 3” something audiences might want to consider checking out in theaters and it’s enough of a stand-alone feature that seeing the prior two installments isn’t entirely necessary before making a trip to the big screen.
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