The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C+
I’m a sucker for a good, old-fashioned vigilante movie and the original The Equalizer (from 2014) is one of the better examples of the subgenre from the last decade. The film also fits nicely into the “normal looking guy is actually a trained killer” subgenre that has been oddly popular lately (see the John Wick movies or Nobody). I barely remember anything about The Equalizer 2 beyond the fact that I didn’t care for it, but the trailers for this third entry seemed to promise a return to something more in line with the original. And that’s kind of true. The Equalizer 3 is better than the first sequel and a bit of a return to the core concept, but its also pretty restrained and forgettable.
Robert McCall (again played by Denzel Washington) is now in Sicily, where he travelled to take down a local crime boss. The mission is successful, but he is shot by a kid after taking down all of the gangsters (never assume that the kid isn’t armed, people, how many times do I have to say it). He staggers off injured and is eventually found by some locals that bring him to a small town and help him recover from his wounds. Upon recovery, he comes to love the town and decides to settle down there. Only one problem: the town is controlled by the mafia. McCall doesn’t want to leave the town that he has grown so fond of, so he does what he does best: he kills a shit load of bad guys.
So the plot is basically Death Wish 3 if you substitute Denzel for Charles Bronson and Italy for New York. Otherwise, the established badass moving to a different city, learning to love the community and defending them from a local gang is very similar to that 80s classic. Aside from an unnecessary subplot with a CIA agent (played by Dakota Fanning) that exists only to tie the film into The Equalizer 2, this is a very standard plot for this sort of film that won’t win any points for originality. But, really, that’s fine. I wasn’t going into The Equalizer 3 looking for high art and, if you want to be a fun vigilante movie, then Death Wish 3 is a damn good movie to copy to achieve your purpose.
The problem is that it never quite embraces the sheer insanity and levels of violence of Death Wish 3 or even, for that matter, the first Equalizer. The major set pieces are all in the trailer and McCall often seems oddly less efficient than in the previous entries. The whole stop-watch gimmick, which was used to great effect in the first movie, is only ever used once here and, yes, it is the scene from the trailer. The violence, while still R-rated, is toned down from the previous entries (or at least the first one, as I can’t really remember the second one). The villains are just stock Italian dudes, not the colorful psychos that Bronson was mowing down in the 80s. The locals are forgettable, defenseless good people that lack the intrigue or depth of the young prostitute, played by Chloë Grace Moretz, that needed McCall’s help in the first movie. There just isn’t much grit or liveliness to the film.
Fortunately, the film still stars Washington and is still directed by Antoine Fuqua. Washington is still effortlessly likeable, sympathetic and intimidating as McCall and, although the series hasn’t lived up to the possibilities of its own premise, Washington still brings an emotional core to the film that makes it more entertaining than it really has a right to be. With Fuqua returning for a third time and the on-location filming in Italy, it is also a technically competent and pretty film to look at. The grime of New York or LA is usually better suited for this kind of material, but I certainly can’t argue that the film isn’t well made. It just isn’t particularly involving at the end of the day.
If this was made in the 80s, it would have starred Bronson or Chuck Norris. The 2023 equivalent may be better directed and shot, but that certainly doesn’t make it more fun. I’m assuming that I like this better than The Equalizer 2 because I don’t remember that movie, but I may have to revisit that notion in a couple of years to see if The Equalizer 3 has taken up any permanent space in my memory. Based on my struggles with just writing this review, the odds aren’t looking good.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Equalizer_3#/media/File:The_Equalizer_3_poster.jpg
