It is very unfortunate that this film carries the name of a series that I am very fond of since it was a show that was excellent on many counts but mostly because it captured the essence of the injustice and helplessness innocents would face. It's even more unfortunate that Denzel Washington stars as Robert McCall. Even if Denzel is solid as always he basically is playing the same role over and over again since he did Man on Fire. Edward Woodward the original actor that portrayed Robert McCall brought some finesse and sophistication to his role. Denzel is more like an angry man who seems calm and zen from the outside but from time to time unleashes his inner demon who pretends to be MacGyver. I don't think he is even trying to play something different. Denzel Washington has become lazy. And yet he is the best of what this film has to offer. The slow mo action may seem cool but is actually just incredibly violent but very average at the same time. And this coming from someone who loves slow motion in films and video games (Fuqua did much better in The Replacement Killers). The Equalizer started out real good and then it fizzled into one big boring affair. I could care less what was happening. All the time I was watching I was thinking about how the show was the exact opposite of this film. It takes forever for events to happen and when they do they take their time, dragging each scene to a point that I was wondering if Antoine Fuqua the director of Training Day and The Replacement Killers forgot to bring excitement to the screen. I was really looking forward to watching this because Denzel rarely lets me down. And how can you go wrong with the premise of one man with a past dealing or killing bad guys? How can you possibly make something exciting like that super dull? Overall The Equalizer is such a disappointment since it fails to deliver what I expected from it. A stylistic and classy vigilante movie (similar to the original) upgraded with all that yummy Hollywood blockbuster goodness. Instead it's a an action film that forgot how to be one.
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