The Equalizer 3 - Senza tregua

Seems every four or five years Denzel Washington makes an 'Equalizer' movie, starring as Robert McCall. I just re-read my review of the first one, McCall as a character doesn't change much, just the situations he finds himself in, and the techniques he uses to eliminate the bad guys.

In real life Washington has been vacationing to Italy for over 30 years so that setting was a natural for this movie. McCall considers himself 'retired' and he finds the community of Altamonte and its towns folk to his liking. He is thinking this may just be the place to settle down.

Breaking the peace are an Italian mafia family, dealing in drugs, and ruthlessly brutal to any that cross them. McCall witnesses some of them brutally mistreating some of the innocent merchants, this bothers him terribly, he formulates a plan to set things right. Part of his plan involves getting Dakota Fanning as CIA agent Emma Collins on the path of the crime family.

This movie is not high art, it uses pretty standard 'good guy vs bad guy' tropes. One reviewer even says it is 'The Magnificent Seven Minus Six', and that is a pretty good comparison. But it is entertaining, and that is the only point of a movie like this. I think most of us find it easy to cheer an 'equalizer' putting the really bad guys in their place.

At home on DVD from my public library.

My expectations for this one were moderate, I enjoyed the first, I wasn't blown away by the second, this third and final movie is actually really good.

It's a pretty good storyline, with Robert of course central to events and fighting for justice. He takes on Italian gang bosses, and of course there are multiple fight and action sequences, but in this film, he felt mortal, in the second I felt they made him into some sort of superhero, you felt he was indestructible, I didn't get that here.

The action sequences are great, and it is very, very well produced, but the true winner here is The Italian scenery, it looks sublime, and arguably enhances the movie.

Washington, outstanding once again, he really does nail it. This film has prompted me to get a hold of the original Edward Woodward series, that's up next.

Entertaining.

7/10.

The Equalizer 3 rounds out this unexpected trilogy with another satisfying action thriller that continues the journey of a man who understands violence, trying to finally put that behind him, placing him out of his element to show quite literally how far he goes for people. The ending hinders it a little because it feels anticlimactic but it still works.

On a quest to finally find and maintain happiness, Denzel Washington is as flawless as ever. This time around he gets to be happy and show McCall actually enjoying life for once and as this is the final instalment there's obviously some introspection and self reflection as well.

The villains are really weak, it's not a massive distraction as they remain easy to hate and don't take up too much time but as the marketing implied that this would be McCall meeting his equal is kinda laughable considering how little they feel like a genuine threat to him.

The subplot involving Dakota Fanning initially threatens to derail the film but thankfully it ties back into the main narrative effectively and any scene she shares with Washington is great because it's both a Man on Fire reunion and her rapport with Washington is so good.

Antione Fuqua's direction impresses yet again, the violence has never been faster or more brutal and the stark colour palette allows this one to stand out in contrast to its predecessors. The music by Marcelo Zarvos is better than it's ever been, so distinct and noticeably industrial.

I thought this was a very good movie. They build a story early with little action but it finishes strong. I would take this over the Marvel materials from the past 3 years. Denzel's character is similar to the past but more economy of motion. I wish Dakota had more screen time. The scenes in Italy were lovely. I doubt we will see another one of these movies. This was an old school action thriller. The formula is pretty tried and true. I'm not sure how films have gotten away from what works. I hope all fans will turn out to see this film. My large theater was only 1/3 full but the weather was perfect on a Thursday early evening.

Nice Job Anton, Dakota and Denzel.

I never obsessed over The Equalizer films, I always thought they were decent action movies but I really liked the first one, it was great. I always preferred the john wick franchise over it.

This one was not necessarily bad, it was alright but it feels off for some reason and it felt kinda boring, a lot of elements were missing from the previous ones such as the iconic scanning and going into Robert's head and the time counting.

This one also felt long as it didn't feel like a three act film but a film with just one long act that takes the span of 2 hours.

The story was kinda decent and the fight scenes were still great but I wanted to see more, the only thing that held this film apart was the scenes with Denzel, I legit didn't care about the side characters and other stuff.

I still recommend watching it though.