The Equalizer

The Equalizer
Director : Antoine Fuqua
Stars : Denzel Washinton, Marton Csokas, Chloe Grace Moretz

Courtesy of Blackfilm.com

A man believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and has dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by - he has to help her. (synopsis from here)

The premise of this movie was simple, a man who lives simple and probably boring life had somethimg to hide from his friends, apparently have a remarkable skill to kick some bad guys. He did that alone and... using housewares.

At a glance, this movie reminds me of Man On Fire, Denzel's previous movie with Dakota Fanning. A girl in danger and a man try to save her by going rampage to all bad guys out there. This movie was no different.

This movie was adapted from a TV series form the 80's with the same name. Denzel, as usual, gave his best performance as a person with opposite identity. One identity, Robert McCall as a retail store worker and Robert McCall as a person with high skill in killing. He can switch his mood from ordinary guy to cold-blooded man.

His nemesis, Teddy Rensen (played by Marton Csokas), also gave a great performance as ruthless Russian gangster. He enjoy the job of killing people, even that was his own subordinates. Only looking at his face, we know that this man were born as a killer.

I have to admit, kinda boring at first. Slow pace, I have to say. We didn't know who is Mr. McCall and what will he do. Then I started to notice, he counted how long each activity he do. He also have a great observation with people and situation. Don't be fool with him, though. Once his friends in trouble, he suddenly became very skillful in martial arts and beat those bad guys.

That's the story. Very simple. When he went rampage, expect lots of beating, lots of shooting, lots of curses. Not only with usual guns and knife, but also household utensils. You will find unconventional weapons from daily utensils.

Overall, treat this movie purely as entertainment. Don't think about the story. If you want to watch this movie because of Chloe Grace Moretz, well all I can say is her screen time not much. In fact, without her character, this movie can still go on. The decision is yours. One thing for sure, every time I go to ACE Hardware or Mitra10 and look at household utensils, I will never look at those tools with the same perspective ever again.

Verdict: 3/5