If you want to call Denzel Washington the G.O.A.T. of the acting world, I don’t know that I’d stop you. I can’t say I’d necessarily agree wholeheartedly, but that’s not an egregious thing to say by any stretch of the imagination. He has that rare distinction of being so talented that even when the film he’s in isn’t dazzling, he is. I say that to highlight how I should have known better when it came to his Equalizer trilogy. With The Equalizer dropping in 2014, and in full transparency here, I wrote it off as mindless dumb action. I can distinctly remember thinking “ugh, why has Denzel chosen THIS?!” I’m outing myself as a total movie snob, I suppose, but I lay myself bare here to provide a lesson. It’s the old phrase “never judge a book by its cover.”
I got around to watching The Equalizer a couple of weeks ago and loved it. There’s two aspects of the film that I thought they nailed – one, it’s a grounded story. There’s someone in need of assistance, and here’s this mysterious man with a certain set of skills that is able to help. I dare say it’s heartwarming in the sense that we all must do what we have to do to protect those who need it. Two, they added a humanity to Washington’s Robert McCall that provides depth to the character beyond him simply being an ass-kicker. It’s seeing more than blind violence in a character that adds that bit of mystery to him. It all works well together in a self-contained way that isn’t overindulgent nor does it lose the human aspects of McCall that allow us to relate to him. *chef’s kiss*
In The Equalizer 2, we do explore a little more of McCall’s past, and the story does undergo an up tick in scale as we see a more vast conspiracy at hand. The addition of the charismatic Pedro Pascal as Dave York is a welcome one. The cat-and-mouse aspect of the story was a tad less grounded than the first installment, but director Antoine Fuqua does well to keep those human elements of the first film sprinkled throughout the sequel. The third installment is a little more mindless action, but at that point in our larger journey, I can excuse it. We know what McCall is about at that point, so I’m fine just watching him kick some ass with the beautiful backdrop of scenic Italy behind him.
I’m glad I made the time to catch up on this trilogy. I wouldn’t say all three films stack up with the John Wick trilogy in terms of modern action franchises per se, but I do think we can at least have an interesting debate on who wins a fight between McCall and Wick. There’s also an important personal lesson in here about not being afraid to give something a shot if it doesn’t look like your cup of tea on the surface. That was the case for me, and I’m glad I let go of it to enjoy these three films.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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