Movie Review: Denzel Washington's Vigilante Battles The Italian Mafia In 'Equalizer 3'
With Denzel Washington there is a lot of talk here about the end of movie stars.
Anthony Fuqua's The Equalizer 3, a dense and structured sequel to Washington Vigilante, is not one of the actor's best films. It's not in his top 10. But that clearly demonstrates Washington's power on screen.
You might think it's in the violent action of the movie, but no. These are scenes of Washington gingerly sipping tea at an outdoor café or walking the streets of a Sicilian town. This film is held together not only by the mechanics of the plot but also by the joy of seeing Denzel's grin, grin and grin mixed throughout the silent scenes of carnage.
So the Equalizer films (3rd best picture) remind me of great Walter Matthews thrillers like Charlie Varick and The Classics, films about elderly people with distinct eyebrows coming, but with more gimmicks. . (Washington, now 68, played the role of Night in a revival of Pelham's One Two Three.)
Today, there is no shortage of veteran stars using their talents in action films. Throw The Rock in a movie theater and you'll likely meet Lim Neeson, Harrison Ford, or Tom Cruise (and go on a killing spree). Overall a good title in the genre, The Equalizer 3 is at the end of its bloody run. cheeky layer.
Surprisingly, neither the fight sequences (fast and furious) nor the sense of tension (scary) of the film are particularly strong points. Written by Richard Wenk, the film begins with a trail of bodies through the main house of a Sicilian vineyard. Robert McCall (Washington) sits quietly in the cellar and says, "They wouldn't let me in, so…
The Equalizer is based on the 1980s TV series about a retired former Secret Service agent who restores the balance of justice for ordinary people he meets by chance. And the third film in the series has a pleasant character.
After taking in a friendly town doctor named Enzo (Remo Girone), a blow to the back leaves McCully for treatment. We are located in southern Italy. Much of the film was shot on the Amalfi Coast, in particular in the charming medieval fishing village of Atrani. If there's one truly amazing thing about The Equalizer 3, it's that there isn't a tourist in sight. For a moment, McCall seemed to be the only American in town to get out of bed and walk up the cobbled steps of his village with a cane. He is immediately captivated by people who warmly accept him.
And at the same time, Camorra mafias enter the city, with the aim of displacing the locals to make way for hotels and casinos. Clad in designer suits and tattoo crews, they sneak into the city where the vigilante elite lurk, sipping tea from stalls across the street or eating pasta at the next table.
Fuqua, who directed previous films The Equalizer and Washington's debut Training Day, is in the cockpit of the genre. Patiently followed McCall and got a taste of the place with some of the Christian statues in the church above the city. There is a terrible, disgusting sense of evil destruction in the society of the "good guys", a terrible drug from Syria, sold by the mafia and supported by terrorist cells.
The dichotomy between good and evil is convenient, as is Washington's wild and reckless approach to the mafia network. There are also CIA agents who readily switched Dakota Fanning's party. But they mostly follow McCall's lead. It really is Washington DC in a league of its own, and The Equalizer 3 doesn't even attempt to pretend to be artistically close relatives. After all, not everyone is the same.
"The Equalizer 3," a Sony Pictures release, is rated "R" by the Motion Picture Association for heavy blood and some language. Duration: 109 minutes. Three out of four stars.
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Follow AP film writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
