The Equalizer

[Paradox1]

I'm excited for it, looks like it's gonna be plenty good.

 

[mclay18]

I thought this was terrible. So much so, it's like a bad parody of Denzel Washington's better films. It's too long, self-indulgent, and all the 'cool' touches Antoine Fuqua infuses in the film -- like the final action scene indoors with the sprinkler system on -- have been done much better in other films.

Now, the scenes with Denzel and Chloe Moretz deserve their own film. I'd like to see a movie with Denzel playing a father figure/mentor to Chloe, rather than her avenging angel.

 

[Drizzle]

I was unimpressed. The movie peaked at the end of the first act when he went to the Russian club to take out the thugs. Nothing new to see here, either. If you're thinking of checking this out, you'd probably be better off watching "Man on Fire".

 

[mclay18]

That's what The Equalizer is... a lesser unofficial sequel to Man on Fire. I personally think Denzel needs to get out of the R-rated niche he gravitates towards. There's nothing wrong with doing more PG-13 and ensemble pictures.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I liked the movie despite it being a bit slow in the beginning and a tad bit to long. Denzel is pretty good in the role and the action scenes are well done. My biggest complaint is that Denzel's character seemed super human and really over powered. That's not one point in the movie where the villians posed any real danger to him. Even the Russian guy that was leading the charge to find him didn't even get a proper showdown. I would definitely like to see a sequel with more Chloe mortez as his partner or something.

7.5/10

 

[Eddie Dean]

The Home Depot finale is incredible. Denzel straight up turns into Michael Myers.

 

[terry78]

Denzel has been playing the implacable man hero for a while now. Him and Nesson need to do a flick together.

 

[Kane52630]

Antoine Fuqua has another hit on his hands, I really enjoyed this.


Now, hurry up on the Neeson vs Denzel movie we all want to see.

 

[terry78]

Taken vs. Man on Fire.

Shut up and take my money.

 

[Mr.T]

I thought it was a decent flick. Entertaining and worth the price of admission. It doesn't break any new ground but it's a good action flick. I picture The Punisher doing this kinda thing....

 

[Drz]

I really enjoyed the movie, but Denzel Washington's character was too strong, even when he took hits, he was unstoppable. I liked the mood the movie had going on and the Teddy guy was a cool antagonist.

 

[KenK]

Denzel Washington = Impossible White Man!

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I actually liked this more than Taken 1.

 

[Octoberist]

If there's an issue with Taken, it's just the tone that Luc Besson movies tend to have. It's the French trying to emulate American movies (like how Brits emulate American comics with Judge Dredd). Because of that sensibility, Besson produced movies tend to have a really hokey vibe, with overly trite dialog. It's the cheese without the charm; like if Besson pumped these out while he was on the toilet.

Though Taken is more watered down in its French-cheesiness. That's reserved for Taken 2, 3 Days to Kill (which has McG ironically), Lockout, and From Paris with Love.

 

[terry78]

A lot American styled stuff from other countries is usually them trying to satirize us or some ****. It's rarely played straight.

 

[Octoberist]

But I think it's rarely done really well. I think Edgar Wright gets it because he's awesome.

 

[Superman Earth1]

This was a perfect movie. I loved it from start to finish. I think it will be very under rated though.

 

[StarLord]

I liked the mood the movie had going on and the Teddy guy was a cool antagonist.

I can't believe it, but it was the same actor (Marton Csokas) who played the awful hammy Dr. Kafka in TASM2.

 

[Kane52630]

Is it me or does Marton Csokas look like a Kiwi version of Kevin Spacey?

 

[Eddie Dean]

He's like a weird fusion of Spacey, Russell Crowe circa Virtuosity and Dougray Scott.

 

[Dave McFly]

I liked the little nods to the TV show

The car that the corrupted detective was interrogated in was the same style and model Jag the TV McCall drove
the text McCall types on the laptop is the same as the one that was printed in newspaper classified/personal ad in the TV show etc

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Solid flick. Denzel is always so compelling to watch, such a physical actor, he conveys so much just by the way he moves & facial expressions as well.

I found the opening 25 minutes really great, just seeing him lead this calm, peaceful life, perfectly organized, the routine, I could seriously watch an entire movie just on that alone.

When it gets going, it's pretty exciting & Fuqua definitely knows how to set up nice, clean, exciting set pieces, Fiore's cinematography is really slick as well, those super slo mo shots are fantastic.

I'd say the movie drags in the middle, and overall, just loses something when Denzel is not on screen, ie when the godawful Marton Csokas (seriously, I don't understand why this guy keeps getting work, he was absolutely dreadful in TASM2) gets screentime, that's when it drags, this + two cameos that come out of nowhere & really add nothing to the storyline, except giving some info on who that bad guy is, and honestly, I personally don't care at all.

I'd say there's 20 min of fat, namely all those scenes, motivation is not needed, when Denzel kicks ash & saves people, that's where it's at, notably that really badass explosion scene (geez ! ). I was kind of nodding off at a point, just when the rousing finale gets going.

And my, oh my, what a fantastic finale, setting it up to Zack Hemsey's Vengeance is a stroke of genius, absolute genius, nerdgasm there, pure badassery, fantastic visuals, badass final kill.

Chloe Moretz was good, I like their relationship & there are some nice character touches here & there.

So, overall, a very solid effort, great Denzel performance, everything outside of Marton Csokas was quite good, great visuals, excellent score by Harry Gregson-Williams.

7,5/10

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I found this a little disappointing in the end, I just dont think Faqua is a very good director, he does to many things over the top. In this movie it was the slow mo, I am a Zach Snyder fan so you know the slow-mo is a problem when it annoys someone like me.

Also half the action was off screen, I thought the 1st hour was great, and Washington, Moretz and Csokas all gave great performances, but the 2nd hour from the 1st action scene onwards was way too slow and labouring. And the movie was so cliche, I love callback films to the likes we got in the 80's, but films like Dredd and Jack Reacher did that stuff so much better than it was done here IMO. One scene of Washington walking away from a big explosion seemed to last 10 minutes, and thats not a good thing.

The action was good when it came, and I do wish we would have gotten more Moretz. Csokas was really menacing and even unsettling in some scenes as the villain, he wasnt sympathetic at all which I liked, he was one evil guy and posed a challenge to Robert, sort of. And as I said before the 1st hour was good, as were the little hints throughout of Roberts past and what he really is/was.

The finale was quite good, but it got a bit stupid also, it seems they are planning to turn this into a franchise, if they do Faqua needs to improve a lot for me, 7/10.

 

[MadVillainy]

I thought this was really good.
Good action scenes. I thought it was paced fine. I liked the little "mini missions" he went on throughout the movie. Performances were cool. Yeah it's not the most original movie. I mean there are only so many ways to do a revenge flick.

THe only thing I didnt like was the very end:
[BLACKOUT]So he just goes around back to work/the neighborhood like it's business as usual? THey shouldve had him leave town, setting up a sequel, and isn't that what the original show was? Him driving town to town walking the earth fighting crime? Ive never seen it so I was wondering[/BLACKOUT]

This was WAY better than Man on Fire (which I always thought was really overrated)I had a great time watching this and am looking forward to the sequel.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I thought this was really good.
Good action scenes. I thought it was paced fine. I liked the little "mini missions" he went on throughout the movie. Performances were cool. Yeah it's not the most original movie. I mean there are only so many ways to do a revenge flick.

THe only thing I didnt like was the very end:
[BLACKOUT]So he just goes around back to work/the neighborhood like it's business as usual? THey shouldve had him leave town, setting up a sequel, and isn't that what the original show was? Him driving town to town walking the earth fighting crime? Ive never seen it so I was wondering[/BLACKOUT]

This was WAY better than Man on Fire (which I always thought was really overrated)I had a great time watching this and am looking forward to the sequel.

[BLACKOUT]It does set up a sequel technically, with him on the laptop answering someone who was asking for help and saying yes, and that person could have been in a different town, we dont know[/BLACKOUT].

Of my many problems with the movie, this wasnt really one of them.