Throwback Classic: The Equalizer (2014)

July 16, 2018

Director: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer II, The Magnificent Seven [2016])

Writer: Richard Wenk (The Magnificent Seven [2016], The Mechanic [2011])

Producer: Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher, FENCES, Safe House [2012])

Based on the TV Series of the same name created by: Michael Sloan & Richard Lindheim

Time: 131 min.

Studios: Columbia Pictures & Village Roadshow Pictures

R: Strong Bloody Violence and Language throughout including some Sexual References

Song “Guts over Fear” performed by Eminem (8 Mile) feat Sia (Wonder Woman [2017])

 

Players: Denzel Washington (Robert McCall), Chloe Grace Moretz (Teri),

Haley Bennett (Mandy), David Harbour (Det. Masters), Marton Csokas (Teddy),

Owen Burke (Thief), Johnny Messner (P&E Worker) with

Bill Pullman (Brian Plummer) and Melissa Leo (Susan Plummer)

 

When director Antoine Fuqua and star/producer Denzel Washington’s take on the Reagan-era ’80s TV action drama “The Equalizer” came out on September 26, 2014 it definitely became Denzel’s biggest hit of his long and esteemed career both with critics and audiences alike that has included two Oscars one for Best Supp. Actor for his performance in “Glory” from director Edward Zwick and another one for a history-making Best Actor (he was the second African-American actor since Sidney Poitier to win Best Actor) with his performance as dirty cop Alonzo Harris in director Antoine Fuqua’s and writer David Ayer’s action-cop drama “Training Day”.

Mind y’all this movie came out a few weeks before stuntmen turned directors David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) and Chad Stahelski (John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Parabellum) directed Keanu Reeves in his comeback performance as the titular dog-loving, formerly retired assassin “John Wick”.

While “John Wick” didn’t get to be the big hit of October 2014 it ended up an action classic on home entertainment and much like the Keanu Reeves-starred classic this movie I want to talk to you about is finally getting a sequel this year coming out this summer on July 20th.

Mysterious former CIA operative and widower Robert McCall (Two-time Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, The Equalizer II) has put his life of being a dangerous man for the government behind him after he faked his own death and the death of his wife Vivian is living a quiet, simple life in Boston working as an employee for Home Mart (think Lowes meets Home Depot) and riding the bus to work and home.

But when he can’t go to sleep he goes to a 24 hour diner with a good book in his hand and sipping on hot tea.

All that changes when he meets and befriends a Russian teen call-girl named Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) who dreams of getting out of her dead end existence and getting her life back with kind words from McCall she slowly starts getting her life back in order until her pimp Slavi smacks her around and as McCall is later told in the movie from the owner of his favorite diner Teri is in a coma at the hospital after being severely beaten by Slavi within an inch of her life.

But when he meets up with Slavi and fails to buy Teri’s freedom for $7200 he decides to come out of retirement and take out Slavi and his crew.

As the movie progresses, we find out that McCall didn’t just take out five Russian pimps he just took out the East Coast hub of the Russian mob ran by Vladimir Pushkin who sends out his number one guy Teddy (Marton Csokas, HBO’s “Divorce”) to find out who did it and when he finds out that it was McCall that is taking down Pushkin’s operations in Boston he decides to bring him out of hiding but McCall refuses to go quietly in the dark and decides to fight for those that can’t fight for themselves.

With excellent direction from Antoine Fuqua who turns in his best flick since “Training Day” and a stellar and believable performance from Denzel Washington as the quiet, methodical badass Robert McCall which some people might consider his role this movie’s flipside version of late director Tony Scott’s 2004 blockbuster smash “Man on Fire [2004]” and Denzel’s previous role as burnt out, alcoholic ex-CIA operative John W. Creasy who decides to wreak havoc and kick some ass in Mexico after Dakota Fanning’s (TNT’s “The Alienist”) Pita Ramos is kidnapped in said movie.

While both featuring plenty of bodies being dropped, bloodshed, gunplay and some explosions especially one up the ass of a dirty cop, McCall lives to see another day and for Denzel’s fans the man himself is officially doing a sequel to his 2014 classic flick “The Equalizer” his 2004 flick (SPOILER ALERT) ends up with him dying in the backseat of his kidnappers car by exchanging his life for Pita’s but the kidnapper who orchestrated the whole thing gets killed during his arrest in his pool.

“The Equalizer” is a classic, badass movie from start to finish!

My final cut: 5 out of 5 stars!

“What do you see when you look at me?”

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington, “The Equalizer [2014]”)

Johnny White III

 

Denzel is back serving up another round of justice as Robert McCall in director Antoine Fuqua’s sequel to his 2014 blockbuster “The Equalizer 2” in theaters and in IMAX this Friday July 20th.

 

Johnny White III recommends these badass action classics featuring your dad’s favorite action stars on Blu-ray, 4K, DVD & Digital Download:

Man on Fire (2004) – 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Stars: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell,

Marc Anthony, Giancarlo Giannini, Rachel Ticotin, Mickey Rourke

Director/Producer: Tony Scott (Unstoppable, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Deja Vu)

Writer: Brian Helgeland (42: The Jackie Robinson Story, L. A. Confidential)

Based on the novel by: A. J. Quinnell

Music Consultant: Trent Reznor (Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [2011])

“After winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance as dirty cop Alonzo Harris in director Antoine Fuqua and writer/co-producer David Ayer’s Oscar-winning action-cop drama ‘Training Day’, Denzel definitely showed everyone that in the spring of 2004 that he didn’t need to be a superhero or ‘Kill Bill’ as burnt out CIA operative John W. Creasy who damn near gives up on life and is constantly searching for redemption in a bottle of Jack Daniel’s until he gets a job in Mexico City as a bodyguard to a rich family and reluctantly becomes friends with the family’s charge Pita played by a then child Dakota Fanning and has a new reason to live that is until his charge is kidnapped and he ends up shot multiple times and falsely accused of being involved in her kidnapping while the negotiations to get her back quietly fail Denzel’s John W. Creasy unleashes a firestorm of vengeance and mayhem to find out if she’s alive [she is] and must find out who really set him up to take the fall for his charge’s kidnapping in this intense actioner from late director Tony Scott that is darker ‘Training Day’ and not for the squeamish especially the bomb up the butt of a dirty cop. A must-see” 

TAKEN (2009) – 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Stars: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, David Warshofsky,

Jon Gries, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley

Director: Pierre Morel (Peppermint, From Paris with Love)

Writer/Producer: Luc Besson (LUCY, Taken 2, Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element)

“Before Keanu Reeves got his swagger back as ‘John Wick’ in 2014, Liam Neeson only had one action film under his belt with 1990’s ‘DARKMAN’ from director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man Trilogy [2002/2004/2007], A Simple Plan, Army of Darkness) and starring opposite future two-time Oscar-winner Frances McDormand (Three Billboards outside Ebbing MO, Fargo [1996], Isle of Dogs, Blood Simple) which ended up a cult classic and spawned a franchise which Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy [1999]/The Mummy Returns) took over as Dr. Peyton Westlake/Darkman but Liam for the entire decade was seen as dramatic actor not the type of guy that can kick ass and take names I mean his filmography from the ’90s up until 2005’s ‘Batman Begins’ he was seen as a mentor (‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace-Episode I’ don’t watch it and watch director Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” where he played mentor Henri Ducard turned villain Ra’s al Ghul) , reluctant hero of the Jews, Scots and Irish (check out his only Oscar-nominated performance for Best Actor as Nazi party businessman turned unlikely hero Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Oscar-winner “Schindler’s List” , 1995’s titular performance as the Scottish Robin Hood “Rob Roy” and 1996’s titular performance as Irish freedom fighter “Michael Collins”) and let’s not forget 2003’s UK romantic comedy Christmas classic ‘Love, Actually’ where he played a single dad alongside an all-star cast that includes Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Andrew Lincoln, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Rodrigo Santoro, Bill Nighy, Billy Bob Thornton, Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Colin Firth and the late Alan Rickman but in 2009 all that changed when Liam in his late 50s who famously turned down a shot to be James Bond in the mid-’90s which eventually went to Pierce Brosnan for his first go-round as 007 in director Martin Campbell’s ‘Goldeneye’ put on a black trench coat and put his particular skills to good use as former retired CIA operative Bryan Mills when his daughter Kim played by Maggie Grace is kidnapped while backpacking through Europe and has 96 hours to find her before he loses her to the sex trafficking market in writer/producer Luc Besson’s blistering first chapter of ‘The Taken trilogy [2009/2012/2015]’ let’s just say that going to another country may not be the best idea ever for a vacation”

John Wick (2014) – LIONSGATE

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Alfie Allen, John Leguizamo, Adrienne Palicki,

Willem Dafoe, Lance Reddick, Michael Nyqvist, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters

Directors: Chad Stahelski (John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Parabellum)

David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, Hobbs & Shaw)

Writer: Derek Kolstad (John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Parabellum)

“The dude known as Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan from the time-travel comedies “Bill & Ted”, Keanu Reeves was kicking plenty of butt in the ’90s and the early 2000s with classics ranging from the 1991 original “Point Break” from the future Oscar-winning director of “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit, Zero Dark Thirty) and starring the late Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, GHOST, The Outsiders) to his breakout leading man performance as LAPD cop Jack Traven in director Jan De Bont’s “Speed” alongside future Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock (Ocean’s 8), Jeff Daniels and the late, great Dennis Hopper (skip the 1997 Keanu-free sequel) and his game-changing role as the one Neo formerly known as office man Thomas Anderson in the Wachowski siblings and producer Joel Silver’s ‘The Matrix trilogy’ co-starring Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Anne-Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Harold Perrineau, Monica Bellucci, Jada Pinkett Smith and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith (watch the game-changing original from 1999 and the okay 2003 sequel “The Matrix Reloaded” and trash “The Matrix Revolutions”) and 2005’s DC/Vertigo Comics adaptation of Alan Moore’s (Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer) chain-smoking, cancer-stricken, demon fighter John Constantine in director Francis Lawrence’s (Red Sparrow, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts I & II) ‘Constantine’ but after some lackluster flicks ranging from the remake of the sci-fi classic ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008]’ and 2013’s ’47 Ronin’ Keanu turned 50 years old a year later and came back with a vengeance as a formerly retired assassin still hurt from the passing of his wife when some Russian pricks kill his cute puppy (what idiot does that!?!?!) and steal his ’69 Mustang he decides to lay waste anyone working with the guy that killed his puppy and stole whatever happiness he got left in the astonishing first chapter of Keanu’s stuntmen turned directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch that’s definitely a blast of action heat”