THE EQUALIZER - Tuesday 30th September 2014.

Earlier this week I saw the much touted latest Denzel Washington actioner based on a popular late 80's TV Series of the same name 'THE EQUALIZER'. The difference between the 80's version on the small screen and this current and first big screen adaptation is that back then our hero of the piece, Robert McCall, (Edward Woodward back in the day) had a back story that we could relate to and knew where his particular set of skills hailed from having been a covert operations officer in the past (presumably from the days of the Cold War). This time we know little about Washington's character except that he had to fake his own death and leads a quiet life seemingly 'undercover'. Back then we were based in the seedier mean streets of New York City and now we are in Boston; and the Robert McCall of old relied on his wits, a very limited arsenal of weapons and the fact that the story evolved over 88 episodes. Now in the Robert McCall of the early 21st Century we have an expert in all things technological; close quarter combat; the latest weaponry and improvised devices to inflict, maim and kill with; and the fact that he seems impervious to pain and is practically bullet proof, has iron fists and a jaw of granite!

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (who also Directed Denzel Washington in 'Training Day' in 2001) with a US$55M budget, this telling of 'The Equalizer' is more of an origin story than it is any sort of continuation from where the series may or may not have left off back in 1989. When we are introduced to Washington's McCall he lives alone in an apartment that is spotlessly clean, tidy and organised, he is meticulous in his cleanliness, the order with which he lives, his routines and his fastidiousness, and the apparent ordinariness of his very existence. He is a creature of habit - even down to his inability to sleep at night causing him to venture down to the 24 hour 'Bridge Cafe' every night at just past 2:00am for a cup of tea, sat in his favourite window table, reading his book and occasionally engaging with the locals.

One such local is young prostitute Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz) whom he gets to chat with over successive evenings before she gets the call to see her next Client. But Teri is managed by the local underworld - an underworld she is keen to escape from and pursue a singer/songwriter career but is trapped in the spiral from which her 'managers' will never let her go. One evening she emerges beaten up, battered and bruised, and so McCall agrees to escort her home safely. In doing so they are intercepted by her 'managers' who take possession of their 'property' and apologise to McCall thinking that he is a pick-up and so offer a business card for a discount next time.

This in turn presents McCall with a conundrum - to let it go, or to interfere and exact revenge for Teri who is desperate to start a new life but is powerless to do it for herself. Needless to say, of course, it is the latter (otherwise we wouldn't have a story would we?) And so we learn that Teri's 'managers' are in fact Russian gangsters and mobsters who reside over a very plush Russian Restaurant and Bar in downtown Boston where anyone can avail themselves of all manner of 'pleasures' on the menu! Walking on in like he owns the place he intends to buy Teri's freedom for US$9,800 in cash but is scoffed at by head honcho Slavi (David Meunier) and his four henchmen. What ensues in 28 seconds flat is the death of all five Ruskies at the bare hands of McCall using all manner of improvised weapons and gadgets to hand - shot glasses, corkscrews, vodka bottles, and those weapons carried by his adversaries. It's nasty, bloody, over quickly but now we have the measure of the man and we know what and who we are dealing with. . . to a degree!

It turns out though that those left dead are really just the bottom feeders of the Russian operation that is about controlling all the docks and the incoming/outgoing contraband that is worth a gazillion dollars to the Russian mob back home. And so the next guy up the food chain is sent over  via private jet to investigate and ensure that their financial interests are protected, and that a stamp of authority is put upon anyone who might be a threat. Enter Teddy (Marton Csokas), who plays evil uber-violent heavily tattooed mean nasty S-O-A-B and dispenses with problems ruthlessly and at the drop of a hat. As the middle man in the organisation he needs to discover who is upsetting their otherwise peaceful money making machine and stop it in his tracks . . . and that just happens to be McCall.

This then is the cue for a cat and mouse game across Boston with the clock counting down on the big showdown. Along the way McCall helps out a few other hapless citizens, blows the lid on some crooked Boston cops, exposes corrupt local officials who have been on the take, and still manages to go to work 9-5 as the Manager of a large home hardware store, 'Home Mart' (like a 'Bunning's' for my Aussie reader, or a 'Sainsbury's Homebase' for my English one!)

None of McCall's backstory is revealed in any depth expect that he seeks out a retired high ranking governmental official and close friend from his past who has some links back to the CIA which might help him piece together the jigsaw puzzle, and so he effectively seeks 'permission' to complete the job with the Ruskies once and for all . . . which is covertly granted. What we learn as the Ruskies close in on McCall is that he is very adept at weaponry improvisation, he's good with his fists, he's fast, accurate and nimble on his feet and he times everything with his stopwatch - down to how long it will take to kill someone, or how quickly they will die of CO suffocation, or a bullet through the neck, or to get from Point A to Point B. We know he too is  master of technology, gadgetry and sundry equipment, and he can rig a death-trap in no time out of razor wire and sandbags!

Is all this a sounding a bit far fetched? McCall dispenses with the Russian villains with relative ease, and you have seen this a thousand times before in similar revenge films. It is formulaic and fairly predictable stuff and the closing set piece takes place in the Home Mart Store where McCall works during the day time in his proper job! Cue the Ruskies coming to all sorts of creative imaginative deaths as a result of cordless power drills, cherry pickers, razor wire, nail guns, gardening forks, blow torches, mirror displays, improvised explosive devices and, a bathroom sink. It's a bloodbath and of course the last man standing is one Robert McCall, with only a bullet in his shoulder which he cauterises with a heated door knob (obvious really!) en route to killing another. This made me think that this film could easily be 'Die Hard 6 : Die Hardest in Bunnings'!

In the final analysis, McCall gets to the King Pin, the Big Fish, the Main Man and dispenses his own brand of justice without mercy, so that the Bostonians, the Americans and Teri can walk free, be safe, and sleep easy at night. Washington plays it well enough, but he has done so many times before, being type cast as he is here once again. The story is also engaging but don't expect too much really from this formula driven beat 'em up, shoot 'em down, slice & dice 'em revenge and retribution retelling delivered largely swiftly and creatively with just about any household implement you can lay your hands on!

As a foot note, it is interesting to observe that in these current times of uncertainty in Russia and the Ukraine that the King Pin back in the Russian Motherland as played by Vladimir Kulich is named 'Vladimir Pushkin' - not a million miles from one Vladimir Putin!! Are the American Producers here trying to covertly tell the Russian audience something??

-Steve, at Odeon Online-