Review by C.J. Bunce
In short, The Equalizer 3 is The Magnificent One. Or, revenge is a dish best served by Denzel Washington.
It should be no surprise that The Equalizer 3–streaming at last for 2024 on Netflix–is even better than the first two entries in the movie reboot of the hit 1980s TV series that starred Edward Woodward. And yet those first two installments rate as two of the best superhero movies ever made. So what’s the secret? Antoine Fuqua in the director’s chair behind the camera, and Denzel Washington out front in what amounts to the best James Bond movie since Casino Royale. Make no mistake, the bar now has been set high for 2024 movie releases.
With Marvel Studios releasing five superhero movies this year, the question for the genre this year will be if any of them will have any chance against Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall as he uses his almost superhuman reflexes and strategic planning to single-handedly eliminate any threat–no matter how many opponents come against him.
Is Robert McCall a superhero? Of course. A character who gives of himself to save lives, repeatedly, using his unusual mental and physical abilities–that’s the definition of superhero. If The Punisher is a superhero, if Batman would be a superhero without the costume, then you have The Equalizer. We said it with the first feature film in 2014 and the second in 2019. We also predicted last spring when we saw the first trailer that the franchise had the potential to be the best action trilogy this century. Fuqua and Washington succeeded. They made McCall into The Saint, Ethan Hunt, James Bond, and The Shadow all rolled up into one. And the third installment is the best.
This time McCall is settled into another low-key life–he’s more like the guys in RED than the character Edward Woodward made popular in the 1980s TV series, who was hidden among the streets of New York City. This time Washington’s ex-spy hero fulfills his self-imposed brief, removing a threat delivered shown to the audience in a different manner than Fuqua used in the past movies. He taps the Italian culture for an operatic, artistic display.
But McCall is older now and he makes a mistake, which results in our hero left to convalesce in a small town near Naples. That’s when Fuqua and Washington return to a trope that helps define the Western genre to this day. Only seven years ago they made a remake of The Magnificent Seven together, the famous Western based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. If you ever wondered if any one of the seven could have carried the film by himself, you’ll know after watching The Equalizer 3. McCall as Washington plays him is The Magnificent One.
Fuqua’s artistry is in every frame, even as the first 40 minutes of the movie seem like we’re watching actor Denzel Washington on a nice vacation in Italy… drinking some cappuccino at a café, even if he really wants tea, and becoming one of the locals with each passing day. It’s like watching Rufus Sewell’s suave Brit living the Italian cop life in the series Zen. The mafia action and drama will make you feel like this is the real third installment of The Godfather movies.
This is one of those franchises that gets better with each entry. It’s been reported that Fuqua may be interested in another installment, maybe a prequel with a CGI de-aged Washington–but only if Washington is in, too.
As with the past two movies, the villains don’t stand out, and neither do most of the supporting cast playing good guys. It’s sort of a master element of film-making that Washington owns the scene in every scene, and everyone else fades to the back. The exception is Dakota Fanning, a government finance investigator he contacts with some information he learns along his latest journey. And if we were lucky enough to get a third sequel, we’d hope McCall’s café friend played by Gaia Scodellaro would return.
Fuqua and Washington could make a new installment with this formula every single year and it would be better than any other movie on the big or small screen. (Heck, Fuqua and Washington could make “Tea With Denzel” as a half-hour show of nothing but Washington sipping a cuppa at his Italian cafe, and we would all watch it.) Fuqua’s artistry and Washington’s style are unbeatable screen magic.
As McCall fights for the rights of the underdog against all levels of power and influence, you know you’re guaranteed a great payoff. Washington’s McCall easily leaves every other spy and action hero in his wake. If the Leverage TV series were made into a movie, this is what it would look like.
You just know a bad guy is going to hurt every time McCall syncs his watch. Robert McCall has a special subtlety that doesn’t require guns a’blazin’ or extraordinary, costly special effects. In many ways The Equalizer is updated 1980s Mickey Spillane/Mike Hammer crime novels, reconfigured by Fuqua as a noir vigilante for the 21st century. A third of the credit for the trilogy belongs to Richard Wenk, who returned to write the script for the film as he did for the prior installments in the series. He knows the genre, as can be seen in his writing for Mechanic, The Expendables 2, The Magnificent Seven, and the Jack Reacher sequel. And he really knows this character.
Keep an ear open for Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos (Mapplethorpe, Ray Donovan) incorporating sounds from Thomas Azier’s incredibly gritty John Cage-inspired tune “Love, Disorderly,” a masterful, scary action vehicle that accompanies McCall on his most deadly tasks. Don’t be surprised if the movie takes home Oscars this year for editing, sound, and sound editing. Maybe cinematography, too.
The bar for 2024 is set. It’s a mash-up of genres that will be difficult to surpass in 2024, and it would have fared at the top of all the releases of 2023 (we would have included it in our 2023 wrap-up but it wasn’t streaming on any major service in 2023).
Don’t miss The Equalizer 3. It’s streaming on Netflix as of January 1, 2024.
