With all-things CIA and espionage hidden on the underbelly of “The Equalizer” franchise’s Robert McCall, part of the charm of the series opener was its simplicity. McCall, spending his evenings in a Boston diner, drinking tea and reminiscing about his late wife, made him approachable and instantly lovable. And when he jumps in to defend a sex worker from the Russian mob, the film follows a slow arch that, despite its leaps into flat-out action, is relatively believable. The lever that made it work was McCall was forced into this situation—he didn’t seek it. “The Equalizer 2” kind of strays from that idea; and in “The Equalizer 3,” released last September, director Antoine Fuqua (who directed Denzel to an Oscar in “Training Day”), seems to want to remedy that approach. But it’s a film that hinges more on action than heart, and it shows.
Sun-baked Italy is the backdrop for this film (first, Palermo, and later the small town of Altamonte). And in a departure from the slow-burn of “The Equalizer,” we see McCall in action right away. Denzel Washington—now 69—reprises the role. And even as he reaches 70, he doesn’t miss a step in the film’s action sequences. The opening is filmed via a series of cut-scenes as McCall takes out some criminals, telling the leader that he “stole something from someone,” and he’s here to take it back. That the criminals are terrorists in league with Middle Eastern bad actors matters not to McCall. He’s here to help a friend—likely one that doesn’t even know he’s repaying the favor.
A little too fast-paced for its own good
The problem with the film’s opening is that it’s too fast and furious; it wants to insert us headfirst into the action—into McCall’s macabre variety of killing and split-second timing—without setting the stage. He arrives in the quaint village of Altamonte after. However, I feel the film would have done better service to McCall’s character by having him vacation in Italy, and discovering its peace, rather than already being there status post some violent act.
But I’m digressing. Fuqua wants to highlight the quaintness of Altamonte and the serenity of its denizens, and he succeeds well. A village doctor McCall meets (Remo Girone) and a friend (Gina Scodellaro) help set the scene. Fuqua sets the same tone that Anton Corbijn’s excellent “The American” did well in laying bare the majesty of Italy. McCall blends in well, appreciating the finer things (a glass of wine, local fare, a good meal, etc.) while dropping covert intel to a CIA operative (Dakota Fanning, reuniting with Denzel many years after the revenge-thriller “Man on Fire”).
What McCall needs to equalize this time are hostilities by the Italian mafia towards the villagers of Altamonte. And here we see the true mafia, not the covetous versions in the cinema of Martin Scorsese, but the irreverent horror from the opening to Coppola’s “The Godfather.” The mafia are a disease; and here, Fuqua shows them terrorizing the locals. In the film’s most despairing scene, vicious Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio) hangs a man in a wheelchair and drops him out a window when he won’t sign away his property to make way for shops and casinos. “Because of these people, I’m beginning to understand peace. You don’t get to take that away from me,” McCall calmly tells Vincent. At this point, McCall has already killed someone dear to Vincent, in a scene that’s both a shameless plug for the watch brand Bvlgari, and a hysterical set up (“is that a Timex?”).
But make no mistake—Denzel’s still got it
“The Equalizer 3’s” strengths lie in it cinematography and intent—namely to show a bad man who intends to do good. Cinematographer Robert Richardson shoots most of the delicacies of Italy in sunny daylight, and most of the Mafia harassments and McCall revenge in darkness. The film also slows to a steady crawl once we get past the massacre that opened the film on a farm in Palermo. This is a good thing; it’s the charm that made the aforementioned “The American” great, and also what made “The Equalizer” feel authentic. A shop owner being strong-armed by the Mafia refused to let McCall pay because he’s the doctor’s friend. It’s not hard to understand why McCall wants to protect these people.
However, in that stillness and quiet also lies the film’s criticisms. Inserting Fanning into the proceedings and bringing full frontal the CIA on missions—juxtaposed with McCall’s actions—make the film feel overstuffed. McCall boasts his Black Ops knowledge, where in the series opener he did everything to protect it. It makes for an odd match, and it’s clear the film’s trio of writers (Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan, and Richard Lindheim) want “The Equalizer 3” to feel more like an opp and less like passioned do-gooding. Maybe it’s hard to follow up on a good idea (the three wrote the previous films as well). But without McCall brining out the best in people like before, the film’s inevitable ending, bringing him straight-up against the Mafia like an immovable force, seems a forgone conclusion rather than something we can sit up and get nervous about.
Forgetting who Robert McCall is?
All-in-all, “The Equalizer 3” is not bad. It gets confused along the way of what it wants to be—an all-out butt kicking or a protective drama—but still has redeeming moments. Denzel shows he can still hold his own on the action ground, and the film introduces townsfolk we really like. But it’s ending feels rushed. And seeing as this is the closer to the trilogy, it leaves McCall shortchanged in the development department. Violent kills bookend a portrait of idyllic life. I only wish the film had given McCall a proper sendoff and drive. Wiping out the Mafia is a joy to watch. But looking back, saving a beaten girl in the film’s opener seemed more like the real Robert McCall that the subsequent films tried so hard to capitalize on.
“The Equalizer 3” is currently available to watch on most streaming platforms.
