The reviews are out for Antonie Fuqua’s “The Equalizer 3,” the project marking Denzel Washington’s final outing as Robert McCall.
I’m currently away from home, but managed to catch “The Equalizer 3” last night. Honestly speaking, this is one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year. I wasn’t that big a fan of the first two installments, but the mediocrity in this one is off the charts.
In the new film, McCall is now living in Southern Italy where he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. McCall knows what he has to do as he takes on the mafia. The obvious shenanigans ensue, lots of kills mixed in with Fuqua’s blandly derivative direction.
“The Equalizer 3” is another film, in the same vein as “Taken” and “John Wick,” where our hero is indestructible, on a wreaking path of vengeance that plays out exactly as we expect it to. At least this one’s just 109 minutes. The first ‘Equalizer’ was a whopping 132 minutes and the second 121 minutes.
So far, critics seem to be in agreement with my assessment, the film has a 53% on RT and 59 on Metacritic. Most believe that Washington’s performance is strong — it’s not— but little else gets highlighted
Washington is a legendary actor and I’m glad he’s going to stop making these ‘Equalizer’ movies — he’s made three of them in the last nine years. I’d rather he continue making smart adult dramas like “Fences,” “Roman J. Israel” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” no matter how flawed those films might have been.
“The Equalizer 3” is set to open exclusively in theaters this coming Friday, September 1st.