Following the events of the second movie, Denzel Washington is back as Robert McCall and better than ever. The start of the film brings us to Italy where it brings The Equalizer abroad for the first time within the series.
McCall is back protecting people from malicious gangs of criminals. In this case, he is fighting back against the Italian mafia. But they begin to suspect McCall more and more with McCall being in the areas where they handle their dirty work and where people within their ranks begin disappearing.
McCall’s slow and steady style is crucial to the film following the events of the second movie. For example, how he plans his attack making sure to leave no room for error when hunting down his aggressors and executing them.
The viewers can definitely see that McCall has learned from his mistakes and gotten even better; however, age is catching up with him and he knows this.
Despite all this, McCall still finds a way to execute his kills and plans with refined precision. An example of this is when McCall has a flashback when standing outside of the fish shop remembering how he cleared out the Cartel’s Mansion and killed the head of the house.
Later on McCall faces his first threat: the Mafia leader’s brother Marco Quaranta, who has the arrogance to push people around and threaten anyone he feels like until he gets his way.
Fate has it that Marco and his bodyguards meet McCall in a restaurant with the intention to terrorize the local policeman Gio Bonucci and his family. But McCall owed Bonucci, who had saved him from near death. McCall twisted his arm and applied pressure to his hand and telling him not to bother the family any longer, forcing him out the restaurant and setting up a bloody showdown with Marco.
Despite the bloodshed in the movie, there are some peaceful moments in the movie. It also offers smooth transitions from conflict to peace with great balance between the two. The relationships in the film are very romantic with a small but good amount of humor squeezed in with some jokes being made.
The movie was overall good with no flaws, and the director very nicely merges some elements of the second movie into the third such as how McCall got to Italy and providing flashbacks that remind viewers what happened leading up the events we see now, giving more understanding of the backstory as the film progresses.
The film reunites Washington with Dakota Fanning, who played a kidnap victim as a child in Man on Fire. Fanning plays an agent, who helps McCall and happens to be the daughter of his former co-worker Susan Plummer, who was brutally murdered in The Equalizer 2.
The overall story doesn’t make much sense unless you go back and really immerse yourself into the lore of the story and why McCall is the way he is and why he walks the path he chose.
McCall was a man who worked for the (CIA) and as we know he faked his death to put his past behind him and start a new life with his wife, however that is short lived as he comes across a young girl who needs help to be free from a Russian gang.
Transferring us to the second movie where we find out Mccall’s old friend’s, Dave and the rest, are laying low until McCall’s friend is killed and they go after a young teen boy close to McCall and kidnapped him to bring out McCall, forcing him to play by their rules and starting a 4 on 1 fight between McCall and his old friends.
