The Equalizer

Slower but all the more focused, subtly escalating and with a perfect performance by the main villain. Washington is approaching the position of an A-list Seagal and soon we’ll see a halo lighting up over his head. I was delighted with the character balance between him and Csokas, the dialogue, Bill Pullman’s small role, more blood than we are used to in Washington movies, and the closing music by Moby. Fuqua is back! (10/14/2014)

Denzel and dangerous DIY techniques, or also the prequel to Man on Fire, whose only fault is that Fuqua is not Scott. Thus, the slow building of the plot is rather annoyingly long (out of 135 minutes, about 20 minutes are horrendous) and the length of the slow-motion sequences is long beyond absurd. 3 ½. (12/14/2014)

The Equalizer with Denzel Washington could be pretty much compared to Shooter with Mark Wahlberg, which was also shot by Fuqua, years ago. As far as the action goes, the scenes are very well-done, but the movie has a couple of mediocre, uninteresting and useless moments; it could’ve been 30 minutes shorter and I wouldn’t mind at all. (06/15/2015)

The Punisher: Hornbach Edition. The better the first half is, which holds back, relies on the characters and has a nice old-school trace, the worse the second is, because it ruins everything. In the second half, Denzel is just an invincible chimera that takes himself too seriously and that makes him an uninteresting character. Literally, the nail in the coffin is footage when, instead of uncompromising gradation, it fades away because of so many endings that even the Return of the King would get up and go home. (05/29/2018)

A commercial for essential DIY tools in a well-fitting outfit by Antoine Fuqua. Denzel is cool again, even though he’s getting on for sixty, he’s still got it. Csokas is unusually precise and makes a respectable rival. The way the atmosphere is painted is textbook standard. The darkness is added to by the endeavor to punish the world. The intro is a little slow, but the ending good and bloody. And tracking down anything imaginable is super. Now, off to Walmart to buy yourself a hammer, a saw or a rivet gun. (12/20/2014)

A breathtaking stylish piece, with image and individual details playing the main role, the story is unimportant. There are so damn few films like this and yet they are so great to watch. (10/17/2014)

Sorry, but no way. A drawn-out borefest about nothing, everything is horribly wannabe badass (the main character in particular), and the script is on the level the latest Steven Seagal films. And yet so much praise? (12/25/2014)

Well... no. I can appreciate an action flick with higher formal ambitions from time to time, but I also demand that its contents not strongly irritate me, which here unfortunately wasn’t the case. Equalizer looks good, the performances are fine and the sound design is great, but I found it boring and irritating most of the time. Is it exaggerated? Of course, but it doesn’t matter. Is it narratively dumb and disjointed? Yes, unfortunately very much so. And yet it looks so, so good :/ 60% (02/22/2015)

A brilliantly executed action movie where Fuqua's skill in directing scenes excellently shines, and at the same time, Denzel's ability to carry the whole film is outstanding. He is exactly the kind of hero you want to root for. What really bothered me was the disappearance of Chloë Grace Moretz from the scene for over an hour. And it's not just because I am very fond of that girl, but also because it harmed the story. (12/15/2014)

A hardcore Robin Hood for the 21st century, who manages to use his deep knowledge of the hobby market to the hilt in his battle with the biggest scumbag. It's not that The Equalizer isn't entertaining or bloody enough, it's more that at times it oozes with overblown and primitively cheesy action "for effect". The level of emotional heroism here is really over the top, and much more than an action thriller it feels at times like a slightly failed comic book adaptation. A weaker 3 stars. (11/14/2019)