Weekend Watch: The Equalizer 3

Rough justice

Image Credit: Sony Pictures

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Denzel Washington is back dishing out righteous vengeance. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite

Third movies in trilogies can be a dicey prospect. Filmmakers are caught between serving up more of what audiences enjoyed in the first two while making this new entry different enough to avoid the dreaded whiff of franchise fatigue. For Antoine Fuqua and The Equalizer 3, the movie manages to largely avoid the latter while offering enough of the former to make the formula work.

And make no mistake, for all the tweaks and a location shift this time, the third Equalizer keeps to the formula established by its predecessors. Denzel Washington is back as Robert McCall, a former Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) intelligence officer. He’s done some bad things in the service of his country, and since faking his death to forge a new life, he’s found that his particular set of skills come in handy when it comes to righting wrongs and helping the innocent. To borrow a phrase from a certain behemoth movie franchise’s Natasha Romanoff, he’s got red in his ledger and would like to clear it.

For this latest outing, we catch up with McCall in Southern Italy, recuperating in a small seaside town after his latest gig left him (unusually) with a bullet wound. He finds some new friends in the town that make him feel welcome, but they’re all being threatened by the Camorra, the Italian organized crime outfit whose local boss also happens to have big plans for the place. Specifically, Vincent Quaranta (Andrea Scarduzio) wants to build resorts and casinos and is intent on pushing everyone out (when he’s not having his lackeys threaten them). Doing the lion’s share of the dirty work is his younger brother Marco (Andrea Dodero) a thuggish sort who delights in causing pain and suffering.

Naturally, neither brother is quite prepared for the fallout when they put McCall’s new neighbours and friends in danger, but it turns out that there are also bigger figures in play. McCall’s actions in Italy put him on the radar (though mostly because he calls it in himself) of the CIA, with young officer Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) dispatched to find out what’s going on.

Fuqua largely offers up the basic menu of Equalizer fare –– Denzel does what he does best, giving quiet speeches before taking down baddies in the most brutal fashion possible while acting like everyone’s easygoing best pal. It works to keep the story bubbling until McCall is let loose again and the Italian setting does make for both a picturesque and more exciting locale. Of course, it falls into some of the predictable tropes of the genre with cute kids and winsome women in danger, but what’s an Equalizer without some civilian crises?

The movie really comes to life in the moments where Fanning and Washington share the screen –– their chemistry clear since they both appeared in Man On Fire way back in 2003. Fanning was nine when that movie was shot, and they’ve stayed friends ever since, the close connection clear through their performances. Their brief scenes are highlights of the film.

It sounds disingenuous to say that Equalizer fans will appreciate more of the same, but the film is well worth watching, even if you’re not a die-hard fan of Denzel and his violent McCalling cards.

The Equalizer 3 is in UK and US cinemas now.