The Equalizer 3 is without a doubt a surprising sequel in the sense that aside from a small number of passionate fans of the franchise no one else would have expected another movie from it. Denzel Washington reprises his role as Robert McCall or simply “Roberto” in this movie working alongside director Antonie Fuqua. McCall struggles with living a peaceful life in his retirement after a life of violence and finds himself in secluded region of Altamonte. Eventually, McCall is put in a position where he has to resort to his violent act as a vigilante to protect his newfound peace and friends.
Setting up the story with mystery on how McCall finds himself in Italy, the movie progresses with introducing unmemorable villains that coincidentally find themselves facing up against the vigilante by virtue of being in the same location McCall decided to recover and enjoy his peace ultimately led towards a low stake threat and disappointing payoff. The overarching storyline is connected through low effort writing and resolved by having McCall perform deeds of violence against the antagonists really demands the audience to suspend their disbelief to enjoy the movie.
Guilty of confusing violence as action, The Equalizer 3 provides the bare minimum action for an action film with more than half of it being either camera panning out of view or the aftermath of the actions performed by McCall and leaving it to the audience’s imagination on the might of the vigilante. It is perfectly understandable that Denzel Washington is no longer at the age where he could perform action sequences at his best yet that does not reflect towards McCall who is still lethal and single handedly dismantled his adversary with ease leading towards action scenes that provide only results and not the process.
Reuniting for the first time after nineteen years in Man of Fire, Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning appear in the big screen together once again. McCall’s chemistry with Collins(Dakota Fanning) is the strongest out of all the characters introduced in the movie, reminiscent of their previous project together despite almost two decades having passed.
The movie marks the end of Washington as McCall with both the actor and director ruling out the possibility of a sequel which The Equalizer 3 serves as an appropriate send off for the run despite its shortcomings. This does not necessarily mean the end of The Equalizer as a franchise with director Fuqua entertaining the possibilities of prequel or even a spin-off by de-aging Washington giving fans of the actor his run as McCall something to hope for.
