2023 - THE EQUALIZER 3, probably the final film in the series

Denzel Washington is back as Robert McCall, The Equalizer in the third and hopefully final film in the series.  It's hard to believe anyone had any interest in this film. The first Equalizer was competently made and a decent action film but I never thought this series was setting the film world on fire.

This time McCall is in Italy righting the wrongs of the innocent.  For McCall this involves killing a lot of people.  He lets his guard down after one mission and ends up with a bullet in his back.  He's nursed back to health by a doctor and gets involved in the lives of a seaside town in Italy called Altamonte.  Anyway the town is loaded with lots of Mafia guys who are using it as a gateway to run illegal drugs etc.

 

As usual the audience can expect the typical Equalizer bloodbath as McCall runs around shooting lots of Mafia guys to save the day.  Denzel Washington is a very charismatic actor but at age sixty nine he looks tired and worn out and really appears to be dragging himself through the hit man motions.  I suppose the chief if only interest in this film is the appearance of twenty nine year old Dakota Fanning who last appeared with Denzel in Man on Fire back in 2004 when she was ten years old.  She plays the clueless CIA agent in this film who Denzel has to save yet again twenty years later.

 

The Equalizer 3 is nothing new, I've seen this plot line probably over 100 times.  Clearly Denzel and the the director Antoine Fuqua like working with each other.  This is probably the fifth film they have made together.  I just wish they would aim a little higher than spewing out another film version of Death Wish.

The film was written by Richard Wenk who seems to specialize in these old guy action films.  The running time is 109 minutes.