THE EQUALIZER 3 - Mark Reviews Movies

The Equalizer 3, Sony Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 1, 2023

Presumably the final entry of screenwriter Richard Wenk and director Antoine Fuqua's series, The Equalizer 3 mainly serves as a testament to the continuing star power of Denzel Washington. It's not as if any further evidence is required for the actor's talent and appeal, but it's on full display here, albeit almost by accident.

It's not as if there are any new angles to or details about Washington's Robert McCall, the former intelligence asset who found post-career purpose in taking up vigilantism, in this third installment. He's still a loner, looking for some peace and meaning in his life, finding it by helping acquaintances or complete strangers who are wronged in some way. The help often takes the form of violence, as we're reminded—as if any additional evidence of that, too, is necessary after two of these movies—in an opening scene.

It follows Robert's newest target, a vineyard owner and something more nefarious in Sicily, as he returns home to discover body after body—shot, burned, stabbed, and/or mutilated—of his various henchmen around every corner. Robert kills the last of those goons and the main bad guy after the extended tour of carnage, before he's shot by an unlikely final foe and ends up recuperating in a small coastal village under the care of a kindly doctor named Enzo (Remo Girone).

That's the setup for this entry, which does eventually and with more than a bit of contrivance result in a lot more vengeful violence on Robert's part. The plot involves a couple of gangster brothers—one, named Marco (Andrea Dodero), who's a low-rent thug extorting protection money from local businesses and the other, named Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio), who has his eye on turning the entire coast line into a tourist destination littered with a bunch of hotels he'll own.

Oh, there's also a terrorist operation out of Syria, transporting narcotics by way of the now-dead vineyard owner from the opening. Robert's involvement brings the financial branch of the CIA and agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) to the region, looking into the bloody mess Robert left behind and discovering, with his help, something much worse. The only thing that can be positively said about the convoluted thing is that Wenk doesn't really bother with it until the third act.

That's where Washington's movie-stardom really matters. Most of the story amounts to Robert hanging out in the village, spending time at its various cafés and restaurants, getting to know the locals, and finally feeling as if he is "where he's supposed to be." Not many actors can make such intentionally aimless material possess much weight. Fewer, perhaps, can pull off the trick Washington does here.

Here, he plays a man who has murdered many people and continues to viciously kill a lot more people—all of them bad, of course—in especially brutal ways. There are scenes here, when Robert finally does go into action, in which Fuqua shoots Robert as if he's the mysterious antagonist in a horror movie, too. The camera stays lows, watching his feet as bodies drop or bleed out on the ground, or discovers him suddenly appearing in frame after moving around some obstruction.

The violence he enacts is bloody and ruthless, and there's a moment of demented humor when someone touches the shoulder of one body, only for its head to tumble to the ground. Think about that for a moment. Robert not only decapitated this henchman, but he also propped the head on the corpse's neck, just so that it could come off again if someone happened to move the body even just a bit. That's the work of a sociopath, that.

In this case, though, the guy is played by Washington, so instead of being horrified and frightened of this man's way of thinking and the ease with which he can and does kill, the response is entirely the opposite. We know Robert has been through a lot, means well, and feels compelled to help people, even if that means crushing someone with a runaway van, impaling someone else through the neck, stabbing one villain and staring as the life drains from his eyes, and following another on a long walk toward death.

We have seen this character perform similar acts, know it's coming here, and watch it unfold yet again. Because Washington plays the role with such effortless charm and thoughtfulness and gallows humor, though, the main concern is whether or not this guy is finally going to be able to relax with a nice cup of tea at his new favorite spot in town. That's the dominion of a genuine movie star, right there.

The Equalizer 3 itself, unfortunately, doesn't come close to matching the impact of Washington's presence. To be fair, it is a step up from the previous installment, possesses an oddly relaxed rhythm that shatters the expectations of a seemingly final entry, and occasionally achieves some twisted catharsis when Robert works to put a stop to the villains trying to ruin his peace and quiet. Eventually, the movie just goes through the routine motions of the previous movies and countless others.

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