The Equalizer 3 - Senza tregua

Seems every four or five years Denzel Washington makes an 'Equalizer' movie, starring as Robert McCall. I just re-read my review of the first one, McCall as a character doesn't change much, just the situations he finds himself in, and the techniques he uses to eliminate the bad guys.

In real life Washington has been vacationing to Italy for over 30 years so that setting was a natural for this movie. McCall considers himself 'retired' and he finds the community of Altamonte and its towns folk to his liking. He is thinking this may just be the place to settle down.

Breaking the peace are an Italian mafia family, dealing in drugs, and ruthlessly brutal to any that cross them. McCall witnesses some of them brutally mistreating some of the innocent merchants, this bothers him terribly, he formulates a plan to set things right. Part of his plan involves getting Dakota Fanning as CIA agent Emma Collins on the path of the crime family.

This movie is not high art, it uses pretty standard 'good guy vs bad guy' tropes. One reviewer even says it is 'The Magnificent Seven Minus Six', and that is a pretty good comparison. But it is entertaining, and that is the only point of a movie like this. I think most of us find it easy to cheer an 'equalizer' putting the really bad guys in their place.

At home on DVD from my public library.

This is a decent and satisfying end to a trilogy. Remember the good ol' days, back in the day, when movies stopped at 3? No Fast X, Saw X, Indiana Jones cracking a whip at 85.

Things feel more complete at three.

The way things should be.

A beginning, a middle and an end.

And not some old man doing ridiculous things way beyond his age or physical capability.

Denzel is one of the greats.

And he deserves credit for never taking a role too far.

He's as much a presence on the screen here as he ever has been.

His age and wisdom is his real strength.

Oh, there will be punches thrown. Bones broken and many cries of agony.

But at least it comes from the villains on screen and not those in the audience.

Coastal Italy is gorgeous.

Denzel is a living legend.

You've seen the other two films in this series.

Wrap it up nicely with this installment.

Ciao.

The Equalizer 3 is the last chapter of the Equalizer franchise, and is directed by Antoine Foqua, and stars, of course, Denzel Washington as Robert McCall, and Dakota Fanning as a CIA officer.

As an action movie fan, I really enjoyed the Equalizer movies, still being aware that we are not talking about masterpieces. They are fun and enjoyable vigilante movies where Denzel Washington is freaking cool and badass as he takes down, alone, large and structured criminal organizations. Without the value he brings into these movies, I don't know if they would be even worth watching. The Equalizer 3 fits perfectly into this path, with some slight changes.

The first thing to say is that this movie is very very gory and brutal, much more compared to the first two movies. Clearly it was decided to go one level up, so one needs to be prepared. The movie looks very dark, the Italian Mafia gives sort of modernized Godfather vibes, and most importantly, is beautifully shot. All of that can be appreciated since the very beginning of the movie, where fantastic camera work is done as the viewer follows a man entering a building full of dead people, brutally murdered. This very intense initial scene really sets the tone of the movie, to which the music score also fits really well.

The movie is located in a tiny Italian village, whose people are constantly threatened by the mafia, where "business" brought McCall (Denzel), too. This is the third big action movie to be shot in Italy (after Indy 5 and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning) to come out in theaters in 2023, at least that I know of. Whether or not this decision is based on financial benefits of some sort, it provided The Equalizer 3 with beautiful and picturesque scenery.

As an Italian and fan of Denzel Washington, it was really entertaining to watch Denzel Washington sitting at the cafe, talking broken Italian, making friends, getting familiar with the people and the quiet atmosphere of the town. I found the representation of the town and of the people authentic, very well done, and not too stereotypical. The Italian language is real Italian spoken by Italian actors, the accents are real, the film is shot in different Italian towns on the Amalfi coast, and so on. One can see the great attention to detail and care that was put into the making of this movie, which I mentioned above about the directing. I did have a "what?!" moment, though, that I could not wrap my head around: Aminah (Gaia Scodellaro) takes McCall on a tour of the village, by telling him that she'll help him discover the authentic food specialties of the town. As they go on a stroll and talk, they pass by some food stands, and Aminah shows McCall different authentic Italian dishes. Then, however, she invites him to grab a Kebab (great, but not Italian at all!), which he does! Seriously, what happened there? There was all that nice fish and stuff, too-why a Kebab??

I have read a lot of criticism about the action in this movie, especially about it being too little. The problem that I see with the action is with the fact that McCall is never really challenged by any of his enemies rather than with the length of the action scenes. In other words, none of the villains or his men are even close to Robert McCall's level, so it seems quite easy for him to take them down in creatively brutal ways. This applies, unfortunately, also to the ending of the movie, which is, anyway, very very powerful. Also, the non-action parts build the tension between McCall and the villain, and they are not boring at all.

Another weak point of the movie, from my point of view, has to do with some of the supporting characters and their relationship to the hero (McCall). Dakota Fanning's character (CIA) could have been a very good helper in the fight against the mafia, but instead she ends up not doing so much at all... Along with that, one aspect of McCall being in this town is the attachments that the townspeople form with him, but we actually don't have much evidence of this beyond him eating in a cafe once in a while. We do see McCall having an emotional response when they are threatened, we do see him getting comfortable in the town, but while a deeper layer to that is mentioned, the viewer doesn't directly witness this: for example, when McCall says that the people of the town brought him peace, or that he understood that this is the place where he belongs. All these sentiments sound a bit out of place and don't match the level of interactions that we as viewers have witnessed. We expect some deeper character development to happen in the "kebab"/walks scene, but the dialogue between McCall and Aminah doesn't actually build to anything relevant.

Overall, a very good and extremely brutal vigilante movie, with some weaknesses, very well shot, with a fantastic Denzel Washington doing very badass things. Worthwhile final chapter, 7 stars!

The Equalizer 3 is a solid concluding chapter to this entertaining trilogy. Even with an entirely new setting and cast, it does a great job of setting everything up and making you care about his new relationships. The movie overall is entertaining and mostly satisfying.

As usual, Denzel is a beast. Charm and charisma are off the charts, this isn't news. Like with part 2, there are few looks he gives that chill me to the bone. It's so impressive the way he portrays being the nicest guy in one scene and the scariest guy in another.

The only thing holding this back from being great is the surprising lack of action. Now I wouldn't call either of the previous movies action-packed. But I would estimate this one has a total of about 7 minutes of action. That's just not enough. And it especially hurts during the not-so-climactic climax.

I still had a good time with this movie. If you like the series, I think you will be pleased. And to Hollywood: more Denzel please! (1 viewing, opening Friday UltraScreen 9/1/2023)

My expectations for this one were moderate, I enjoyed the first, I wasn't blown away by the second, this third and final movie is actually really good.

It's a pretty good storyline, with Robert of course central to events and fighting for justice. He takes on Italian gang bosses, and of course there are multiple fight and action sequences, but in this film, he felt mortal, in the second I felt they made him into some sort of superhero, you felt he was indestructible, I didn't get that here.

The action sequences are great, and it is very, very well produced, but the true winner here is The Italian scenery, it looks sublime, and arguably enhances the movie.

Washington, outstanding once again, he really does nail it. This film has prompted me to get a hold of the original Edward Woodward series, that's up next.

Entertaining.

7/10.