The Equalizer 3, 2023.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Starring Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Gaia Scodellaro, David Denman, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Remo Girone, Sonia Ammar, Daniele Perrone, Andrea Scarduzio, Andrea Dodero, Zakaria Hamza, Manuela Tasciotti, Dea Lanzaro, Alessandro Pess, Bruno Bilotta, and Giovanni Scotti.
SYNOPSIS:
Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, The Equalizer 3 wouldn’t exist.
The latest entry in Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer trilogy, simply titled The Equalizer 3, opens with shockingly gratuitous violence that would be fine if grounded in meaningful context. Take the climax of the original film (the high point of this series, which has been freefalling ever since), which saw Denzel Washington’s former DIA agent turned vigilante Robert McCall slipping into a dark place mentally, essentially becoming a bogeyman, picking up any weapon he could find in a pitch black hardware store, stalking and stealthily murdering a band of criminals (set to the hauntingly appropriate song Vengeance by Zack Hemsey.) It still stands as one of the best action sequences from that decade: a thrilling, disturbing, yet sickly entertaining stretch of killing with someone embracing their darkest side and accepting the sacrifices they need to make to ensure the freedom of others (in that case, it was Chloe Grace Moretz playing a young girl forced into sex work.)
Antoine Fuqua (once again directing from a screenplay by Richard Wenk and based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim) continues to demonstrate that he took away none of the correct lessons while crafting such a memorable, purposeful display of grotesque bloodshed. Here, the filmmakers drop viewers into Sicily, where Robert McCall is storming through a vineyard used for drug trafficking, nastily disposing of evil men left and right, with the only goal being to one-up the gore levels for each kill. Without a point or buildup to such extreme violence, it all feels pointless and edgy for the sake of edginess.
Robert McCall sustains a life-threatening wound that a trusting doctor nurses back to health (Remo Girone), who believes he is saving a good man, even as the skilled assassin is unsure how to answer that question. Nevertheless, Robert is saddled with a cane. He begins taking in the sights of Italy, befriending the citizens, and finding beauty in the culture and landmarks that encourage him to consider calling this place his new home. That also means dealing with the drug problem by figuring out who pulls the strings and what they hope to gain from filling the streets with drugs.
Much of The Equalizer 3 is spent watching Robert McCall slowly walk around Italy with tour guide pacing, burdened with thoughts regarding his past, mortality, and morality. Such an approach might have worked if the film didn’t quickly transition into more violence stemming from a rivalry with some relatively generic and predictable villains; there is a mystery element here for only the characters, which is rather dull to watch as a viewer.
There are other significant players here, namely a newish CIA employee working a desk job whom Robert McCall contacts to relay information regarding his illegal discoveries. That worker also happens to be played by Dakota Fanning, initiating a Man on Fire reunion (Denzel Washington’s character found himself willing to protect and rescue the young child at any cost in one of the more underappreciated, electrifying action romps headlined by the veteran star), which one can only assume was intentionally concocted because someone realized there wasn’t much interesting going on here.
Adding more proof to that theory is the unshakable sensation that much material from The Equalizer 3 has been cut, whether it be more of a friendship Robert McCall strikes up with an older woman, his rising affection for Italy and its people, or the set up to the narrative (it feels like we are dropped into this movie at the end of the first act, with no explanation coming for exactly why Robert McCall is in Italy in the first place until the closing moments.) There are also numerous fades to blacks following short, meaningless scenes, drawing further attention to what has to be one of the worst-edited mainstream blockbusters in recent memory.
For those hoping they can at least count on another riveting and blood-soaked energetic conclusion, even that aspect is a letdown here. There is nothing wrong with portraying Robert McCall as a murderous slasher once he knows that he has to take out these enemies (there are even musical notes that might as well be ripped from a Halloween movie). However, none of these kills are clever or exciting (although Robert Richardson strikingly shoots a nighttime encounter). The whole finale falls flat.
Thankfully, Denzel Washington imbues the troubled killer with grace, charm, and compassion when he is not breaking bones and slashing throats, and the Italian architecture sure is lovely. Still, The Equalizer 3 is a near-lifeless chapter in this series that will only be remembered for how one of our greatest living actors can elevate tedious material through his reliable acting craft and magnetic presence.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
