The Equalizer

Denzel Washington first worked with director Antoine Fuqua in Training Day (2001).  In a nasty thriller, Washington exuded an unsettling charisma as the corrupt narcotics officer, Alonzo Harris. The greater his character's psychopathy, the harder the actor made it for us to become alienated by Harris. By playing a villain so well, Washington won an Oscar.

The Equalizer was originally a television series in the 1980s. Fuqua's The Equalizer (2014) reunites director and star, in a crime film that's also fluent in nasty violence.

II.

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is doing his best to lead a quiet life.  During the day, he works at a Boston hardware store. After work, he is solitary, and frequents a late-night diner. There, he gets to know a teenage prostitute, Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz).

Walking Alina home one night, McCall has a run-in with her pimp, Slavi (David Meunier). The sequence concludes with a pointed clue to the kind of skills <1> that McCall might possess. Fuqua tracks Washington as he turns half-circle on the sidewalk, following Slavi's car with his eyes, as the pimp speeds away with Alina. Those eyes project a cold ferocity.  It is especially striking as just moments before with Alina, Washington had been playing McCall so relaxed and genial.

III.

McCall's mysterious past has given him the abilities of a fearsome assassin.  His late wife had made him promise, however, to live peacefully, without resorting to violence and killing. <2>  In a gritty and compelling performance, Denzel Washington shows us why and how Robert McCall breaks that promise.
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<1>Compare Bryan Mills's (Liam Neeson) "particular set of skills" in Taken (2008).
<2>Compare William Munny's (Clint Eastwood) attempt to lead a peaceful life as a pig farmer in Unforgiven (1992).