Disclaimer: I walked out of The Equalizer about an hour in.
The reason? I found it too unpleasant, on multiple levels, and couldn't stomach
it. Sorry if that makes me unprofessional, although I'm 99% sure I could guess
where it was going. The plot concerns a man with a past (Denzel Washington) who
feels compelled to defend the honour of a good-natured prostitute when she is beaten
by Russian gangsters. He then takes up the mantle of a warrior of justice and
sets out to right the wrongs of his city. Sounds familiar? It's Batman with all
the personality and fun taken out of it, Robin Hood without the camp tights.
And it's incredibly violent. The execution of a gang of Russians is shot in the
style of a music video, so we see a close-up of a corkscrew entering a man's
jaw, a shot glass being jammed into another man's eye. Is this entertainment? Washington
murmurs a “sorry” after the bloodshed, as if that can make up for the glamorisation
of his violence. And the point where I gave up was a scene where a prostitute was
strangled by the villain with an unironic tattoo of the devil on his back. THE
DEVIL. ON HIS BACK. BECAUSE HE'S THE BAD GUY. DO YOU GET IT?
Seriously, I know that violence is an inseparable element of
cinema, and in the right circumstances it can be good fun. Tarantino's made a
career out of it, and when watching this I was longing for the arrival of
another Taken, which had the good sense not to take itself too seriously. But The
Equalizer comes nowhere close, its gratuitous violence made all the more
offensive by its pretentions to being something meaningful. Not even Washington
can save it. Again, I walked out after an hour, so perhaps I haven't judged the
film fairly, but even if the last half an hour contained an extravagant finale
complete with explosions, car chases, dance routines et al I'd still ask for my
money back.
★
