When the TV series The Equalizer started in 1985, as popular as it was, I don’t think anyone thought the franchise would still be going strong on the small and big screens nearly 40 years later. As Queen Latifah continues to excel in the role of Robyn McCall on TV, seven years after he last appeared as Robert McCall, Denzel Washington returns to the part.
Having eliminated a mafia boss in Sicily, he is now recuperating from the wounds he suffered in that mission in a small Italian town. Just as he starts to bond with the locals and feel at home, he learns that the people there are being terrorised by another mafia family.
Antoine Fuqua also returns to the directors chair for the third time, and it is a treat to see him at the top of his game in delivering some superb scenes of McCall taking out a series of bad guys. Washington seems to be enjoying himself, and, even though he is bowing out of the role, there is scope for the series to continue in another form as Dakota Fanning is excellent as a CIA agent that McCall works with.
The view of Italy and the Italians may be a little stereotypical but this is one of the most fun movies of the summer.
Rating: 7 out of 10