Review of The Equalizer (2014) by Josh L — 08 Feb 2015

Denzel Washington gives a typically strong performance (when does he not?), but the Equalizer is of the same quality as many other Denzel led thrillers: without him it would not be worthwhile, with him it's watchable, but nothing special.

It lacks a spark to take it to the next level and is too serious to be all out fun like less serious action films. The story is a little muddled and never goes into great detail about the main character's past, making it hard to get invested fully.

Add in weak motivation and it is not as satisfying as it could be. It really is a one man show as Denzel takes up most of the screen time, so not getting invested fully hurts the film (Chloe Grace Moretz is only in the beginning and end).

Equalizer is also incredibly slow paced in the middle, taking probably more time than needed to get things going. It might sound like I hated this, but that is not the case. It is a decent thriller and Denzel is one of my favorite actors for a reason, but it could have been much better.