Robert McCall was enjoying a quiet life with his past put behind him but that was about to change when things were happening to those he cared about around him. Especially seeing what happened to Teri when she did not obey the Russian gangsters she was involved with.
McCall enjoying his quiet life in Boston and working in a Home Mart hardware store, becomes friends with many of his co-workers and cares about them progressing and that everything is safe within their lives. He had promised his wife that he would leave his old life behind and he spends his evenings reading in a 24/7 diner. Working his way through a list of books that she was trying to read herself. When in the diner he meets Alina who is a teenage prostitute for the Russian Mafia.
When Alina is badly beaten and ends up in hospital Robert forgets all of his promises and decides to make things right for his young friend. This leads to our first action scene and it is a pretty impressive one in all honesty when they men think he is not a threat, Robert makes very quick work of killing them all. In very different ways as well I must add! This then leads to him beginning to make things right for those around him, don't rip people off even if you are in the police department that is not going to make a difference to McCall.
I thought the film moved a very good pace and once the action started it wasn't long before Robert was making things right for another person. The character was likeable enough due to the nature of trying to help those around him who ended up in pretty bad situations, I think this shows how easy it is to end up at the bottom. Needing someone to help out and that is where 'The Equalizer' steps in to really help out.
Denzel Washington really is an outstanding actor and I think his performance in this film is something we really have grown to expect from him. He really is truly outstanding at leading and driving a film forward. The different emotions he manages to show and even lack of emotion at times is something that really does make this film on another level compared to other action films.
I am not really sure how but I missed seeing this film on its cinema release a few years ago and then never actually got round to catching up with it now. Luckily I have now managed that with the release of the second film and the only sequel Denzel Washington has ever done, so I will have to make more of an effort to see that one at the cinema.