The Equalizer 3
SONY*This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.*
Denzel Washington reprises his role of Robert McCall for one last time in The Equalizer 3. This time, McCall takes down part of the mafia after a stint in Sicily causes him to arrive in Altamonte, where the mob controls the town. McCall was severely injured during that Sicily stint and is under the care of Dr. Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone), who tells him about Altamonte’s mob operation. Very early on, the movie adopts many Western tropes, following the plot of the lone gunslinger arriving at a relatively quiet town, only to learn of its disruption as he spends more time there.
The lone gunslinger here is McCall, ready to hang his figurative hat and gun. Still, the good people of Altamonte seemingly need a savior…or perhaps an Equalizer to bring the mafia to justice, as the police play in their hands and won’t do a thing to stop their operation. With the aid of CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), it's up to McCall to bring them down and make them pay for what they’ve done to the citizens of this town. And like the lone gunslinger, McCall isn’t a hero nor a villain but is on the right side of history and will help them in any way he knows how.
The first two Equalizer movies are severely underrated. Washington plays McCall with such emotional complexity that he carries much of the film’s sluggish pace. It’s hard to look away from Washington, even when he brutally (and creatively) sends someone to their doom. While The Equalizer 2 isn’t as strong as The Equalizer, it remains an entertaining actioner bolstered by Washington’s magnifying glare and highly creative action sequences.
Unfortunately, one can’t say the same for The Equalizer 3. While sparse action is somewhat enjoyable, the film can’t overcome a clichéd story with a brutally glacial pace and stereotypical villains. It’s even more unfortunate that this is the result because Washington and Fanning collaborate for the first time since Tony Scott’s masterful Man on Fire. The two have incredible chemistry together, probably because they’ve likely kept in touch since Man on Fire was released nineteen years ago. Fanning commands the screen as Collins, but it’s unfortunate how little time the audience spends with her. However, watching Fanning and Washington reunite on screen is the most cathartic aspect of The Equalizer 3. They’re a terrific pair, and their conversation on a patio is so good to watch.
Robert Richardson’s cinematography is a step above his last collaboration with Fuqua in Emancipation. In that film, he used muted colors as a visual way to convey the horrors of slavery. Still, it felt too artificial and unconvincing for the viewers to buy into what Richardson and Fuqua were conveying. The constant back-and-forth between “Is it fully black-and-white or teetering on the edge?” made it a constant headache to watch on any screen. In The Equalizer 3, there’s no uncertainty within the photography. His shots of Italy are sweeping and majestic, well worth soaking them in on an IMAX screen. One scene in particular, where McCall slowly walks up the stairs of Altamonte while recovering from his injuries, is most interesting. In one moment, McCall stops inside a tunnel, with a halo from outside circling his head as if he’s Altamonte’s messianic figure. The multiplication of crosses and biblical imagery during its latter half helps hammer this figurative representation of McCall's home.
The same can be said for how he frames the action, but there’s very little of it. There are three, very brief, action scenes that see McCall don his “particular set of skills” for one last time, and none of them have the verve of the first two – they’re all lethargically paced and too sparse inside the movie to truly make an impact. Its climax does fit in the pace of the movie: McCall [very] slowly walks with the main villain, Vincent Quaranta (Andrea Scarduzio), to his death. Yes, the first two Equalizer movies were slow, but not this slow. Some will argue that McCall adopts a darker posture than in the first two, almost like a serial killer. Still, it doesn’t feel as interesting or precise as when McCall took down bad guys with ease in the first two installments.
It wouldn’t have been a big problem if the villains were interesting. However, the two main figures of the mafia are bathed in pure stereotypes and clichés, as if screenwriter Richard Wenk based both of them on Furio Giunta from The Sopranos, arguably the biggest stereotypical Italian character in any piece of media to date. Wenk writes two of them, and they’re both pitifully unimpressive. One is the leader, the other is the brother who wants to take his place. Nothing else needs to be said: their arcs are written in the skies as soon as they’re introduced. When McCall eventually “equalizes” them, no sense of satisfaction or catharsis is at play. They deserved it, as with every despicable bad guy that preys on innocent people. Still, they were never chilling nor as threatening as Marton Csokas in the original and Pedro Pascal in the sequel. It’s a huge step down from these high-caliber actors who consistently give incredible turns.
Most of the movie takes place in Altamonte, where McCall reminisces about the life he can have if he leaves his entire business behind – until the mafia forces his hand back in for one last assignment. A lot of time is filled with conversations with other locals to create a sense of community. Still, Fuqua takes too long to set this up, undermining the film’s central conflicts regarding the mob, corruption in the police, terrorism, and the drug trade. Heavy subjects seemingly require a longer, or at least more focused, movie where all plot points are well-established and explored. The Equalizer 3 never explores any of these past brief introductions. Most subplots get dropped immediately after their insertion into the film.
Washington always performs well, and he’s certainly very good here. However, very little else feels interesting or urgent for Fuqua to justify a third outing with Robert McCall. The lack of a cohesive plot and interesting action scenes makes it a dour final chapter, even with the promise of an on-screen reunion between Washington and Fanning. Yes, it’s more symbolic in its visual language and themes, but did it have to be this glacial? Instead of wasting precious time on this film, just watch (or rewatch) Man on Fire instead. Now, that’s a movie.