movie review of equalizer 3

The Equalizer 3

In Sicily, an Italian drug lord and his child pull up in a jeep to a secluded villa. Strewn across the rustic courtyard, which, on better days, would be an ideal vacation spot, are the bloodied, dismembered bodies of a goon army. The man exits the jeep with a pistol, leaving the kid in the vehicle. He and one of his henchmen enter the home, where they discover more carcasses, whose causes of death—riddled with bullets, their faces cleaved by a butcher’s knife—grow increasingly gruesome. Noted hitman turned ghost Robert McCall ( Denzel Washington ) sits beneath two gunmen. Is McCall the prisoner, or are they? He, of course, dispatches them with ease, grabbing a set of keys from the dead drug lord’s body that hold what McCall came to retrieve. 

You won’t guess what mundane package McCall has just murdered an army of killers to get. But it doesn’t really matter. While the ham-fisted McGuffin doesn’t serve the rest of the film, this opening scene—from its stomach-churning violence to the reliance on impractical effects—indicates where this once enjoyable nuts-and-bolts action franchise has gone wrong. 

Antoine Fuqua ’s “The Equalizer 3” is not just what many assume will be the last film in the franchise; it’s the fifth overall collaboration between the director and Washington. Their partnership, on its face, is puzzling. Sure, their first teaming, “ Training Day ,” netted Washington his lone Best Actor win. But their successive films have only gotten harsher and dumber since that triumph. What exactly does Washington get out of these films? It’s a relationship that often recalls the run Anthony Mann and Jimmy Stewart experienced in their eight pictures together (though, to be sure, Fuqua-Washington has mined far poorer thematic treasures) when Stewart left his prestige perch, his good-guy image, and aw-shucks mannerisms to explore darker stories in Mann’s freeing Westerns. You can tell Washington gets the same pleasure here, not caring if the audience experiences the same adventurous sensations he does. 

Because, make no mistake, “The Equalizer 3” is hot garbage. It’s also a fascinating but failed attempt by Fuqua and Washington to make their own Mann-Stewart film. Consider how the Western genre stains this picture. During McCall’s raid on the villa, he is critically wounded and eventually discovered by a local cop, Gio ( Eugenio Mastrandrea ), who takes him to a quaint seaside Italian village, where a local doctor named Enzo ( Remo Girone ) treats the hitman’s wounds. While recuperating in the restful town, McCall learns to love the people and the peace they provide him. Though a local young gang leader, Marco ( Andrea Dodero ), looms over them, McCall, who says he’s merely passing through, would rather avoid intervening. Like any Western, when push comes to shove, McCall will defend them while teaching these acquiescing people how to stand up to their oppressors. 

Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson (“ Platoon ” and “A Few Good Man”) provide further Western details through chiaroscuro lighting. Washington’s silhouette spells danger, while his weary frame expresses a close relationship to death. Richardson also captures the actor from extreme low angles, a la John Ford , painting heroic compositions. The problem, however, is they’ve made McCall so vicious we’re not quite sure if we should be rooting for him to kill. While it makes sense for the character to show greater brutality—after all, in the first “Equalizer,” he was once a calm man idling in retirement—now he’s a man fully bathed in blood and guts again. Even Washington can’t fully pull across that throughline, especially when the script is so weak.      

Take the primary subplot, which sees Dakota Fanning reteaming with Washington—the two previously starred in “ Man on Fire ”—this time, as CIA Agent Emma Collins. McCall phones a tip to Collins’ desk that’ll change her career; the information nonsensically takes her from working a call center to fieldwork. Her arc, nevertheless, is flat-out bad: She never proves herself to be a capable agent, and her case, involving an Italian drug ring, barely connects to McCall’s stay in the village. Fanning appears overmatched in the few scenes the pair occupy together as she unsuccessfully attempts to channel Jessica Chastain ’s turn in “ Zero Dark Thirty .” 

I wish I could say the action fares better, but the staging lacks imagination; the editing doesn’t snap; the score sounds rote; the film would rather go gory and gruesome to paper over its limp choreography than craft anything bordering on memorable. The film’s only saving grace is how much fun Washington appears to be having. He makes some surprising decisions that initially feel like outtakes because of how random they are. Is he still playing McCall as the grieving widower or does he want to push this character further toward a psychopathic territory? 

It’s become old hat (and kind of lazy) to compare every contemporary action film to “ John Wick ,” but this franchise, which launched the same year as the first “John Wick,” struggles to evolve like Keanu Reeves ’ films did. This trilogy has no emotional core, no narrative continuum, no pleasure with the genre it calls home. Instead, in its successive offerings, “ The Equalizer ” franchise is tragically uneven.  

In theaters now.   

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the  New York Times ,  IndieWire , and  Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the  Los Angeles Times , and  Rolling Stone  about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

• Denzel Washington as Robert McCall
• Dakota Fanning as
• Gaia Scodellaro as
• David Denman as
• Eugenio Mastrandrea as
• Remo Girone as
• Sonia Ammar as
• Daniele Perrone as
• Andrea Scarduzio as
• Andrea Dodero as
• Giovanni Scotti as
• Antoine Fuqua
• Conrad Buff IV
• Richard Wenk

Cinematographer

• Robert Richardson

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‘The Equalizer 3’ Review: Brood, Kill, Sip a Cup of Tea, Repeat

Do we know why Denzel Washington’s vigilante is in Italy? No. This third franchise installment just assumes you’re here for the entertaining violence.

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By Manohla Dargis

As one does in Italy, Robert McCall likes to sit in a little cafe, watching the world pass by. McCall — an enigmatic avenger played by Denzel Washington — likes tea, but he’s fine with the coffee that a beautiful server brings him with a smile. People often smile at McCall, perhaps drawn to his looks, his quiet mien and the restrained intensity of his physicality, as if he were holding back a great and terrifying force. Or maybe, like the rest of us, they are trying to silently encourage McCall to just get on with it and start painting the town red.

This is the third and apparently last “Equalizer” movie that Washington will make. Maybe he’s grown tired of the franchise’s same-old ultraviolence or perhaps he’s bored with the predictable predictability of it all, even if this installment is as reliably watchable if ethically challenged as the previous ones. Whatever the case, little has changed since the first “ Equalizer ” (2014). McCall is still the enigma all in black who, when brutal push comes inevitably to more-brutal shove, demonstrates extraordinary combat skills, near-superhuman strength and a genius for predicting the trajectory of bodies flying and falling in space.

Washington is unsurprisingly the primary reason to watch “Equalizer 3,” which is basically a showcase for him to smolder, swagger and light up the screen as he wanders a tiny, wildly beautiful town on the Amalfi coast. Tucked beneath a mountain and facing the sea, the town is miraculously free of swarming tourists, which is one of the story’s more outlandish conceits. McCall lands there soon after the opener, a big, splashy number in Sicily that sets the darkly brooding mood and underscores that villains should never be too cavalier about leaving their corkscrews lying around. Our guy isn’t going to use it to uncork a bottle of Nero d’Avola.

The corkscrew ends up in the same vulnerable spot where you’d expect it to go, especially if you have seen the first “Equalizer.” In that movie, the skewered baddie was a minion in the Russian mob; the human cork here is in the Italian mafia (specifically the Camorra ). The repeat of the corkscrew bit adds to the movie’s retrospective quality, as if Washington and his principal collaborators in the series — the screenwriter Richard Wenk and the director Antoine Fuqua — were bidding a nostalgic farewell to McCall and the grim, dark (morally, literally) fallen world that he has been trying to set right all these years.

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'The Equalizer 3' Review: Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua Deliver a Gleefully Violent Final Installment

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'Out Come the Wolves' Review: A Survival Thriller That Takes a Gnarly Bite out of Toxic Masculinity

'my first film' review: zia anger’s daring “directorial debut” is the meta movie to end all meta movies, 'rebel moon' director’s cut review: somehow, zack snyder’s netflix movies got worse.

This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn't exist. There's a good argument to be made that Denzel Washington is the greatest actor working in the industry today. He's a two-time Oscar winner, renowned by almost all, can perform in any genre, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone on this planet who doesn't like at least one of his performances . While his dramatic work in films such as Fences , Training Day , Malcolm X , and Glory are incredible feats of acting all by themselves, he's also one of the most badass action stars in the business. There are films like Man on Fire to Unstoppable as well as the highly underrated The Magnificent Seven reboot, but the first two The Equalizer films are the ones that stand out the most amidst his pure action-driven roles.

This might sound sacrilegious to some, but Antoine Fuqua and Washington are one of the most effective director-actor duos out there. Washington has always brought out the best in Fuqua, and of course, Fuqua directed the thespian to his second Oscar win. For the longest time Washington was on the very small list of movie stars who had never done a sequel. Then along came The Equalizer in 2014, an action-thriller loosely based on the 80s television series of the same name. The film became a smash hit at the box office and, while critics were a bit more lukewarm on the film, audiences ate up every minute of it. In 2018, the The Equalizer 2 debuted in theaters and was another hit. Five years later, Fuqua and Washington are teaming up once again, for the third and apparently final chapter in the hit franchise: The Equalizer 3 .

RELATED: 'The Equalizer 3' Director Antoine Fuqua on Why Audiences Respond to Denzel Washington as Robert McCall

'The Equalizer 3' Showcases Denzel Washington's Best Attributes as an Action Star

Set some time after the events of the second film, The Equalizer 3 opens with a Silician mobster entering his base of operations to find that almost all of his men have been brutally murdered. It's not long until he comes face-to-face with Robert McCall (Washington), in an encounter that leaves our protagonist gravely wounded. McCall is soon rescued by Enzo Arisio ( Remo Girone ), a doctor in a small town on the shores of Southern Italy. McCall quickly becomes comfortable in Italy, forming close friendships with Enzo and many of the locals, but soon discovers that his new home is under the control of the Silician Mafia. With limited options, he must once again take matters into his own hands by going to war against his dangerous new adversaries.

If you've seen the prior Equalizer films, you should know exactly what you're getting into with the latest installment. It follows a similar formula as the previous films while trading in the suburbs of Boston for a European setting. For the most part, this works. The new location puts Washington's character in unfamiliar territory where he doesn't know everybody by name or have the help of his late friend Susan ( Melissa Leo ). The film hints that Emma ( Dakota Fanning ), a young CIA analyst, will play a major role in aiding McCall's latest gratuitous path of revenge, but for the majority of the film's runtime, her subplot never takes off. Outside a reveal that comes at the film's third act, Fanning's role feels mostly forgettable. But that isn't why you're coming to see this sequel.

Fuqua and screenwriter Richard Wenk are completely aware that the audience is showing up to see Washington inflict almost cartoonish levels of pain against any mobster who stands in his way, and that's what you get. While there is a 15-minute stretch in the film's second act where the titular vigilante is nearly absent, every other minute of the film is time well spent. Washington may not be as young as some of the modern-day action stars like Chris Hemsworth or Michael B. Jordan , but he's still extremely believable in this action-heavy role. He's intimidating, fierce, and dangerous, but also extremely charismatic and lovable. Sure, the movie shows him doing things to the human body that many would presume to be impossible, but at the same time, he's the kind of character you'd be more than happy to sit at an Italian bakery and have some tea with. Between all the violence, the film has several scenes showing Washington doing just that, and yet it never manages to bore you. If The Equalizer films were to star any other actor other than Washington, we probably wouldn't have ever gotten a third movie, or even a second movie for that matter. Much like the first two films, The Equalizer 3 works because of Washington's total commitment to this role.

'The Equalizer 3' Won't Disappoint Longtime Fans, but It's Not Going to Convert the Naysayers

While the latest Equalizer film may not live up to the previous two installments, it still comes pretty close. The story is nearly nonexistent for much of the runtime, but it does make up for that by having some of the trilogy's most gory sequences to date. The violence is almost on the level of a Saw movie and the amount of tonal whiplash between scenes of Washington buying fish at the local market to dismembering bad guys isn't going to convert anybody who wasn't big on the previous installments.

Fuqua has always been great at directing the ultimate "Dad" movies, and the first two Equalizer films have always had a special spot in the "Dad Movie Hall of Fame." The pacing is brisk without once overstaying its welcome, it has an ultra-charismatic lead, plus boasts all the violence, chaos, and melodrama one could want out of this particular movie.

2023 has brought audiences some technically marvelous and innovative action movies, such as the latest installments in the John Wick and Mission: Impossible franchises, and while The Equalizer 3 may not live up to the high heights set by those films, it still delivers on having plenty of satisfying action of its own. What more could you possibly ask for?

The Big Picture

• Denzel Washington's latest performance as Robert McCall in The Equalizer 3 showcases his incredible range as both a dramatic actor and an action star.
• The third installment follows a similar formula to its predecessors while introducing a new European setting and an epic path of revenge against the Sicilian Mafia.
• While the story may be lacking at times, the film makes up for it with intense action sequences that will satisfy longtime fans. However, it won't win over those who weren't already on board with the franchise.

The Equalizer 3 is now playing in theaters everywhere.

• Movie Reviews
• The Equalizer 3 (2023)
• Denzel Washington

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The Equalizer 3

Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become ... Read all Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends' protector by taking on the mafia. Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends' protector by taking on the mafia.

• Antoine Fuqua
• Richard Wenk
• Michael Sloan
• Richard Lindheim
• Denzel Washington
• Dakota Fanning
• Eugenio Mastrandrea
• 577 User reviews
• 178 Critic reviews
• 58 Metascore
• 6 nominations

Top cast 50

• Robert McCall

• Emma Collins

• Giorgio Bonucci

• Frank Conroy

• Dr. Enzo Arisio

• Vincent Quaranta
• Marco Quaranta

• Gabriella Bonucci

• Chiara Bonucci
• (as Sonia Ben Ammar)
• Marco's Thug
• Chief Barella

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The international posters and US IMAX poster have various variations of the phrase 'The Final Chapter' as the tagline. However Antoine Fuqua in an interview while promoting the film has said a prequel and a sequel could happen if Denzel was still interested.
• Goofs The film is set in the fictional coastal town of Altamonte, and not Altomonte a real, mountain village not situated at the coast. The filming location was Atrani, on the Amalfi coast.

Robert McCall : Is that a Timex?

Marco Quaranta : No, it's a B...

Robert McCall : [grabs Marco's arm] That's the median nerve that I'm compressing. On a scale one to ten, that's two. That's three. You don't want me to go to four. I go to four, you shit yourself. You don't want that. I don't want that! They don't want that! Tell your compadres that they can leave. Tell them to beat it!

• Connections Featured in eTalk Daily: Episode dated 28 August 2023 (2023)
• Soundtracks Love, Disorderly (The Equalizer 3 Remix) Written by Thomas Azier and Obi Blanche Produced and Performed by Thomas Azier Thomas Azier appears courtesy of Hylas Records

User reviews 577

• TheDanishMovie-Nerd
• Sep 3, 2023
• How long is The Equalizer 3? Powered by Alexa
• Is there any correlation between Robert McCall and Robert Jordan (For Whom The Bell Tolls) both using "Roberto"? Both are Americans fighting in a foreign land.
• September 1, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Aksiyon Filmleri
• Film Sözlük
• El justiciero: Capítulo final
• Minori, Campania, Italy
• Columbia Pictures
• Eagle Pictures
• Escape Artists
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $70,000,000 (estimated)
• $92,373,751
• $34,604,229
• $191,067,560

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 49 minutes
• IMAX 6-Track
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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‘The Equalizer 3’ Review: Denzel Washington Leans on His Star Charisma Once Again in Brutal Vigilante Sequel

Reteaming for the fifth time, director Antoine Fuqua and his ‘Training Day’ star leverage the familiarity they’ve established for the audience’s benefit.

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As McCall recuperates, he makes connections with the locals: a flirty cafe owner, a fish seller who won’t let him pay, even a priest. Before long, he begins to relax and think of this place and people as his community. However, his trained spy eyes notice what’s lurking beneath this friendly surface — namely, that the mafia has a hold on these lovely people, controlling them with threats and extortion. The vigilante in him wakes up, and he proceeds to protect his new friends.

Washington holds the screen like the popular star he is. It’s hard not to root for his characters. Even at the all-media screening, there was cheering when he taunted one of his enemies, and when the bad guys got what they deserve. Beyond the righteous action and visceral violence, it’s Washington’s swagger and charisma that compels. His face and voice, his distinctive walk, his trademark gestures — the smirk and pursed lips before he takes action — are so recognizable and familiar that this journey through Italy feels like a visit with a benevolent but ruthless friend.

This time, he even gets to speak Italian and show a different side of McCall. True to formula, the movie gives him a chance to mentor a younger person. This time it’s Fanning’s spy. Their scenes together have a familial undertone, even if they are supposed to be strangers. The actors have worked together before (in 2004’s “Man on Fire”), and Fanning brings out Washington’s humorous side, as their time together becomes a short respite from the fury elsewhere.

Like its two predecessors, “The Equalizer 3” demands a strong stomach. There’s violence aplenty, loud bullets, body impalement and maiming. Some of it is cruel but draped in a veil of good intentions so earnest, its purpose is never questioned. There’s even a well-staged “Spartacus” moment in the town square where everybody comes together to support McCall, making it easy to accept, even applaud, when the bad guys are sadistically dispatched.

Fuqua orchestrates the action with propulsive style. Some of the visual motifs might be obvious — blood running into red wine — but it works. Collaborating with DP Robert Richardson, he takes advantage of the Italian setting to give the film a spacious feel. The creative team knows their ace in Washington, showing him off in dark and shadowy compositions, as if he were an avenging angel from the heavens. Zarvos’ music has two modes: threateningly ominous or loudly throbbing. It’s all very effective, like so much of the film, delivering exactly what’s expected. No more and no less.

Washington tends to alternate between action movies and prestige Oscar projects. While this film and others like it might not win him awards or critical raves, they remain watchable and entertaining, aided in no small part by the directors in charge. Both Fuqua and the late Tony Scott (with whom Washington also made five films) are able to deliver well-made adrenaline jolts. And Washington never phones it in. He’s always immensely present, knowing what his audience wants and giving it to them in true movie star fashion.

Reviewed at Regal Union Square, New York, Aug. 28, 2023. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 108 MIN.

• Production: A Columbia Pictures release, in association with Eagle Pictures, of an Escape Artists, Zhiv production. Producers: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Denzel Washington, Antoine Fuqua, Steve Tisch, Clayton Townsend, Alex Siskin, Tony Eldridge, Michael Sloan. Executive producers: David Bloomfield, Tarak Ben Ammar, Andy Mitchell. Co-producer: Richard Wenk.
• Crew: Director: Antoine Fuqua. Screenplay: Richard Wenk, based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. Camera: Robert Richardson. Editor: Conrad Buff. Music: Marcelo Zarvos.
• With: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Eugenio Mastrandrea.

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The Equalizer 3 Reviews

This series didn’t need a “final” episode, but it’s nevertheless entertaining for what it is - and what it sets out to be.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 25, 2024

The production looks good with spot-on cinematography by Robert Richardson, and an effective heartbeat score by Marcelo Zarvos.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 16, 2024

Bluntly put, it’s a snooze, and we’re left with the nagging feeling that it should be considerably more engaging, and make better use of its extraordinary star.

Full Review | Jan 2, 2024

A movie that knows what it is and what its strengths are, even if it is often limited by its director.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 27, 2023

This returned the franchise to the high spot that the original sat on after its release. Credit Fuqua with being a director who, like Mr. Tony Scott, is able to pull different shades of Denzel out of the hat for a crowd without sacrificing his essence.

Full Review | Dec 3, 2023

This may be a lone-gun western in modern clothes, but franchise director Antoine Fuqua delivers plenty of tense, no-nonsense stand-offs and staccato bursts of mayhem.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 27, 2023

A definite improvement over the previous picture.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 25, 2023

Equalizer 3 is the fifth collaboration between Fuqua and Washington, and the results are pretty similar to their other films.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 20, 2023

The Equalizer 3 is not a franchise limping to its final act. If anything, the third installment of the series makes a very strong case for at least one more chapter.

Full Review | Original Score: 9.5/10 | Nov 17, 2023

It would be highly unfair to evaluate 'The Equalizer 3' in terms of whether it's better or worse than the two preceding titles, It's more appropriate to label it as a complementary and equally satisfying bet that shares the foundation of its genetic code.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 31, 2023

Fuqua and Washington prefer that McCall be feared as a vigilante. They seem uninterested in the mechanics of the spy world and the elegance of the first television series. In their three “Equalizer” films, the specter of violence is what thrills them.

Full Review | Oct 21, 2023

Although the film does not assume the conventions of an action film, the dramatic pulse is fueled by Washington and his interactions with the rest of the cast. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 20, 2023

Fuqua directs with style, taking his time, developing a palpable atmosphere of tension, and even including some religious imagery, as if to give an additional symbolic dimension to the story. And Washington, as always, shines. Full review in Spanish.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 17, 2023

A tremendously fun action movie. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 13, 2023

Fuqua and Washington put a bloody bow on one of our best and most underrated action franchises. [Full Review in Spanish]

... Equally tense and predictable, but dominated by the incomparable presence of its protagonist. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 12, 2023

Does it entertain? Yes, until it tires you out. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 12, 2023

In the hands of another team and starring another actor, Equalizer 3 would be a generic revenge film. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Oct 11, 2023

Like Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington doesn't seem to get any older as an action hero... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2023

Antoine Fuqua’s direction gives the film momentum.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 5, 2023

Review: Headed for the Amalfi coast, ‘The Equalizer 3’ packs attitude and plenty of red sauce

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The blood flows like wine in “The Equalizer 3,” as dark as chianti, seeping into cobblestone streets, splattering onto stained glass and statuary. Star Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua have used the third installment of this trilogy as the opportunity for an Italian vacay, with vigilante hero Robert McCall (Washington) leaving Boston behind for the old country and a taste of “la dolce vita.” But first, Robert has to take care of business before he can truly enjoy retirement on the Amalfi coast, which means ridding a charming village of some pesky mafiosi.

It’s clear Fuqua has been watching his Italian gangster movies, and he revels in the visual drama offered by the setting and subgenre. His compositions are stuffed with religious iconography, Baroque embellishments, claustrophobic medieval alleys and lots and lots of pasta. But he and cinematographer Robert Richardson put their own stamp on the imagery, draining and desaturating the color palette of the picturesque seaside town of Positano.

Speaking of Positano, the iconic Instagram-influencer destination poses here as a village called Altomonte, which is a real place situated between Sicily and Naples, though it is much further inland. It’s unclear why Fuqua renamed such a recognizable slice of the Italian coast for another town, but it’s sort of par for the course when it comes to the plot of “The Equalizer 3,” which is the most ephemeral of the series.

We don’t come to “Equalizer” movies (based on the 1980s TV series ) for story, and this third installment privileges performance and visceral, dramatic thrills over everything else. We start in media res: Robert has already laid waste to a group of anonymous men at a Sicilian winery, butcher knives buried in brains. He will soon punch a pistol into another guy’s head and get shot himself in the process while fleeing.

The bullet in Robert’s back will be extracted by a kindly doctor in Altomonte, and while recovering in the village, he will fall in love with the warm hospitality of the people and the peaceful way of life. He just has to dispatch the bloodthirsty Camorra gang, who seek to intimidate the residents out of their homes so that they can develop resorts and casinos.

The appeal of this film is watching Washington do what he does best, and he’s having a hell of a lot of fun here, quietly threatening bad guys, flashing toothy grins, pontificating about good and evil and the necessity to do evil in order to be good, putting the hurt on swaggering psychos. It’s also the reunion of Washington with his “Man on Fire” co-star Dakota Fanning , some 20 years later. Fanning plays a CIA agent, Collins, whom he tips off about “jihad drugs” being trafficked through the winery. She shows up in town to chase down the terrorists, but she’s really there to banter coolly with Robert. Fanning’s storyline could be excised from the film completely without losing anything except the extratextual significance of seeing these actors together again.

In “The Equalizer 3,” Fuqua goes for operatic style and pulp poetics, strung together with a strangely paced and structured plot that’s about as floppy as a spaghetti noodle (the script is once again by franchise veteran Richard Wenk). It’s not unenjoyable on a purely impressionistic level, as Fuqua and Washington bring the audience along on their Euro trip and ask us simply to enjoy the ride that is Robert McCall inflicting terror and mayhem on very bad people. Sometimes that’s as good as it gets.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'The Equalizer 3'

Rating: R, for strong bloody violence and some language Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes Playing: In wide release

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Movie review: 'Equalizer 3' satisfies with violent justice

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The Equalizer 3 , in theaters Friday, is a satisfying entry in the series and in Denzel Washington 's heroic oeuvre. Washington gets to be the smartest and toughest guy in every room.

Retired Marine and intelligence officer Robert McCall (Washington) steps in when he sees regular people taken advantage of by powerful people. Using his unique skills, he equalizes the balance of power to bring them justice. Advertisement

Equalizer 3 begins with McCall at the end of a mission in Sicily. After taking out an entire vineyard full of gangsters, McCall is wounded.

When an Italian police officer, Gio (Eugenio Mastrandrea) brings him to a doctor, Enzo (Remo Girone), McCall plans to recover and disappear in Altomonte. But, McCall can't help notice gangsters threatening local business and homeowners, so once again he steps in. Advertisement

McCall also tips off CIA Agent Collins (Dakota Fanning) about the vineyard. The CIA discovers drugs and cash the vineyard smuggled to fund terrorist operations, but also makes Collins interested in her mysterious tipster.

The Equalizer movies are not full of major stunts like Mission: Impossible or The Fast and the Furious . The violence is intimate, hand to hand and anticipated through long stretches of intimidation.

McCall is not Washington's only character who intimidates with his calm demeanor and condescending smile. Perhaps McCall is the most extreme to play off Washington's persona.

The ways in which McCall attempts to avoid extensive violence are compelling. Mobster brothers Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio) and Angelo (Daniele Perrone) are used to owning the streets of Altomonte, so anyone standing up to them throws them for a loop.

McCall knows the nerve to press on to disable a thug. That's one way to avoid a fight in public, but he's only postponing the inevitable confrontation.

When McCall can face the gangsters without risking innocent civilians, he dispatches them in excessively violent ways. It's been established throughout the movie that they definitely deserve it, and it can be cathartic to see an action movie embrace the R rating. Advertisement

McCall is more like Marvel's The Punisher, whose methods were so excessive the reader was meant to question whether he was still a good guy. More than subduing the bad guys, McCall kills gangsters so graphically as to intimidate the next one who finds the body.

The Equalizer movies are ultimately more serious and dramatic than the light action romps of other franchises. Equalizer 3 allows McCall to show some humor in his charming interactions with Collins, and when he knows a gang of street thugs are no match for him.

For the third film in a series based on a TV show, when there is another TV iteration currently on the air , The Equalizer 3 provides enough new thrills to stand out. The "mysterious visitor corrects an injustice" trope continues to generate infinite stories, and this just happens to be the most recent and most violent version.

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The Equalizer 3 Review

30 Aug 2023

The Equalizer 3

There’s something about Denzel Washington as a righteous avenger of wrongs that just feels pleasingly natural. It’s an archetype that he’s perfected throughout his career, and in action movies like Man On Fire , The Magnificent Seven , and the first two entries in The Equalizer franchise, he’s added complexity to heroes with flawed pasts. Paired once again with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, Washington finds yet more layers to unfurl with Robert McCall in this threequel, even as the film itself at times struggles to be as compelling as its protagonist.

Fuqua wastes no time in getting to the Equalizing. Opening on the gory aftermath of an encounter between McCall and several unfortunate foes, the film begins with the Equalizer being caught off guard. For maybe the first time ever, we see shock and doubt etched across McCall’s face; that Washington communicates all those emotions wordlessly only makes the scene more potent. From then on, the character’s journey this time around becomes clear: whereas the first two Equalizer films were about McCall finding purpose for himself and others, this sequel is about whether salvation and peace are still achievable goals.

This sequel is about whether salvation and peace are still achievable goals.

For a while, it looks like they are. As Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson take in the beautiful sights of the small Italian town in which McCall finds a haven, so too does our hero absorb the culture through warm-hearted conversations with people in his adopted community. The other part of his life is never far away, though: CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) has tracked him down, unsure if McCall is friend or foe. Washington and Fanning still have that easy chemistry they showcased in Man On Fire , and it’s fun to watch their back-and-forth, gradually working towards something resembling trust.

Frustratingly, McCall's adversaries aren’t nearly as interesting to watch. Too unprincipled to be intellectually stimulating, and with thinly drawn personalities, they're an unmemorable bunch who don't offer us anything that we haven’t seen countless times before from villains in this genre. A bigger issue is that for all their depravity, there’s never a sense that they actually offer much of a challenge for McCall. Nothing here hits the highs of the first Equalizer ’s showdown at a home-supplies depot, and the final face-off hits a bit of a flat note.

Nonetheless, Washington still makes for an eminently watchable action star. When he commits to taking an enemy down, it’s quick, efficient, and brutal as ever. If this is the final time he puts on McCall’s signature stopwatch, then so be it. But with any luck, there are more avenging heroes in his future.

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‘The Equalizer 3’ Reminds You Why Denzel Washington Is a National Treasure

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Nobody can threaten someone quietly better than Denzel Washington .

Oh, our man can pump up the volume when he needs to, in terms of letting people know he’s bringing the pain — our ears are still ringing from his “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!” taunt from Training Day. But when he lowers his voice to a basso profundo rumble and he fixes that dead-eyed stare on someone, the one that suggests the unflappable, untouchable Teflon Denzel has officially entered the building, and issues some sort of oh-you’ve-stepped-in-it-now promise of bodily harm? It’s enough to make you laugh out loud and send chills down your spine.

Then he clicks the timer on his watch and tells this boss, in that near-whisper of his, that he has nine seconds to decide his fate. Before the timer goes off, McCall has disarmed one man, shot several others, and stuck the gun barrel in another’s eye socket. The gangster, it goes without saying, makes the wrong choice and soon, there’s one more body on the floor.

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We await the justice that’s inevitably about to be served, which The Equalizer 3 soon dutifully serves up in gory, bloody, supersized amounts even before the big-boss battle between McCall and Marco’s Mafia -chieftain brother, Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio). Fuqua has never been shy about making this franchise’s action sequences a figurative and, more often than not, literal cut above the usual bang-bang stab-stab set pieces in matters of brutality (see: that climactic showdown in a jury-rigged hardware store from the first film ). In a post- John Wick world, it’s now a given that fight scenes and stand-offs have to be bigger, faster, bloodier, more. Washington can more than handle himself when it comes to, say, convincingly making somebody shank themselves rapid-fire with their own blade. But the move in E3 seems to be upping the kills to slasher-flick levels, complete with Denzel stepping out of the shadows and sticking fireplace pokers through throats. Were McCall the screaming type, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear him bellow, “Freddy Krueger ain’t got shit on me!”

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The Equalizer 3 Review: The Summer's Best Action Film

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Director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington orchestrate a symphony of masterful violence in the summer's best action film. The Equalizer 3 brings bloody vengeance to Italy's beautiful Amalfi Coast. An unstoppable killer burdened by loneliness discovers friendship and belonging in the company of kind strangers. He'll return the favor when their price of extortion becomes intolerable. The saga of heroic vigilante Robert McCall comes to a thrilling conclusion in an unexpected storyline. His reasons for leaving Boston and confronting a merciless new enemy opens a different path of possibilities.

In Sicily, Don Lorenzo Vitale (Bruno Bilotta) arrives at his palatial estate to a shocking surprise. The gate guards have been killed. He cautiously drives into the courtyard. More dead bodies litter the path. The nervous crime boss gets a gun from his glove compartment. He approaches the front door. A terrified soldato shakes as he answers the simple question, "Why are you alive?" A guest has been waiting inside. He's been looking forward to meeting you.

Later that night, a wounded McCall (Washington) sits in his rental car on a ferry to Naples. He's lost a lot of blood. McCall clings to consciousness but doesn't get far. Poliziotto Gio Bonucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea) finds him passed out on the side of the road.

McCall awakens in the home of Doctor Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone). Gio did not call for reinforcements or search his bags. Enzo wonders if this injured stranger is a "bad man." McCall honestly responds that he "doesn't know." Enzo decides to let him stay until he recovers. Gio will report a simple accident. A grateful and somewhat confused McCall thanks them for their discretion.

McCall's Last Mission

The following day at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) receives a mysterious phone call. There's something in Sicily she needs to investigate urgently. Emma hangs up. Her direct line rings again. The voice on the other end knows her area of expertise. That's top secret information. The call ends before she can trace the source.

McCall gingerly walks down the steps in the seaside village of Altamonte. He soaks in the idyllic setting, but something else catches his eye. Camorra Capo Marco Quaranta (Andrea Dodero) isn't happy with the local fishmonger's weekly collection. The villagers pay for protection. Marco offers a reminder of what happens when you are late.

Related: Director Antoine Fuqua Calls The Equalizer 3 McCall's 'Final Masterpiece'

The Equalizer 3 cleverly threads the needle between bone-crushing beatdowns and a sophisticated plot. McCall's methodical plan isn't fully understood until the climax. This is more than a simple tale of a badass giving despicable villains their brutal comeuppance. Screenwriter Richard Wenk ( 16 Blocks , The Magnificent Seven ), a frequent Fuqua collaborator who also wrote the previous films, places his protagonist in unfamiliar territory. The fastidious McCall puts his agenda in motion but certainly didn't predict convalescing in Altamonte. He has to account for other players in the game while confronting stark truths about himself. The man who settles scores for the innocent is taken aback by an initially peaceful respite.

McCall's encounters with the gentle villagers reminds him of humanity's capacity for good. Enzo and Gio aren't fools. They took a great risk sheltering an unknown and possibly dangerous man. McCall recognizes them as kindred spirits who care unselfishly for other people. Their mistreatment at the hands of the Camorra, Italian organized crime, cannot go unpunished. But his retaliation also makes things worse by igniting a firestorm response. Subplots converge as Emma Collins and her strike team get entangled in the fray. She realizes there's something much bigger going on that McCall is trying to take down.

Dakota Fanning as Emma Collins

Fuqua ( Training Day , Olympus Has Fallen ) dazzles with brilliant camera work and action choreography. McCall is the lion that stalks and pounces. He eviscerates with surgical precision and timing. Fuqua uses tracking shots to follow doomed adversaries. They witness McCall's gruesome aftermath before becoming prey themselves. We then flash back to McCall's point of view as he plows through laughably overconfident baddies. They've got the guns, numbers, and a bad attitude. How can one man be a threat? McCall teaches the hard way what can be done with thumbs and a kitchen knife.

Related: The Equalizer 3: Why the Action Movie Will Be Better Than John Wick 4

Washington owns the screen with his towering presence. He's a beast and a half with nuance to boot. This is not a rehash of the same character from the first two installments. Weariness has caught up to McCall, but that doesn't mean he's lost a step. The opposite is true. He's deadlier than ever because the stakes are so personal. McCall has never allowed himself to be comfortable. The Equalizer 3 has him learning acceptance and fighting to preserve it.

Dakota Fanning was a child when she co-starred with Washington in Man on Fire . 19 years later, they haven't missed a beat. She adds a vital dimension that helps bring closure for McCall. The Equalizer 3 ends the trilogy on a high note. Fuqua and Washington are in top form here.

The Equalizer 3 is a production of Columbia Pictures, Escape Artists, Mundy Lane Entertainment, Fuqua Films, and Eagle Pictures. It will be released theatrically on September 1st from Sony Pictures .

The Equalizer 3

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‘the equalizer 3’ review: denzel washington returns for more numbingly violent vengeance.

Dakota Fanning reunites with her 'Man on Fire' co-star for this third installment of Antoine Fuqua's hit action franchise, this time set on the Amalfi Coast.

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There’s one cliché, and only one, that The Equalizer 3 manages to avoid. Usually, films set in photogenic Italian seaside villages deliver ample displays of food porn with close-ups of mouthwatering pastas, fresh fish and gelato. This third installment of the Denzel Washington -starring action franchise features plenty of gorgeous scenery, but barely any attention is paid to the region’s gustatory delights. When the bad guys hungrily scarf down plates of spaghetti, the marinara sauce looks … OK.

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Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the big-screen incarnation of the character has turned into, dispatching his victims with a relish not seen since the glory days of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers. This installment begins with a loving depiction of the aftermath of a typical McCall massacre, with the camera caressing the mutilated bodies of victims who’ve clearly been killed by a virtuoso of his craft. We don’t doubt for a second that these people deserved what they got, but it’s hard not to think that McCall, and director Antoine Fuqua , got a little too much pleasure from it.

It’s a shame, because the film’s vigilante formula is of the tried-and-true variety, its heyday stretching back decades to the likes of Death Wish . And Washington is an actor who, if anything, is overqualified for this sort of thing, a two-time Oscar winner as comfortable playing Shakespeare, Eugene O’Neill and August Wilson as he is holding a gun. He single-handedly makes these films worth watching through his sheer force of charisma, but he deserves better than this sort of exploitative grindhouse fare.

After gaining his strength, McCall discovers that he really likes this village filled with good-hearted people, including a kindly carbinieri (Eugenio Mastrandrea), a kindly barista (Gaia Scodellaro), a kindly fishmonger … well, you get the idea. He’s soon happily spending his days walking around, drinking tea at his favorite café and buying himself Italian clothing.

His contentment unfortunately proves short-lived, since the entire town is being terrorized by a gang of rampaging Camorra thugs who think nothing of setting fire to the fishmonger’s store and torturing the policeman in front of his terrified wife and little girl. That’s when McCall starts to get mad, real mad. You can’t blame him, since everywhere he goes, he runs into trouble. If he happened to stop by Mayberry for a spell, he’d probably discover Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney Fife shaking down the townspeople.

But to what end? Just to see him savagely kill loathsome characters in a variety of inventive ways? By the time he dispatches his final victims — all of whom really, really deserved it — you’re as exhausted by the carnage as he probably is. It’s no wonder the final massacre is punctuated by a lavish fireworks display.

For those not motivated purely by a desire for cinematic bloodlust accompanied by an abrasive musical score that sounds like electronic fingernails on a blackboard, there’s some fun to be had. Washington has some enjoyable moments when McCall playfully teases a green CIA agent ( Dakota Fanning , reuniting with the actor nearly 20 years after Man on Fire ) he’s alerted to the gang’s drug operation. And the way he happily struts around town wearing a rakish hat will make any American feel that they, too, can move to a picturesque Italian seaside village and be warmly embraced — especially if they have the ability to ruthlessly kill any criminals who happen to come along.  

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Summary Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of l ... Read More

Directed By : Antoine Fuqua

Written By : Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan, Richard Lindheim

The Equalizer 3

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‘the equalizer 3’ review: finally, one of these things is good.

Like many a burnt-out employee, “The Equalizer” desperately needed a vacation.

And so, for its final chapter, “The Equalizer 3,” the Denzel Washington vigilante-justice film series jets off to Italy, and soaks in the sun of the Amalfi Coast while soaking the Amalfi Coast in the blood of irredeemable criminals.

THE EQUALIZER 3

Running time: 109 minutes. Rated R (strong bloody violence and some language). In theaters Sept. 1.

The first two movies in this ultra-violent and gory franchise, directed by Antoine Fuqua, were pathologically unpleasant. Way too dark with a drab Boston setting and far more plot than necessary, the slogs grated on the brain. 

Washington was always good in them, of course, but the lift was too heavy even for the experienced Oscar winner. 

Finally, on the series’ supposedly last outing, one of its films lives up to the ever-deepening talent of its leading man. “Equalizer 3” adds nothing new to the thriller genre, true, but it wisely acknowledges what’s worked well before.

Namely, the mafia.

The Threequalizer begins with Robert McCall (Washington), a former CIA black ops agent with a skill for killing, at a winery in Sicily surrounded by mangled corpses. The dead — McCall’s victims — are mafiosos who have used the vineyard as a front to smuggle deadly synthetic amphetamines from Syria.   

Often frustratingly unbeatable, this time McCall is shot in the back and wakes up confused in an idyllic town near Naples recovering at a doctor’s home. 

“Are you a good man or a bad man?” the doc asks.

A woozy McCall replies, “I don’t know,” and passes out.

Making Washington’s badass bedridden and then hobbled lends the usually impenetrable McCall some vulnerability and a watchable arc that the first two films lacked. For once, an “Equalizer” is more than a murderous walk in the park. 

As the weeks go by, the hardened man calls himself Roberto, begins to love his adopted home, befriends the locals and decides to stay put. He’s determined to protect the tormented citizens from the mafia-like Camorra forces by any means necessary — a k a ruthlessly gruesome death.

Fuqua likes to drain these films of color, nearly to grayscale, but Italy nonetheless looks as beautiful as it does foreboding. The roars of motorcycles outside, ubiquitous in Western Europe, amp up our paranoia about what nefarious forces could be riding in on them.

As he settles in, McCall helps a CIA agent named Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), who’s both suspicious of and intrigued by the mysterious informant, track down the Sicilian drug traffickers. 

Every fix Fuqua makes this time is for the better. Surprisingly for the end of a trilogy, “3” is the shortest of the “Equalizer” series, clocking in at 30 minutes less than the first one. Belíssimo .

Italian organized crime makes a weightier match for deadly McCall — a Godzilla versus Mothra of the world’s seedy underbelly. Individually, the baddies are static and uninteresting, but their unique personalities are beside the point.  

The reason for this franchise is Washington, who was 59 when he began in this role nine years ago, and who imparts impressive pathos on a man who we watch shove a fireplace poker through a thug’s throat. Sometimes he even wrings a hearty laugh or two out of his killing sprees.

It’s nice to see “The Equalizer,” a series I hated until now, go out with a film so unequal to its rotten predecessors.

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The Equalizer 3 Review: New Setting, But Mostly More Of The Same

The equalizer 3 is built to serve up more of what its predecessors have already delivered..

At this point in the franchise, you pretty much know what you’re going to get with director Antoine Fuqua ’s The Equalizer movies. Through the first two films, we’ve gotten to know Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall as a charming protagonist who likes good people and has a serious problem with bad ones – an attitude that more often than not leads him to execute grisly violence. Audiences clearly appreciate it, with the 2014 and 2018 installments both being blockbuster hits, and if you enjoyed those, the chances are high that you’ll enjoy The Equalizer 3 , which is built to serve up more of what its predecessors have already delivered.

Release Date: September 1, 2023 Directed By: Antoine Fuqua Written By: Richard Wenk Starring: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Remo Girone, Gaia Scodellaro, Andrea Scarduzio, and Andrea Dodero Rating: R for strong bloody violence and some language Runtime: 109 minutes

This is not a movie with a great deal of ambition. It’s not constructed to significantly build on the existing continuity (in the sense of utilizing the canon or playing to loyal fans who are paying close attention to details), and it doesn’t try to do anything radical with its characters to purposefully change things up just because it’s a second sequel. Whether or not it’s purposeful, The Equalizer 3 is reflective of the series’ source material in that it has the vibe of an episodic/syndicated TV show – it just takes the hero and drops him into a new location surrounded by new faces and conflicts. It’s built to be understand by fans and newcomers alike, and it’s… fine.

Just like Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington , screenwriter Richard Wenk is back for The Equalizer 3 , and this time around he starts the action with Robert McCall taking his goodwill activities to Sicily, Italy and finding himself in a showdown with a powerful crime organization. The ex-Marine/retired DIA officer succeeds in killing everyone and retrieving money for one of his “clients,” but he ends up being shot in the back and nearly dying. The only reason he doesn’t die is because he is found passed out on the side of the road in a car by Gio (Eugenio Mastrandrea), a police officer who takes him to a local doctor named Enzo (Remo Girone) for medical assistance.

As he recovers from his near-fatal injury, Robert quickly becomes enamored with the small Italian village where Enzo lives and ingratiates himself in the tight-knit community. He makes friends with the locals, and as a result, he can’t just sit back and do nothing when he recognizes that a pair of brothers with ties to the Sicilian Mafia (Andrea Scarduzio, Andrea Dodero) are threatening people and shaking them down for protection money. The protagonist recognizes that there is a bigger operation in play and calls in the help of the CIA – specifically one Agent Emma Collins ( Dakota Fanning ) – but he also takes personal responsibility to ensure that no more innocent people are hurt.

The Equalizer 3 doesn’t rewrite the series playbook, and that gets the results you’d expect.

While I typically try to revisit franchise films prior to the arrival of a new sequel, I wasn’t able to do that for The Equalizer 3 – but I think that only helped my appreciation for the film because it’s basically just another riff on all of the same basics as The Equalizer and The Equalizer 2 . Denzel Washington’s all-powerful charisma is in full effect as Robert heals and gets acclimated to his new Italian home, projecting the character’s deep love for salt-of-the-earth, moral citizens, but then there is the other side of the coin. The villains aren’t just corrupt and awful, but cruel and vicious, making it all the more satisfying when Robert slips into badass mode and takes care of business.

It’s simple and effective (in that the movie genuinely makes you want to see Robert dish out his signature form of justice against the central group of wretched assholes in the plot), but it also can’t really be said to be particularly satisfying. Nice as it is to see Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning back together nearly 20 years after Tony Scott ’s Man On Fire , the actors ultimately don’t get enough time together, and everything with the CIA feels tacked on and lacking stakes because it feels detached from the main story and all of the biggest moments center on the main character. The Equalizer 3 also functions with an escalation problem, as most of the movie sees Robert squaring off with one of the Sicilian mafia siblings and mostly saves his brother for the third act (which feels backwards and has a negative impact on emotional investment in the action).

Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall is so brutal at times that it actually takes away some entertainment value.

Said action is a mixed bag and appreciation of it will be determined by personal sensibilities – and once again it’s a case where if you liked it the previous two times, you’ll probably like it in this one. Antoine Fuqua once again leans hard into the freedom that comes with an R-rating, but it’s also missing that drop of cartoonish-ness that is so effectively pulled off in the John Wick movies – rarely allowing The Equalizer 3 to feel “fun” as a blockbuster. Between Denzel Washington’s gravitas, the black-and-white morality, and the brutal, visceral violence, it all feels very much about serious justice, and while that certainly has cinematic merit, the tone doesn’t allow the film to hit its maximum entertainment potential.

At the very least, The Equalizer 3 does feel like a conclusion for the series, and it satisfies in that respect.

The Equalizer 3 is uneven and at times a bit too simple for its own good, but one significant element it has in its corner is a satisfying denouement following its underwhelming climax. After a summer featuring multiple “Part 1s” and during a time in Hollywood when franchises just keep running until the money dries up, the Denzel Washington-led action film offers up a real ending for the main character’s arc and the timing feels right to do so. It’s a positive note that reflects well on the experience as a whole, but also doesn’t totally mask the blockbuster’s issues.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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• The Equalizer 3 is the highest-scoring film in the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, impressing both critics and audiences with its cathartic action and Denzel Washington's performance.
• The movie has surpassed a box office milestone, reaching a gross of over $100 million worldwide after its second weekend in theaters, demonstrating its popularity with mainstream audiences.
• Despite being advertised as the final film in the franchise, the success of The Equalizer 3 has ignited hope for a fourth film among audiences, although Denzel Washington is not expected to return.

The Equalizer 3 is the highest scoring out of all three films in its franchise among both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The action-packed sequel stars Denzel Washington in his return role as Robert McCall, the former government assassin turned vigilante. In The Equalizer 3 , he is now settled in Southern Italy, attempting to come to terms with his violent past. Upon discovering that his newfound acquaintances are under the thumb of local crime bosses, McCall threatens the Italian mafia, setting a new violent adventure in motion.

After its second weekend in theaters, The Equalizer 3 surpassed a box office milestone by reaching a gross of over $100 million worldwide. The first two movies were also a box office success, with the first installment grossing $192 million and The Equalizer 2 grossing $190 million. Each of the Equalizer movies is certainly more popular with mainstream audiences than with critics, though reviews for the first installment were at least primarily positive, and half the critics of the first sequel recommended it. The Equalizer 3 has outdone both of its predecessors, however, with the critics and general moviegoers.

The Equalizer 3 Has A Franchise High Critics Rotten Tomatoes Score

The Equalizer 3 currently has a 75% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best-reviewed installment of the franchise. The first Equalizer has a critic score of 61%, and The Equalizer 2 has a critic score of 52%. The Equalizer 3 's high franchise score can be attributed to the consensus among critics that the film delivers cathartic action throughout, showcasing Denzel Washington's talent and commitment to his role. Critics have likened the film to the horror genre with its brutality and high levels of gore. Critics are also comparing the character of Robert McCall to horror villains such as Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees.

The Equalizer 3's Audience Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Incredibly High

The Equalizer 3 's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is currently an impressive 94%. The original received an audience score of 77%, and the second movie holds an audience score of 60%. Audiences are praising Denzel Washington's performance, specifically his ability to display depth and vulnerability in the latest film. The Equalizer 3 was filmed in Italy, and the gorgeous scenery adds to the enjoyment of the film. The enjoyable action is also at an all-time high, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats and fully immersed throughout the film.

The Equalizer 3 has been advertised as the final film in the franchise, which would ensure that it ends on a high note. Due to the film's success, however, audiences are hoping for a fourth film. Denzel Washington would not return for Equalizer 4 , according to a recent update, which would be a huge disappointment for fans of the franchise.

• The Equalizer 3

The Equalizer 3 Review: This Unsophisticated Actioner Has Some Rad Violence

In Antoine Fuqua 's 2018 film "The Equalizer 2," Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) spent just as much time engaging in civic rebuilding activities as he did slashing criminal throats. He scrubbed graffiti off of the walls of his Boston tenement, read Proust, and handed a reading list — including Ta-Nehisii Coates' "Between the World and Me" and W.E.B. DuBois' "The Souls of Black Folk" — to a neighboring at-risk teen (Ashton Sanders from "Moonlight"). It was a film just as much about righteous indignation as it was about kicking ass and cathartic murder. It was an action film for the Trump era, depicting a strictly moral assassin attacking wealthy white frat bros (one gets his neck cut open by the sharpened edge of his own credit card). 

Fuqua's and Washington's 2023 follow-up "The Equalizer 3," purportedly the final film in the series, takes a simpler tack. McCall's superheroism is now inspired less by a sense of being ethically compelled, and more by a traditional sense of action movie "steely determination."

"Equalizer 3" sees a slightly older Robert McCall taking on the Camorra, a smaller-scale mafia, in a quaint Sicilian town only a few clicks over from — and more drearily photographed than — the idyllic seaside village from "Luca." McCall is there to chew bubblegum and stab gun barrels directly into the eye sockets of Italian bad guys ... and he's all out of bubblegum. Fuqua has always had a knack for filming exhilarating, brutal violence — and he certainly doesn't skimp on the blood in "The Equalizer 3" — but this closing chapter, in lacking the previous two films' palpable outrage, feels less substantial.

It's a light mercy, then, that Washington has become so comfortably capable in this role and working for this director.

The civic-minded action hero

And luckily, what "Equalizer 3" lacks in moral umbrage, it more than makes up for in clarity and efficiency. Unlike in the previous two movies, "Equalizer 3" is content to be straightforward and even a little fun. There is a certain puerile glee in witnessing Washington's unflappable, stoic, conventional-action-hero confidence propped up in the face of snarling, tattooed mafia brats. Clarity is often in short supply in Fuqua's filmography — the dude loves his hazy, gritty photography — so any actual spatial continuity is appreciated. 

After an introductory sequence wherein McCall lays waste to an entire villa stuffed with armed baddies (it's in this sequence wherein a mafioso will be stabbed to death with a gun barrel), McCall is left with a bullet wound in his back. He is discovered by a helpful local dottore (Remo Girone) who is just as skilled at removing bullets as he is at not asking questions. The next 45 minutes of the film involves McCall's slow and gradual recovery, allowing him to wander the cobblestone streets of his small Italian hamlet. Just like the first two "Equalizers," this chapter has a lot of quiet moments and downtime in between the bouts of mayhem. In flirting with the local waitress (Gaia Scodellaro), enjoying tea at the local caffè, and bonding with the local fishmonger, McCall begins to feel that he, too, would like to be local. He even begins calling himself Roberto. Our hero, after a life of vigilante violence, may very well retire to the Italian countryside. 

But not without first taking out the trash. Naturally, there are bad guys who require some light killing before true peace can set in. 

Fuqua's ugly photography

The heavy of "Equalizer 3" is a local mob boss named Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio), and he's as growlingly generic as they come. His sharp features and gravely voice are all the audience really requires to establish his villainhood. Vincent has been muscling the village merchants out of their stores in an effort to build out his empire and transform Sicily into a garish gambling center. This is the stuff that Saturday morning cartoons are built on. Denzel Washington seems to have been handed the lion's share of the film's charisma allotment. 

Washington is reunited with his "Man on Fire" co-star Dakota Fanning , who plays a CIA desk jockey called in to represent law and order. It is an injustice that a talented actress like Fanning is saddled with some of the most blandly efficient dialogue one might find in a crime thriller. Indeed, several of her lines are just repeats of what McCall had said earlier in the film. It's a pity she wasn't permitted to give her character some personality. 

Fuqua, generally speaking, tends to shy away from organic quirk and moments of genuine warmth and humanity. He likes to make movies about stone-hearted criminals or righteous vigilantes, usually living in blank, run-down worlds without sunlight or — from the look of his consistently abysmal photography — breathable air.

Fuqua has worked with multiple cinematographers in his career, most often with Mauro Fiore ( "Avatar" ) who shot six of his films. For "Equalizer 3," Fuqua worked with three-time Oscar winner Robert Richardson ("JFK," "Hugo," "The Hateful Eight"), and it's the worst-looking film Richardson has ever shot. Outdoor scenes are clouded and sapped of sunlight, giving everything a frustrating visual patina that saps the film of any sense of engaging humanity. 

Arms-length

This has long been an issue with Fuqua's filmmaking style, going all the way back to "The Replacement Killers" in 1998. Fuqua came from the world of music videos (he directed Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" and Prince's "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" ). Even decades into a varied feature-making career, he struggles to find an appealing cinematic aesthetic free from the Vaseline-coating of 1990s MTV. He is a better aesthetician than a storyteller. And even then, he's wildly inconsistent. For the love of Pete, don't watch his 2021 film "Infinite."  

Fuqua's greatest strength, however, seems to be his relationship with Washington. "Equalizer 3" is their fifth film together, with two of those films being the only sequels Washington has ever appeared in. Fuqua and Washington seem to have formed an easy, understanding working relationship, and the actor, likely as a result, appears assured, confident, and never out of his element. When McCall, even in his late 60s, threatens a lupine Camorra twerp, the audience can grin in anticipation of imminent badass violence. Some of the best moments of "Equalizer 3" are the ones that fall just before a confrontation, with McCall declaring his victory more or less already won. 

Those and the violence. There's some pretty rad violence in the flick. The villain's eventual comeuppance is poetic and lightly delicious. 

The canon of "The Equalizer" has never taken the world by storm, usually percolating in the background of popular culture as a piece of intense ephemera. Robert McCall is a former Marine and DIA officer, but that is entirely ignored in part 3. He's a superhero played by Denzel Washington, and the filmmakers assume that is enough. For many audience members, it will be.

/Film Rating: 6.5 out of 10

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The equalizer 3.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 5 Reviews
• Kids Say 2 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Vaguely dissatisfying and very violent action sequel.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Equalizer 3 is the third (and possibly final) installment in Denzel Washington's action series. It follows his character, Robert McCall, as he tries to settle down in Italy but has a run-in with the mafia. Violence is very strong and gory, with multiple killings, lots of…

Why Age 16+?

Many dead bodies, lots of blood. Guns and shooting; people shot and killed. Char

Several uses of "f--k," plus "s--t," "motherf----r," "bulls--t," "piss," and "st

Illegal drug dealing is part of the plot. Synthetic methamphetamine-based narcot

Any Positive Content?

Main character McCall (Denzel Washington) is Black (as is director Antoine Fuqua

Lots of consequence-free violence, but themes also include idea of ending up whe

McCall tries to see the good in people and help others when he can, but he's als

Violence & Scariness

Many dead bodies, lots of blood. Guns and shooting; people shot and killed. Characters are also sliced and stabbed; blood spatters, pools of blood. Gun barrel shoved through person's eye, gun firing through his skull. Corpse with butcher knife embedded in face. Ultra-gory surgery scene with spurting blood. Character shot in eye. Character beaten up, face slammed on kitchen sink, body slammed against wall, kicked multiple times. Person in wheelchair thrown out window and hung by the neck; the wheelchair smashes to the ground below. Child in peril, gun pointed at her head. Person stabbed in hand with pen; hand sliced off. Character beheaded. Person bashed on back of head, punched, kicked; person shown with head wound and swollen face. Strangling. Building on fire. After being injured, the main character points a gun to his own head and pulls trigger (gun clicks, indicating no more bullets). Main character presses on someone's nerve, causing great pain. Car crash; character hit, pinned against wall, killed. Another character hit by car. Huge explosion; character injured by blast.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Several uses of "f--k," plus "s--t," "motherf----r," "bulls--t," "piss," and "stupid," both spoken and seen in subtitles.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Illegal drug dealing is part of the plot. Synthetic methamphetamine-based narcotics are smuggled into Italy. A character is killed with an overdose of that drug (he foams at the mouth and crawls in agony). Occasional cigarette smoking. A scene takes place at a winery, with bottle of wine on view.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Diverse Representations

Main character McCall (Denzel Washington) is Black (as is director Antoine Fuqua); his CIA contact, Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), is White. She's smart and has agency. A kindly server at a caf é is played by Italian-born mixed-race actor Gaia Scodellaro. Most other characters are Italians; about half are shown to be caring, kind people, but the other half feel like one-dimensional movie mafiosos who harm others for personal gain with no moral qualms.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Messages

Lots of consequence-free violence, but themes also include idea of ending up where you're "supposed" to be and exploring the idea of whether a place might have the power to heal a person. Another theme is the question of whether someone is a "good" or "bad" person.

Positive Role Models

McCall tries to see the good in people and help others when he can, but he's also merciless with those he judges to be lacking. He's highly skilled and experienced.

Parents need to know that The Equalizer 3 is the third (and possibly final) installment in Denzel Washington 's action series. It follows his character, Robert McCall, as he tries to settle down in Italy but has a run-in with the mafia. Violence is very strong and gory, with multiple killings, lots of blood, shootings, stabbings, slicing, strangling, a gun barrel being shoved through an eye socket, bloody surgery, a character getting hung by the neck, a child in peril, characters beaten up, a severed hand and head, characters hit by cars, fire, explosions, and more. Language includes uses of "f--k," "s--t," "motherf----r," "bulls--t," and "piss." Illegal drug dealing and synthetic methamphetamine-based narcotics are part of the plot. A character is killed with a forced overdose of said drug (he foams at the mouth and crawls in agony). There's also occasional cigarette smoking. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (2)

Based on 5 parent reviews

I don’t understand the negative criticism for this film.

What's the story.

In THE EQUALIZER 3, Robert McCall ( Denzel Washington ) has traveled to Sicily and uncovered a cell of criminals importing illegal drugs from Syria. He easily dispatches them but winds up getting shot. He wakes up in a small, picturesque coastal village under the care of the local doctor, Enzo ( Remo Girone ). While recovering, McCall contacts CIA agent Emma Collins ( Dakota Fanning ) to tip her off about the Sicily situation. Then he begins exploring and getting to know his new surroundings. He starts to feel at peace for the first time, but that peace is disrupted by a crime family showing up, demanding protection money and causing general chaos. While Collins investigates the drug operation, McCall decides to go to work on the crime family, slowly working toward figuring out a connection.

Is It Any Good?

With lots of gorgeous scenery and Washington's ultra-cool performance, there's a lot to like about this sequel, but it's hard to deny that its energy flags. The Equalizer 3 starts out well, with its clever, brutal Sicily sequence, which viewers see after it's already happened. McCall getting caught off guard and his subsequent reaction lends some weight to the character, and his recovery in the beautiful village is a delight. (There's a special moment when, maneuvering a staircase with his cane, he encounters a sweet old lady, also with a cane, who cautions him to "go slowly.")

This peace is interrupted by villains -- and this time around, they are, very simply, flat and dull. These are evil mafia goons who are bent on hurting people for financial gain, with no gray areas to be found. It's not interesting, and as the movie ramps up for its big showdown, it becomes harder to care. Moreover, whereas the first two Equalizer movies had brilliantly staged final showdowns with clever uses of space, The Equalizer 3 simply takes place in the villain's house, with nothing special happening; it looks like any other sequence. Oscar-winner Robert Richardson showcases beautiful cinematography from time to time, especially in the glittering nighttime shots, but ultimately this third entry leaves off on a vaguely dissatisfying note, as if the series went one sequel too far.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Equalizer 3 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Is McCall a hero? A role model ? How does he decide who's nice/worth helping and who isn't nice (and worth killing)? He does many good deeds, but he can also be very brutal. How would you feel about someone like him in real life?

How are women portrayed here? Are they empowered, or victimized? If you could change the script, what might you do similarly -- or differently -- with the film's female characters?

Do you believe that it's possible to be where you're "supposed" to be? Is it possible for a place to change a person's perspective on life? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 1, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : November 14, 2023
• Cast : Denzel Washington , Dakota Fanning , Eugenio Mastrandrea
• Director : Antoine Fuqua
• Inclusion Information : Black directors, Black actors, Female actors
• Studio : Columbia Pictures
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 109 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence and some language
• Last updated : July 20, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

The Equalizer

The Equalizer 2

John Wick: Chapter 4

The Equalizer (2021)

Best Action Movies for Kids

Thriller movies.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

The Equalizer 3 lands highest Rotten Tomatoes rating of the trilogy

Robert McCall is back.

The third and final chapter in the saga of Denzel Washington's vigilante Robert McCall is the highest-rated in the entire series. While the film's Rotten Tomatoes score will likely change as it gets its wide theatrical release tomorrow (September 1), it currently stands at 73%.

This score tops the first outing's previous franchise high of 60% and is leagues above the series' low point – a 52% approval for The Equalizer 2 .

Related: The Equalizer 3 's Antoine Fuqua on the most challenging scenes of the threequel

But, despite the franchise-high score, the reviews are still fairly mixed. Here's what some of the critics have been saying so far:

Digital Spy

"The movie might be able to convince some McCall non-believers, as it ties up his story in quite a gratifying way. Despite a couple of surprising references to previous events in the story, this third instalment feels like a stand-alone one-man-army adventure.

"However, there's something deeply unoriginal about this third instalment. In the end, Antoine Fuqua offers nothing more than what was expected — the good, the bad and the very ugly."

The Hollywood Reporter

"It all plays out exactly as you would expect, with the Equalizer barely breaking a sweat as he takes down one bad guy after another, including one particularly mouthy one whom he subdues by squeezing a nerve in his hand.

"There's little to no suspense, because there's never any doubt that McCall, who seems like a murderous automaton rather than merely a veteran secret agent, will triumph over his adversaries."

Related: Denzel Washington confirms The Equalizer 3 is final movie of the series

"If this is the end of The Equalizer , it's a good one, a high note that overcomes confusion, complications, and convolutions to give everyone — Robert, Emma, kind-hearted Italians, the audience — a lavish adventure to remember."

"A solid conclusion to an unlikely trilogy and a fitting end to Robert McCall's character arc — with Washington still entertaining as a deliverer of slick justice."

"When Washington does interact with the supporting cast, he's undeniably the strongest point of both the movie and the franchise. Fanning's character, however, feels like a wasted opportunity, risking sinking into cliché.

"Callbacks to the previous two movies are cheapened by sepia-tinged flashbacks, too, and a minor, somewhat eyeroll-worthy twist in the final act. The emotional beats still hit, though, with a ludicrous yet satisfyingly cyclical conclusion. The result is not quite a bang, not quite a whimper, but something in between."

The Equalizer 3 is out now in UK cinemas and in US cinemas on September 1.

Freelance Reporter, Digital Spy After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022. In that role, Iona wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona now contributes to DS as a freelance reporter. 

 Iona has reported from the Black Adam red carpet, and interviewed celebrities ranging from Love Island stars to the cast of Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid .

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