THE EQUALIZER 3 (2023, USA, 109m, 15) ***½
Action, Crime
dist. Columbia Pictures (USA), Sony Pictures Releasing (UK); pr co. Columbia Pictures / Escape Artists / ZHIV Productions / Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE); d. Antoine Fuqua; w. Richard Wenk (based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim); pr. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Tony Eldridge, Antoine Fuqua, Michael Sloan, Steve Tisch, Clayton Townsend, Denzel Washington; ph. Robert Richardson (Colour | 2.39:1); m. Marcelo Zarvos; ed. Conrad Buff IV; pd. Naomi Shohan; ad. Gianpaolo Rifino.
cast: Denzel Washington (Robert McCall), Dakota Fanning (Emma Collins), Eugenio Mastrandrea (Gio Bonucci), David Denman (Frank Conroy), Gaia Scodellaro (Aminah), Remo Girone (Enzo Arisio), Andrea Scarduzio (Vincent Quaranta), Andrea Dodero (Marco Quaranta), Daniele Perrone (Angelo), Zakaria Hamza (Khalid), Manuela Tasciotti (Carmela), Dea Lanzaro (Gabriella Bonucci), Sonia Ben Ammar (Chiara Bonucci), Alessandro Pess (Viking), Niccolò Fava (Marco’s Thug), Alessandro Xavier De Silva (Marco’s Thug), Adolfo Margiotta (Chief Barella), Niccolò Senni (Stefano), Bruno Bilotta (Lorenzo Vitale), Adriano Sabrie (Vitale’s Grandson).
In this third instalment, we see McCall (Denzel Washington) struggling to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finding a strange solace in Southern Italy. Here, he discovers his new 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. This is possibly the best of the series, incorporating elements of classic samurai and western movies into a modern gangster setting. Washington continues to ooze class and Fuqua’s direction is assured, if a little too pre-occupied with grizzly deaths. New elements include McCall’s recovering from an injury having uncharacteristically let his guard down at the story’s opening, and hints of a potential love interest with Scodellaro. The action is violent and bloody, but there is plenty of room for character reflection, which makes this an above-average entry in the genre.
