“McCall” (Denzel Washington) has taken refuge from his chequered history by laying low working in a DIY store, minding his own business. That peaceful existence is compromised, though, when his colleague “Teri” (Chloë Grace Moretz) ends up in an altercation with a mysterious thug that puts her in hospital. Seeking to avenge this, his meticulous retribution soon attracts the attentions of the equally calculating “Teddy” (Martin Csokas) who seems to have an army at his disposal for “McCall” to find various ways to slaughter whilst both play a perilous cat and mouse game. Now there’s really precious little jeopardy here. We know how it’s going to end up, but along the way Washington and Csokas create quite an effective degree of menace aided by loads of dimly lit photography and fairly end-to-end brutality. We, of course, discover a little more of why our ninja has become a recluse - but that’s provided more for reference rather than to subsume us in a mire of sentiment and there’s actually very little here to distract us from an out and out revenge thriller that delivers well. It does miss that little jingle that used to accompany Edward Woodward when was “The Equalizer” but aside from that, allows Washington to thrive at his deadliest less-is-more.

Denzel Washington saves the day. There's nothing I'd consider special about <em>'The Equalizer'</em>, though thanks to a typically stellar performance from lead Washington I still had a fun time watching this 2014 release. It's a great showing from Denzel, not that that is a surprise given he is - alongside Leonardo DiCaprio - my favourite actor. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard vigilante action flick which probably goes on for slightly too long and features some forgettable, if solid, support cast/characters, the latter is especially true for the rather plain villains. The music is also standard, though does improve towards the end with the final score and end credit soundtrack. All in all, a worthwhile watch thanks to Denzel. I'm hoping the sequel, whilst still featuring a top lead performance, is more of a well rounded effort - I guess I'll soon see!

Expected pretty good, got very good. Can't call _The Equaliser_ a perfect movie, but I love me a mixed bag of content like this. _Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._