The Equalizer (2014), R, ★★★

Denzel doing what he does best...being cool, well, with a gun.

Denzel Washington is an actor who always looks for flawed characters and cool characters that have different characteristics relevant to himself, to other characters, and to the service of the plot. Lately, he has been hit-or-miss, but when he is a hit, he's about a home run. Flight was a great movie about a struggling alcoholic pilot trying to quit but also hides his guilt because people look up to him. 2 Guns was a little silly, but he played another cop with experienced intuition. However, he is playing a guy that is from the TV show and is so calculated and intricate that he times his kills. This movie is also calculated into guessing who this guy is plus the explosions.

Washington plays Robert McCall, a well-respected worker at Home Mart, a home improvement store. Every night he goes out to a diner taking a book to read and one night, a young girl named Alina (Chlöe Grace Moretz) asks McCall whether the man has caught the fish. Later that night, he runs into the same girl and a limo pulls up to the diner where Alina gets a call from her pimp, Slavi (David Menuier). The girl does not want to go out with him but reluctantly, because of his size, she leaves with him. And then, the next night, she comes out with a bruise and then the she ends up in the ICU and McCall wants to get to the bottom of this as McCall finds out from another friend that Slavi beats her girls up constantly.

As McCall kills Slavi and all the people involved in the incident involving Alina, a Russian mobster named Teddy (Marton Csokas) arrives in Boston to find out who is behind the killings. Teddy is trusting one of the crooked cops, Frank Masters (David Harbour), who takes him to another gangster, but unfortunately, insults him and Russia and kills him painfully.

A funny situation as a crook comes to Home Mart and gets the cashier, Jenny (Anastasia Mousis) at gunpoint to give him the money. She also gives her ring to the crook, which belongs to her mother. McCall takes a sledgehammer from the Home Mart to kill the crook and then the next day, he returns the ring and puts the hammer back to where it belongs. Teddy gets some information on McCall, with no indication that he is related to the murders of Slavi and his other henchmen. But, it is going to be a dangerous cat-and-mouse game til' the very end.

Teddy (Marton Csokas) and his henchmen. 

This movie is actually very good in the first hour as we pay attention to McCall as how he observes crooks with details such as tattoos and other markings. Also, it is very quiet as he observes why Alina looks worse and worse as he now wants to deal with the pimp. It is now his business as he has been seeing her about every single night. One very canny factor in this film is how McCall remains secretive as he is just a home improvement worker, but nobody knows who he is and what is in his agenda.

I've already talked about Denzel Washington as he still proves that he can control the film with a dominating presence allowing his talent just to be on-screen. I know he plays another bad-ass character, but he always plays different bad-ass characters with, again, secretive agendas. Moretz gives a light performance in a good movie that is just right, not spectacular. Washington has good chemistry with Moretz.

The movie gets a little unexciting as the second hour unwinds into an explosive festival of fireworks with many shootouts and Denzel walking away from an explosion. But, it's ok. There's something between director Antoine Fuqua and Washington that clicks. Fuqua directed him in his Oscar-winning role in Training Day and they both made another solid film with Washington creating another electrifying performance. This movie is cool with subtlety in the beginning and crackling action in the end and it pays off.

***