Quick Synopsis: Denzil Washington accidentally fights the mafia.

I didn’t mind the first Equalizer film, but I was less impressed with the second, mainly because I found it overly long, with the non-action scenes in particular dragging. I also found it had a twist that was incredibly obvious. This fixed the mistakes of the second one; it doesn’t feel as long, it doesn’t aim for a big twist, and it calms down on the “he’s a good, such a good, real good person” aspects which plagued the second one. Overall, I think it’s probably the best one of the three, it’s certainly the one I’m more likely to watch again.

It’s not perfect, it does drag slightly, and there isn’t that much meat on the narrative bones to make it fully satisfying. The music choices are a bit odd, feeling like they’re aiming at a younger audience than the rest of the film. And as good as Denzil is (and he is good in this role), the cuts around his physical limitations are getting more noticeable.

Now onto the good; it always surprises me how brutal these films are. In my head they’re all “someone gets shot and they fall down” and that’s as violent as it gets; all squibs and crash mats. But nope, it’s bloody. It doesn’t build up to it either, it starts with the aftermath of a bloody massacre; as openings go, it’s certainly one of the most shocking.

I haven’t seen the first two since I watched them at the cinema, and I only remember bits and pieces from them. That doesn’t seem to matter though, the only character to return is the main one. There’s an allusion to the previous films at the end (via a TERRIBLY photoshopped picture) but it’s shot in such a “THIS PICTURE IS IMPORTANT!” way that anybody who understands film language (and who knows this is a sequel, but the 3 in the title should be a big indicator of that) would understand “okay, that’s her parents, and her parents obviously know Robert McCall, that’s why he phoned her”.

There’s been a lot of love for the action scenes in this, so I won’t repeat ground others have already plowed over, instead I’m going to praise something that I feel hasn’t got enough love; this has the best explosion scene I’ve seen in a long time. Usually, explosions in cinema are just a big bang, but if you are not in the immediate zone you’re fine. In fact, if you duck or jump, you’re normally fine, and once the explosion itself is over everything is back to normal. This shows the risk that being in the general area has. Instead of feeling like a bit of a shock, it feels like something which gives everyone in the local area PTSD. That’s something which this series has always excelled at; they’ve always been technically good. They’ve also maintained a good sense of visual and tonal continuity. Probably because, unlike a lot of other action franchises, they’ve all been made by the same director; Antoine Fuqua. Keeping him on for all three means that all three flow together well. It doesn’t reach the heights of the Planet Of The Apes trilogy, but there’s not as many differences between the three. If you really enjoy one, you’re going to really enjoy all three of them.

I think the franchise is closed now (outside of the TV show). It hasn’t changed the industry, or even became that critically acclaimed. But what this series has done, is be dependable. You know what’s going on with this, and sometimes, that’s all you want from something.