The Equalizer

I just watched The Equaliser (or The Equalizer depending on where you're from) and while the movie was nothing to lose shizz over, it was entertaining enough to keep the audience on their seats. Spoilet Alert, I will be revealing some details of the film, so if you don't mind carry on reading.

The movie is about a friendly mall worker Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), who is some kind of retired special ops but is trying to lead a civilian life at the behest of his dying wife's last wish. He befriends a teen(ish?) sex slave, Alina (Chloe Moretz), but after seeing her getting physical abused by her pimp, he decides to rescue her. He tries to persuade her pimp with near 10 grand, but apparently the whore is worth much more. McCall then decides to use his very precise form of fighting and the audience is given the pleasure of watching Denzel Washington shove a shot glass into a man's eye and take out a room full of stereotypical Russian mobsters.
Of course the plot demands more action so the randos McCall kills are actually important members int the Russian Maifa and Mafia Boss Vladmir Pushkin (Vladmir Kulich) sends his man Teddy (Martin Csokas) to deal with the situation.

Nailed the psycho look

A game of cat and mouse ensues where Teddy (who surprisingly quickly) discovers McCall was behind the assault and tries to grab him for interrogation. McCall however is always one step ahead but seems hesitant on just killing Teddy (which you get the feeling that he could do easily)
McCall goes on a spree crippling the Russian's business until Teddy is finally given the kill order.
Taking his fellow mall workers as hostages, Teddy forces McCall into the open and a great mall slaying scene takes place. Once again we were presented with the slightly graphic display of Denzel Washington's agility depsite his older years (Remember he's  almost 60).
McCall makes quick work of the villains and even kills Teddy somewhat anti climatically with a nail gun. McCall then decides the end the crime boss in Russia as well to "kill the head of the snake" and several weeks later finds Alina, who is no longer a prostitute and is happily moving away.
Inspired by his vigilantism, he opens an online forum asking people if they need his help.

Misfit's Rants:
Okay, I liked the movie despite going into it with little to no enthusiasm. But I think my lack of expectation is what made me like it. The plot was fairly well done for an action thriller ( the genre however can be heavily debated) and the casting was solid.
As usual, I was impressed with Denzel Washington, and Csokas really hit that line between professional killer and borderline psycho. Chloe's character was barely on the screen for me to feel truly emphatic with her and I wish that the relationship between her and McCall was more developed. Throughout the film I get the feeling that McCall was just waiting for an opportunity to get back in the game, despite what film is trying to imply.

One of my biggest flaws with the movie was how indestructible McCall was. He goes through the bad guys effortlessly, and even when he goes down, you know he's going to rally. I felt like he had no competition. Even Teddy did not seem as capable as him.
And because it is now mandatory for every action movie to have their hero walk against an explosion, we were subjected to several minutes of this in slow motion.

Ultimately, The Equalizer is a good movie at entertaining but doesn't hold much value otherwise. For an action junkie, this is definitely a must watch.

I give this 3 out of 5 rants.