No one sees or hears him coming, but if he shows up somewhere, crooks of all stripes better beware. In fact, it is certain that no one will survive. Robert McCall, the defender of the little people who no longer know where to turn, exists like a shadow. As proof of this, he has no official identity.
After destroying the empire of a Russian oligarch out of sympathy for a young prostitute and then eliminating old mercenary acquaintances who are responsible for the death of a friend, he moves his home to Sicily to storm the Camorra. In “The Equalizer 3,” Denzel Washington once again takes on the role of the ruthless villain hunter.
The first film was technically well made, but lacked scope and ambition and was extremely predictable. The second had a broader scope but ultimately descended into a riot of bad special effects… and was just as predictable.
This third part is also predictable. Well who knows why, it’s like the third time is the charm. Of course, “The Equalizer 3” doesn’t shy away from any more surprises than its predecessors, but the action runs more fluidly and, above all, tighter.
We went from 2:12 to 2:01, then, now, to 1:49, and you can feel it. Especially at the beginning, when clever ellipses allow the plot to make important leaps. The blood flows freely, the bones crack, it backfires and it explodes, like before, like always, but with a little more style.
McCall also seems more vulnerable than before – which isn’t very difficult since he simply seemed invincible. We also sense that he is disturbed by the actions he takes: during a frantic montage we share his point of view with a subjective camera, with a succession of grimacing victims culminating in the shot of a broken mirror in which McCall sees his fragmented reflection considered.
The symbolism isn’t subtle, but this sequence works.
As a bonus, we see a reunion between Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning, who played him as a child in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire. Here she plays a CIA agent. Your complicity is obvious.
Fuqua times three
Like Denzel Washington, director Antoine Fuqua has been around since the first film, and as his filmography attests, he’s capable of the best – see “Training Day,” which won the actor an Oscar – and the worst (see “Infinite”).
As a director, “The Equalizer 3” seems to have brought Antoine Fuqua joy. It must be said that the Sicilian context is enchanting. See instead: The property is located in a postcard village on the mountainside and by the sea, not far from Naples.
Apparently every local person, without exception, is the epitome of nobility and goodness. And of course, the bandits who drain their money and terrorize them are outlaw sadists who deserve what McCall expects them to get (yes, there is a guilty but intoxicating pleasure in the spectacle in question).
Speaking of faith: In contrast to the other two, this film makes Catholic iconography a central motif. This is ultimately appropriate because the kind of justice this substitute saint dispenses would not grace the pages of the Old Testament.
The Vigilante 3 (VF from Equalizer 3)
★★★
Action by Antoine Fuqua. With Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Remo Girone, Eugenio Mastrandrea, Gaia Scodellaro. United States, 2023, 109 minutes. Inside.