Equalizer 3: Denzel Washington into the sunset (review)

The Italian conclusion for the vigilant franchise of Denzel Washington: a western that balances between immobility and ultra violence.

Equalizerbasically, is a western: the original 80’s series was the heir, updated and modernized, of programs like In the name of the law with Steve McQueen or Have Gun – Will Travel with Richard Boone; series with a solitary vigilante exercising revenge by gunpowder and cannon on behalf of those who deserve it. And in conclusion, Equalizer 3 fully embraces this Western heritage by cornering its injured hero in a quiet, isolated town in southern Italy – a small town that is threatened by a violent mafia gang and will be defended with guns blazing by its newest citizen. ‘honor. Suffice to say that it could take place on the Frontier, around 1860. Here we are in 2023, and the film feels obliged to cross this plot with another, very unconvincing, drug trafficking organized by Daesh terrorists ( because what is worse than a terrorist or a dealer in the cinema? A terrorist-dealer, surely).

The first part ofEqualizer 3 is great: Denzel Washington, convalescent and immobilized in a postcard town, walks to the fishmonger, flirts with the owner of a café. If we quickly come to want the return of violence – it is obviously on this strange feeling that the films of vigilant work- After the limit fight hardcore of the opening scene, this suspension of time and therefore of violence is remarkable, to the point that one almost forgives the Italian clichés threaded Luke by Pixar (the Neapolitan gangsters who plot their revenge by eating spaghetti in their kitchen). The other remarkable thing being the way the director Antoine Fuqa knows how to take advantage of the mythological dimension of his star Denzel, who has his own way of creating a void around him on the screen – not only being alone facing the landscape, as a certain definition of the western says, but suck all the oxygen out of a scene, become its absolute center of gravity (it was one of the tricks of their remake of Seven mercenaries : how to make a team movie with Denzel?).

Seeing this center of gravity wobble and crack is just as beautiful a moment in cinema, as during this reunion between Denzel and Dakota Fanninghis protege of man on fire nearly 20 years ago. At the end of the film, McCall will rediscover this fascinating side of the prolo Yankee vigilante, avenging archangel of America in debt post-subprime crisis (we remember that in the first Equalizer his official job was a salesman in a kind of American Leroy Merlin, and punished the culprits with an arsenal gleaned from the hardware department). It’s things like that that make one Equalizerdespite its extreme violence sometimes close to the forehead, is infinitely preferable to any act fluo trying to take over from John Wick.

Equalizer 3 released in France on August 30.