You know I often joke about if you haven’t done a certain something, then I don’t trust you.
Well, here is one of those times when I’m not joking. If you haven’t seen Denzel Washington in The Equalizer, I.DON’T.TRUST.YOU.
Why?!?! Because it’s honestly one of the best films of the year and easily a Top 10 Performance for Denzel – and that’s saying A LOT!
The premise is simple: Washington is a retired CIA operative who’s trying all too hard not to be a fish out of water in the dredges of Boston. Over a series of nights when he can’t sleep, he encounters a young and enigmatic Chloe-Grace Moritz aka Alena.
You can see the immediate connection between the two and when a bad thing happens to a young and alone Alena, you can even see the smoke coming from Robert McCall’s (Washington) head as he sets forth on a harrowing journey of revenge and redemption.
McCall is highly adept at utilizing whatever he has around him to snuff the lives out of the Russian mobsters that have inflicted pain not only upon Alena, but the everyday citizens of the city of Boston. The crazy thing? Once he starts on his impetuous, adrenaline-fueled journey, there can be no doubt that he will NOT stop until all is right and I do mean ALL.
McCall is a reluctant hero and yet you couldn’t imagine someone more at home and at ease with the choices he is forced to make to have PEACE – “Brick by Brick, Dollar by Dollar, BODY BY BODY.”
This movie is an absolute masterpiece and one that if you’re breathing, you definitely will want to view more than once, because it’s that exhilarating and endearing. McCall is truly a hero we ALL can identify with – reluctant or not.
Joyll Cambridge hails from Manchester, United Kingdom and currently lives in New York, New York. She loves all things movies, fitness and swirling.
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Copyright © 2014 Michelle Matthews Calloway, ASwirlGirl™, The Swirl World™, The Swirl World Podcast™, All rights reserved. Photo of Joyll Cambridge used with permission. Movie poster from the movie “The Equalizer” obtained from IMDB.com.