Equalizer

Plus lent mais d'autant plus concentré, gradué décemment et profitant luxueusement du méchant principal. Washington s'approche du poste de catégorie A de Seagal et bientôt une auréole s'allumera au-dessus de sa tête. J'ai été ravi par l'équilibre de souveraineté entre lui et Csokas, par les dialogues, par le petit rôle de Bill Pullman, et par l'atmosphère plus sanglante que celle à laquelle nous sommes habitués avec les films de Washington, et par la conclusion avec Moby. Fuqua est de retour. (14/10/2014)

Denzel and dangerous DIY techniques, or also the prequel to Man on Fire, whose only fault is that Fuqua is not Scott. Thus, the slow building of the plot is rather annoyingly long (out of 135 minutes, about 20 minutes are horrendous) and the length of the slow-motion sequences is long beyond absurd. 3 ½. (14/12/2014)

The Equalizer with Denzel Washington could be pretty much compared to Shooter with Mark Wahlberg, which was also shot by Fuqua, years ago. As far as the action goes, the scenes are very well-done, but the movie has a couple of mediocre, uninteresting and useless moments; it could’ve been 30 minutes shorter and I wouldn’t mind at all. (15/06/2015)

The Punisher: Hornbach Edition. The better the first half is, which holds back, relies on the characters and has a nice old-school trace, the worse the second is, because it ruins everything. In the second half, Denzel is just an invincible chimera that takes himself too seriously and that makes him an uninteresting character. Literally, the nail in the coffin is footage when, instead of uncompromising gradation, it fades away because of so many endings that even the Return of the King would get up and go home. (30/05/2018)

Taken + Man On Fire x 2 and you get The Equalizer!! Denzel Washington is in more form than ever and gets my personal Oscar, for Best Actor in an Action Movie (even if he just sits on the toilet for the whole movie, he's got balls). His likability, looks, charisma, skill, ingenuity, focus, military skills and deadly destruction will haunt you throughout the film. What is there to praise here? The excellent cinematography and slow motion effects during the action scenes that strongly rival Korean action movies (the best explosion ever filmed in a movie). A perfect script and dialogues, for the whole film we have the opportunity to hear a plethora of wisecracks and morsels of wisdom, in the next screening I will watch with pencil and paper. The villain, the main bad ass, is a properly smart, cold, menacing and uncompromising mafia boss, he was no doubt a key factor in the success of the film. The action is classy and so distinct you can almost reach out and touch it. The half hour finale was bloodier than any horror film, those who like traps and blood will come into their own as I did. More people died in this film than the number of films I watched in 2014 and there were no few!!! A fully Intelligent, dark and violent revenge ride like there hasn't been in a long time. Whoever humiliates this film flies will be unfriended without mercy! Top 3 movie of the year. (09/10/2014)

A commercial for essential DIY tools in a well-fitting outfit by Antoine Fuqua. Denzel is cool again, even though he’s getting on for sixty, he’s still got it. Csokas is unusually precise and makes a respectable rival. The way the atmosphere is painted is textbook standard. The darkness is added to by the endeavor to punish the world. The intro is a little slow, but the ending good and bloody. And tracking down anything imaginable is super. Now, off to Walmart to buy yourself a hammer, a saw or a rivet gun. (20/12/2014)

A breathtaking stylish piece, with image and individual details playing the main role, the story is unimportant. There are so damn few films like this and yet they are so great to watch. (18/10/2014)

Sorry, but no way. A drawn-out borefest about nothing, everything is horribly wannabe badass (the main character in particular), and the script is on the level the latest Steven Seagal films. And yet so much praise? (25/12/2014)

Well... no. I can appreciate an action flick with higher formal ambitions from time to time, but I also demand that its contents not strongly irritate me, which here unfortunately wasn’t the case. Equalizer looks good, the performances are fine and the sound design is great, but I found it boring and irritating most of the time. Is it exaggerated? Of course, but it doesn’t matter. Is it narratively dumb and disjointed? Yes, unfortunately very much so. And yet it looks so, so good :/ 60% (22/02/2015)

A superbly executed action film where Fuqua's ability to direct great scenes and Denzel's ability to carry the entire film shine through excellently. He's exactly the kind of hero you want to root for. What really bothered me was Chloe Grace Moretz's disappearance from the scene for over an hour. And it's not just because I really like that girl; it also harmed the story. (15/12/2014)

A hardcore Robin Hood for the 21st century, who manages to use his deep knowledge of the hobby market to the hilt in his battle with the biggest scumbag. It's not that The Equalizer isn't entertaining or bloody enough, it's more that at times it oozes with overblown and primitively cheesy action "for effect". The level of emotional heroism here is really over the top, and much more than an action thriller it feels at times like a slightly failed comic book adaptation. A weaker 3 stars. (14/11/2019)