Five years after he last kicked a few heads, Denzel Washington once again slips into the role of former DIA agent and all-round tough guy Robert McCall for “The Equalizer 3”.
Inspired by the 1980s television series of the same name, this combat-heavy franchise fits perfectly into the unstoppable vigilantism subcategory of the action genre that gave us hits like the John Wick series in more recent years. Washington also reteams with Antoine Fuqua, the filmmaker who directed him in films like Training Day and The Magnificent Seven.
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The franchise has spanned nearly a decade since its launch in 2014 and has made its way to Sky Cinema this week with a third installment.
With more action to come, now might be a good time to refresh your memory and recollect everything that has happened to Washington’s reluctant hero so far. Ready? Let’s get started…
What happened in the “Equalizer”?
Fuqua’s first film hit theaters in 2014 and introduced us to Robert McCall, a seemingly unremarkable hardware store clerk with a mysteriously dark past.
McCall, played by Washington, seems determined to do his best to live a quiet life in Boston, even as he struggles with haunting events from a past life that keep him awake at night and cause him to regularly go to restaurants.
Unfortunately, his peace is disturbed when a young prostitute named Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), whom he has befriended during nightly diner visits, is attacked and severely beaten by members of the Russian mafia.
Shocked and angry, McCall is determined to get revenge. He tracks down Teri’s attackers and targets them, revealing his skills as a presumed dead, highly trained member of the American military and intelligence community.
Although justice was served, McCall soon realizes that by killing the men who attacked Teri, he has stirred up a hornet’s nest that reaches all the way to the top of a sprawling Russian mafia syndicate.
Soon, the violent oligarch Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich) sends his men to track down and kill McCall, but the former secret service agent does not make it easy for them.
What follows is a game of cat and mouse between Pushkin’s lackey Nicolai (Marton Csokas) and McCall, as the former tries to kill their new attacker while the latter robs the criminal gang of their numerous money laundering proceeds.
Eventually, things come to a head when McCall finally faces the boss Pushkin and brings peace back to Teri’s life and that of his friends from the small Boston town.
What happened in The Equalizer 2?
After advertising his services as a renegade lawman – or “Equalizer” – at the end of the first film, McCall makes his return to vigilantism a complete success in Fuqua and Washington’s second “Equalizer” appearance.
After traveling to Istanbul to help search for a Boston man’s kidnapped daughter, McCall soon finds himself involved in a new case that brings him back into contact with his old DIA colleagues.
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When an old co-worker is murdered under suspicious circumstances, McCall tries to find out who is behind the murder. In doing so, he comes across a familiar face who works as a mercenary and double agent, whom he must hunt down and stop.
The Equalizer 2 doubles down on the elaborate action sequences that were often timed with McCall’s stopwatch in the first film, and introduces us to more faces from the character’s past, including his former partner Dave York, played by Pedro Pascal.
Like any good vigilante action epic, McCall’s second appearance raises the stakes considerably while keeping the audience guessing as to who to trust and who might be behind the murders and why.
When the sequel ends, McCall is able to return to the quiet neighborhood life he so longed for when we first met him in 2014.
But like any good action hero, he’s ready to strike again if necessary, and as it turns out, he is in The Equalizer 3.
The Equalizer 3 will be released on Sky Cinema on Friday 3 May.
