ABOVE: Watch the trailer for The Equalizer.
TORONTO — Derived from the TV series of the same name that ran from 1985 to 1989, The Equalizer has blasted into theatres,
The movie reteams Denzel Washington with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua and also stars Marton Csokas (Noah) and Chloë Grace Moretz (Carrie).
Washington plays Robert McCall, a former spy working at a Home Depot-like store who sets out to bring down Russian gangsters victimizing young women.
Here’s a look at what some of the critics are saying.
“There is something deeply ugly and crass in director Antoine Fuqua’s fatuous drama-thriller,” wrote Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, who added Washington’s “usual irrepressible charm and intelligence are smothered.”
READ MORE: What the critics are saying about other recent movies
Bradshaw was put off by scenes of women being brutalized and assaulted.
“Women are entirely unimportant, and simpering Moretz turns out to be a minor character, to say the very least.”
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone credited Washington for driving The Equalizer and praised Fuqua for keeping “the action humming.”
At the New York Daily News, Joe Neumaier opined the movie “is tense and coiled for its first hour, then becomes routine in its second half.”
But, Neumaier credited Fuqua for bringing out the menace in Washington.
“Washington, now 60, continues to push himself to new areas and fine-tune his charisma. He remains one of Hollywood’s most effortless and engaging actors,” he wrote. “He’s the reason to see The Equalizer, even though it winds up equaling nothing more than a basic revenge thriller.”
Mick LaSalle of SF Gate called the movie “silly but irresistible.
“It could never have been a great movie, but between Washington and director Antoine Fuqua, it’s as good as it could be, as in good enough to keep audiences glued to the seat for more than two hours,” LaSalle wrote.
The critic had a warning, though. “This is one gory, nasty movie, and it’s safe to say that you should probably seek other entertainment if you never want to see a villain getting killed with a nail gun or a power drill.”
Forbes reviewer Scott Mendelson welcomed the violence.
“In a world of softened around the edges and cut to PG-13 action thrillers, The Equalizer is refreshingly R-rated,” he wrote, “not because it is drenched in gore and nudity but because it is an adult film with adult content and adult themes and thus deserves an adult rating.”
Mendelson said The Equalizer is “a stylish and character-driven drama that only periodically chooses conventional action over contemplation and brief bursts of violence.”
While “the film doesn’t end as promisingly as it starts,” he said, “it is still a solid and well-crafted bit of mainstream pulp.”
BELOW: Watch Denzel Washington talk to Global’s Rosey Edeh.
At TIME, Richard Corliss described the movie as a “virulently lively thriller.”
Clint O’Connor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland praised Washington for delivering “the requisite butt-kicking jolts.”
O’Connor wrote: “The Equalizer is an intense, violent drama. If you have ever fantasized about running amok at your local Lowe’s or Home Depot, Fuqua feels you. The director dials up outrageous levels of makeshift weapons, and has a deft touch with capturing the loner-against-the-world mentality of his lead character.”
Jake Wilson of The Sydney Morning Herald opined The Equalizer is “a film that, in dramatic terms, remains both leaden and absurd.”
He wrote that the movie works “as unhinged spectacle” but added: “As a thriller it’s less certain. Once he’s revealed as an impossibly skilled killer, McCall never seems in danger for a moment. Outside the first battle, and a cheat scene in the middle where the editing suggests McCall’s in danger when he absolutely isn’t, the movie’s only tension comes from our wondering when — and in what horrible way — he’ll kill the next guy.
“He spends much of the last 20 minutes in the dark, offing baddies with power-tools. It’s great if that’s what you’re into, but is this the best use our culture has for a talent like Denzel Washington?”
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