Denzel Washington has long been a towering presence in Hollywood, mainly finding his place as an actor capable of bringing gravitas to biographical dramas like Malcolm X. Washington has also found his place in some tough action roles in the last two decades, including his reboot of The Equalizer, which gained strong reviews, a successful box office performance, and spawned two sequels with a potential fourth on the way. Now, The Equalizer and The Equalizer 2 are trending on Paramount+.
When it comes to defining a movie’s quality, many have come to believe that if Denzel Washington has accepted a role in it, then a film is worth your time. The Equalizer sees the Oscar-winner taking on the role of Robert McCall, a character first made famous by Edward Woodward in a 1980s TV show of the same name, who is a retired Marine and former DIA officer who is brought back into the action to help protect those who cannot protect themselves.
The Equalizer was released in 2014 and directed by Antoine Fuqua, who had his big break with a Washington classic, Training Day back in 2001. Washington was joined by Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman, and Marton Csokas, with the synopsis for the first movie going a bit like this:
“Robert McCall (Washington), a man of mysterious origin who believes he has put the past behind him, dedicates himself to creating a quiet new life. However, when he meets Teri (Moretz), a teenager who has been manhandled by violent Russian mobsters, he simply cannot walk away. With his set of formidable skills, McCall comes out of self-imposed retirement and emerges as an avenging angel, ready to take down anyone who brutalizes the helpless.”
The Equalizer found an audience reasonably easy, with the combination of Washington and Fuqua driving it to a $192 million worldwide box office from a $55 million budget. The movie didn’t fare too badly with critics and audiences when it came to reviews either, scoring 61% and 77% respectively on Rotten Tomatoes. With this kind of success behind it, a sequel was inevitable, and arrived four years later.
‘The Equalizer 2’ Was a Lesser Sequel for Many Fans
The reteaming of Washington and Fuqua for The Equalizer 2 seemed like it would build on the success of the first movie, but that turned out not to be the case. The Equalizer 2 succeeded in drawing in the same audience that I enjoyed the 2014 movie, delivering an almost identical box office of $190 million. However, its budget of around $62 million, meant it was less profitable than its predecessor.
In addition to this, the film did not receive the same kind of praise as The Equalizer garnered, landing a much more divided 52% score from critics and 62% from audiences. This time the plot saw McCall taking on a group of thugs after they kill his best friend and former colleague, Susan Plummer, sending him on a violent revenge mission that puts him up against a group of assassins determined to take him down.
The main issue faced by The Equalizer 2 is that the story turned it into a standard vigilante thriller and even the combination of Washington and Fuqua could not quite save it from becoming the age-old story of diminishing returns. This made it all the more surprising when The Equalizer 3 debuted in 2023 with another identical $190 million box office, but a staggering 94% audience score, which proved that there is perhaps still life in the franchise yet.
For now, it seems that fans have been catching up on the original outings of Washington as McCall, sending the first two movies up into their respective sixth and seventh spots on the Paramount+ chart, with the third movie probably not too far behind.