Denzel Washington single-handedly takes on the mob, in Sicily. Photo / Supplied
Denzel Washington single-handedly takes on the mob, in Sicily. Photo / Supplied
Denzel Washington returns in the role of Robert McCall, the former special agent who just can’t seem to mind his own business. McCall’s innate sense of justice sees him engaging in off-book missions. First, it was ridding Boston of Russian sex-traffickers; then it was solving a politically-motivated murder in Belgium.
This time he’s in southern Italy, after single-handedly devastating a criminal operation operating out of a Sicilian vineyard. Gravely wounded, McCall hides out in a small coastal town, Altamonte, where he gets a warm welcome from the locals. But when the Mafia come calling, McCall sets out to rid Altamonte of the scourge of the Camorra.
The fifth collaboration with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, this latest Washington actioner has a surprisingly gentle pace, although the captivating 68-year-old is still an impressive fighter. But insipid characters such as the young CIA agent cut from cliché (Washington’s Man on Fire co-star, a now grown-up Dakota Fanning) and a pretty local waitress who insists on showing the taciturn stranger “real Italian street food” feel weak.
Compared with Edward Woodward in the original 1980s TV series, Washington’s McCall is hyperbolically brutal (a baddie dies by a cleaver to the face, before he shoots one hapless villain throughthe eye-socket of another). Viewers are subjected to slow pans and pointed close-ups of butchered bodies. But it’s okay – there are churches aplenty where he can take time out to ponder the conflicting morality of his “calling”.
If only he could sit quietly with his cup of tea and watch the sunset over the Med, McCall might be able to take up that retirement. But you get the feeling he hasn’t finished saving the world just yet.
Rating out of five: ★★★
The Equalizer 3 directed by Antoine Fuqua is in cinemas now.
