“What happens here, happens in many towns. The mafia. They're like cancer. No cure.” Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone)
The good doctor of a picturesque Amalfi coastal town is about to discover that his patient, the imposing anonymous Black man, Robert (Denzel Washington), can cure that cancer. It’s all a fantasy, of course, but a durable one.
Just like our formulaic Westerns, our vigilante motif lives where the stranger comes into town and changes things. Considering the long tradition of spaghetti westerns, Italy is a comfortable place for our good versus evil shootouts.
This third and presumably last installment of its franchise, Equalizer 3 has much less of a body count than, say, in John Wicke, but far more heart and soul as it zeroes in on the masterfully understated expressions of the Oscar-winning star. While the Wicke franchise offers bloody ballet, Equalizer McCall offers terse no nonsense: “Nine seconds. That's what I'll give you to decide your fate.”
Why this retired government assassin lands here is uncertain, but it is certain that while he grows loving toward the town, he is equally appalled by the Camorra mafia’s blatant drug smuggling and abuse of the townspeople. He will have none of that.
In a series of bloody set pieces, especially the painful “arm wrestling” encounter, Robert begins to set things straight. Helped by the luscious cinematography of Tarantino’s lenser, Robert Richardson, with the pure white town spotted in red, director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter Richard Wenk capture the beautiful vulnerability of a former medieval fishing town confronting the messy brutality of modernity.
Like most others in the audience, I know what is coming to the bad guys as this improbable savior whitewashes the bloody town to make it pure again. Because this is allegedly Washington’s swan song as Robert McCall, we watch more intently the professional assassin put to order the other not so smart assassins.
My delight is the comfort that comes from seeing the bad guys get what they deserve because they are getting away with murder of various kinds in our real world.
The Equalizer 3
Director: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day)
Screenplay: Richard Wenk (The Equalizer)
Cast: Denzel Washington (Training Day)
Run Time: 1h 49m
Rating: R
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and hosts Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take out of WCBE 90.5 FM. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com
