--Robert McCall
For nearly a year now our library has been closed to the public, but we can still take out books, audio-books and DVDs, so I've been actively doing that. The biggest challenge initially was the DVDs because most of us have always browsed the shelves till we find something that looks interesting. Fortunately the library website has a pretty good Search function. You type in a word or name, and what format you are looking for. (Any, Book, Audio-Book, DVD, etc.)
Sometime in the fall I began doing searches by actor. Tom Hanks, for example. Leonardo DiCaprio. Kate Blanchett.
The library does not have comprehensive collections of all these people, but they do have plenty. This week I started in on some Denzel Washington films.
Washington is another one of those great actors who is not only versatile, but also skilled at selecting roles. I knew nothing about The Equalizer when I ordered it up, but knowing the star gave me a strong sense of confidence that it would be worth my time.
Furthermore, and this part is strictly coincidence, after I picked up the DVD last Saturday I couldn't help but notice that there was a TV series being heavily promoted throughout the Super Bowl pre-game show and the Super Bowl itself regarding a new show starring Queen Latifah as The Equalizer. The film clearly made an impact on enough people that Hollywood decided to serialize it.
SPOILER ALERT
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The tag line for the film reads A man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him cannot stand idly by when he meets a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters.
Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is that man, of course. Whatever he was, he doesn't wear it on his sleeve. He's just a quiet working man who pays attention to and cares about the people around him. He works at a warehouse during the day and hangs out at a quiet diner at night, watching the clientele and reading. One of these is a young prostitute who is evidently a regular, and he suggests the girl pursue another kind of life, telling her that she has the power to become something better.
In this exchange and in another with a young Hispanic co-worker at the warehouse, we see that he is a compassionate man who is aware of those around him and not simply an insulated loner.
All this is setup, of course. The people the girl is employed by badly rough her up so that she ends up in the hospital. A friend of the girl, also a hooker, notifies McCall of what happened, setting in motion the awakening of the Equalizer, a cool as punch lethal weapon who has chosen not to stand by and watch injustice. It's a Good Guy vs. the Bad Guys story with a Mission Impossible feel because the odds are just that. Impossible.
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I'll first start by saying this film is rated R for graphic violence and rough language. It also has something I very much try to avoid, when really bad men are going to hurt a girl. (The only thing worse for me is kidnapping or hurting children, something I can never watch for entertainment.) Nevertheless, the bad guys in this film--a Russian crime organization--are truly bad dudes.
Denzel Washington seems superhuman, though we see in the final showdown that he really is mortal. But let's face it, if you are watching this in 2021 you already know there is a sequel, so you know who's going to win in the end. That's just the way the Hollywood formula works, isn't it?
The extent to which the corruption extends will likely surprise you, but it shouldn't. Money can't buy love, but it has historically bought off its share of police and politicians.
I'm not sure what the book was that McCall was reading in the diner at the beginning of the film, but late in the movie we see that it's Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. There's a sense in which Robert McCall is something of an invisible man. When he says at one point, "You gotta be who you are," he is actually talking to and about himself.
The film captured a 7.2 rating on imdb.com. The new TV show has a 4.0 rating at this point. It is what it is.
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