Director Fuqua's films tend to be rather high on style but low on substance and his Equalizer franchise is mostly that. Billed as the "last in the series" (because trilogies are a thing and Washington is getting up there) this film tries to give the title character a send off which is does in the rather straight forward and predictable manner this series has always gone.
The Equalizer 3 is not a bad film but it is exactly what you'd expect and overly simplified. It's popcorn viewing for sure. Just entertaining enough without getting into anything too deep. The film is excessively violent and excessively cliched. Fuqua really pays homage to the Godfather trilogy here which perhaps highlights some of the film's weaknesses in comparison. However all in all if you go into The Equalizer 3 with low expectations you can enjoy it for the light fluff it is.
My main critique of this film (and the series in general, although this one even more so) is that it never grapples with the character's psychopathic tendencies. It pretends to at one point ("are you a good man or a bad man" Denzel is asked and his response is "I don't know") but the film never truly explores his own complicity in the violent world he participates in, or the violence that he perpetuates. Again the series leans into the lighter side of entertainment so it doesn't want to cast too much shadow on its central character. The Equalizer makes John Wick look like Touch of Evil so this is for the when you really don't want to have to think much about the movie you are watching.
So go into this with the expectation to be lightly entertained and expect nothing more and you'll be fine.
The Equalizer 3
Starring: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Sonia Ben Ammar
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: Richard Wenk
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