Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua teamed up over a decade ago for the first time to make a film that you might have heard of before called Training Day. Washington has always had swagger, but he never had villainous swagger until that point, and audiences were exposed to that for the first time with his character of Alonzo Harris. He did it so well that he grabbed the Oscar for best actor that year. Well, now they’ve teamed up again to give us The Equalizer.
On paper, the film looks like a typical action flick: ex-military forced out of retirement to kill some bad guys. It’s actually also one of my favorite Key and Peele sketches. However, what’s intriguing this time around is that it’s Denzel Washington instead of Liam Neeson for once, and obviously the reunion of Washington and Fuqua sparks some interest as well. It’s almost safe to say that Washington will add more depth to this seemingly cardboard cut-out of a character.
Why do they keep making these kinds of films? That’s simple. We need to be inspired by heroes on the big screen so that maybe some of us will walk the same path. These are those old school, gritty, do-right heroes with backbones made of steel. There’s not enough good triumphing over bad these days, and by “these days” I mean ever, so having that in cinema is part of a balanced diet for the human condition. Other than that, who doesn’t love to see Washington kick some butt?
The tagline spits out this question: what do you see when you look at me? Many of us see the baddest man on the planet. Check out the trailer, which also features Eminem and Sia’s new single, “Guts Over Fear.”
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_bOgq0-HGU[/youtube]
