The Equalizer 3: Denzel stomps Italian bad guys

DENZEL Washington returns for another round of vigilante mayhem in this second sequel to the 2014 action thriller.

Loosely based on the hit 1980s television series starring Edward Woodward, the film once again sees the two-time Oscar winner reteaming with frequent collaborator Antoine Fuqua, who also directed him in Training Day.

Purportedly the final film of a trilogy, for those who enjoyed the previous films, there is plenty here to keep you entertained, even if you can see where it its going pretty much from the outset without too much deliberation.

Apart from some half-hearted geopolitical plotting, this is a stylishly constructed and well directed thriller that is ideal Friday night cinema fare.

After completing a mission to retrieve stolen money at secluded villa in Sicily, Robert McCall (Washington) is gravely injured and running out of options. On the verge of death, the retired special ops agent is discovered unconscious at the wheel of his car by a policeman.

Waking up in the home of a kindly doctor (Remo Girone) three days later, McCall discovers he is now in a picturesque fishing town on the Italian Amalfi Coast.

As he spends time in the town recuperating from his injuries, McCall charms the locals with his quiet, unassuming demeanour and they do their best to make him feel at home.

As McCall starts to think that he may have found a place where he can finally get some peace, it becomes clear that not all is well.

McCall realises that the townspeople are under the boot of the Camorra mafia.

The thugs employ vicious methods of intimidation to run their extortion rackets, and the threat of violence is never far off. It is part of a larger plot to drive the locals away and take over the town to build resorts and casinos.

McCall comes to believe that in order to save himself, he must first save the town.

Washington has carved out a nice little career niche over the past over the past ten years or so, alternating between Oscar-worthy dramas (Flight, The Tragedy of Macbeth) and action blockbusters like 2 Guns and of course these Equalizer films.

The series has been a formulaic but oddly satisfying watch. Its mixture of graphic violence and Washington’s glowering performance; often sporting a look of cold, righteous anger, has proved a winning combination.

The Equalizer 3 also proves to be very much a case of more of the same, as Washington disposes of those who would dare threaten people that he cares about.

At 109 minutes, this is a sleek well-oiled thriller that keeps one invested even as it uses overly familiar storytelling ingredients.

The initially straightforward plot becomes a little bit of a jumble in the second act, suggesting that scenes that might have fleshed out the story a little were cut from the finished product.

Thankfully the action provides plenty of distraction from the movie’s shortcomings.

Once again the film sees Washington annihilate criminals in imaginative and very bloody ways, with the fluency of a man half his age and an extreme stealth suggestive of a ghost.

It’s safe to assume that by the end of the film, the Cosa Nostra might consider calling it a day.

The Equalizer 3 delivers exactly what you would expect and is all the better for it.

RATING: ****

Matthew McCaul