The Equalizer (film)

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Movie
German title The equalizer
Original title The equalizer
The Equalizer (Film) Logo.png
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2014
length 132 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Antoine Fuqua
script Richard Wenk
production Alex Siskin ,
Denzel Washington ,
Jason Blumenthal ,
Mace Neufeld ,
Michael Sloan ,
Richard Wenk ,
Steve Tisch ,
Todd Black ,
Tony Eldridge
music Harry Gregson-Williams
camera Mauro Fiore
cut John Refoua
occupation
chronology

Successor  →
The Equalizer 2

The Equalizer is an American action - thriller from the year 2014, which on the same TV show based on Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim from the 1980s. The film had its world premiere on September 7, 2014 at the Toronto International Film Festival . In Germany it was released on October 9, 2014.

action

Former Defense Intelligence Agency agent Robert McCall works as a clerk in a Boston hardware store. He's popular with his co-workers and helps one, Ralph, train for his security exam . He had promised his recently deceased wife that he would leave his former life behind. Since he has trouble sleeping at night, he spends his nights in a diner where he befriends a young woman. Teri, whose real name is Alina, has to work as a prostitute for the violent Russian pimp and criminal Slavi.

After Slavi beats Alina to the hospital, McCall tries to buy her out of Slavi for  $ 9,800. When Slavi declines the offer and mocks him, McCall kills him and four of his people using his hand-to-hand combat skills . Those killed were members of the Russian mafia . Their boss Vladimir Pushkin hires Teddy Rensen, his specialist for difficult cases, to solve the murders. Upon inspection of the crime scene, Rensen immediately notices that it is not a murder by rival gangs. On surveillance videos, he recognizes a black man out of focus. From Alina's friend Mandy he learns that such a man wanted to visit Alina in the hospital, whereupon Rensen strangles Mandy in cold blood.

In the meantime, Ralph has quit his job in the hardware store and helps his mother in their snack bar, which was devastated by a fire the day before. McCall finds out that two corrupt police officers started the fire because Ralph's mother was behind with her protection payments. He confronts the two police officers in the backyard, beats them up and uses a cell phone video that he recorded about their machinations to force them to repay the extorted protection money. Ralph then starts again at the hardware store and passes his exam to become a security guard.

Frank Masters, a corrupt police officer serving the Russian Mafia, provides Rensen with information about McCall. Rensen visits McCall in his apartment, posing as a police officer. Rensen realizes that he must be the culprit. He is impressed with McCall's abilities and tries to find out more about him. In the evening Rensen wants to have his people kidnap him in the diner. McCall kills one of the attackers and goes into hiding. He visits Susan and Brian, a couple who are friends and former DIA colleagues. Susan makes inquiries about Pushkin with the DIA. He runs an inscrutable network of criminal activities of all kinds and has great political influence, which makes him almost unassailable. Rensen's real name is Nicolai Itchenko and is a former agent of the Russian Speznas . A statement by Brian reveals that McCall can only live in anonymity because he was thought to be dead after an explosion during his last deployment and was even given an official burial.

McCall returns to Boston, shackles Masters in his car and threatens to suffocate him with exhaust gas if he doesn't help him. Together with Masters, he picks up a Pushkins money deposit and gives the corrupt police officer to his colleagues. In the evening he visits Itchenko in a restaurant and asks him to voluntarily persuade his boss to withdraw from the city, but is laughed at. McCall then blows up one of Pushkin's oil tankers full of contraband. Pushkin is angry about the millions lost and puts pressure on Itchenko. He hires new men and takes McCall's colleagues at the hardware store hostage with them so that McCall can turn himself in. He invades the hardware store unnoticed and frees the hostages. While Ralph is taking them outside, McCall kills Itchenko's people one by one with tools from the hardware store. In the final duel, McCall also kills Itchenko with a nail gun .

McCall is in Moscow three days later to also eliminate Pushkin. He switches off the guards and confronts the mafia boss. When McCall asks his reasons, McCall replies that he wants to cut off the snake's head in order to be able to live in peace again. He electrocuted the bathroom that eventually killed Pushkin.

Back in Boston, McCall meets the recovered Alina on the street, who tells him that she had received $ 9,800 in the hospital from a stranger and that she would start a new life with it. At the end of the day, McCall sits on his laptop in his regular diner and offers his help as an " equalizer " on the Craigslist website in the event of difficulties.

production

In June 2010, Russell Crowe was cast for the role of Robert McCall. In December 2011, Sony announced that Denzel Washington would take on the role instead of Crowe. There were also changes in the selection of directors when negotiations with Antoine Fuqua only began in March 2013, shortly before filming began, after Nicolas Winding Refn and Rupert Wyatt had to cancel due to scheduling problems. By Chloë Grace Moretz Director Fuqua was so convinced that he specifically made the film character Alina younger for them after initially an older actress was looking for.

Filming began on June 17, 2013 in Boston . The cost of production was about $ 55 million. By mid-November 2014, the film grossed just under $ 190 million, including just under $ 100 million in the United States.

criticism

The film received a mixed to positive response. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film was rated 61% based on 171 evaluated reviews. In summary, it says: " The Equalizer is more stylish and brutal than meaningful, but with Antoine Fuqua behind the camera and Denzel Washington as a fighter for justice, the film delivers what it promises." Metacritic determined a metascore of 57 out of 100 based on 41 Reviews. The film currently has a user rating of 7.2 out of 10 stars on the Internet Movie Database .

Björn Becher rates The Equalizer with 3 out of 5 stars on film releases and says: “The short sequences in which the mostly unarmed title hero first assesses his environment and his opponents and their weak points and then strikes in quick succession, relentlessly and extremely brutally, are a reminder Little like the “ Sherlock Holmes ” films by Guy Ritchie and are now the showpieces of “The Equalizer” as well as the charismatic lead actor - but between these brilliant moments there is a lot of idle time in Fuqua's long action film. ” Cinema sees in that Film is a “tough, nerve-racking vigilante justice thriller”, which admittedly serves “the cliché of the bad Russian”, but comes up with a “nerve-wracking showdown”. The film dienst describes The Equalizer as a “clichéd, completely unimaginative infusion of the vigilante action cinema of the 1980s”, in which the “charismatic leading actor” and some “virtuoso action scenes” do not feature can hide the void. Variety editor Scott Foundas sees it similarly: "Excessively long and therefore not half as entertaining as it could have been:" The Equalizer "is ultimately a cumbersome, unnecessarily brutal and mostly unsatisfactory update of the cult series from the 80s." Kim Newman judges the Empire that The Equalizer was "too long and cumbersome", but "this passable star vehicle offers more than enough righteous retribution for a nerve-racking evening with Denzel." He awards 3 stars out of 5. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gives a positive verdict: "This satisfying update of the popular series from the 1980s is the most exciting, violent and stylish film of its kind in years."

continuation

A sequel was released in 2018 with The Equalizer 2 . In the USA the film was released on July 20, 2018, the German theatrical release was on August 16, 2018. Richard Wenk was hired as a screenwriter .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of release for The Equalizer . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2014 (PDF; test number: 147 288 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for The Equalizer . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Marco Janssen: "The Equalizer": Denzel Washington plays ex-CIA agents in a series adaptation . In: Filmstarts.de . December 14, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ Christopher Drose: "The Equalizer": "Training Day" director Antoine Fuqua before reunification with Denzel Washington . In: Filmstarts.de . March 21, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ Mike Fleming, Jr .: 'Equalizer' Update: Chloe Moretz Getting Lead in Film And Creator Michael Sloan To Write New Novels Based On Iconic Character . In: Deadline.com . May 10, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  6. ↑ Production in #Boston begins next month on THE EQUALIZER w / Denzel Washington (6/17) . In: Twitter . May 4, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  7. ^ "The Equalizer (2014)" In: boxofficemojo.com, accessed on November 17, 2014.
  8. ^ The Equalizer on rottentomatoes.com, accessed February 4, 2016.
  9. ^ The Equalizer on metacritic.com, accessed February 4, 2016.
  10. ^ The Equalizer on imdb.com, accessed February 4, 2016.
  11. ^ Björn Becher: The Equalizer. Film releases , accessed May 2, 2015 .
  12. ^ The Equalizer. Cinema , accessed May 2, 2015 .
  13. ^ Sascha Koebner: The Equalizer. film-dienst 21/2014, accessed on May 2, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Scott Foundas: Toronto Film Review: 'The Equalizer' on variety.com, accessed October 9, 2014.
  15. ↑ Kim Newman: Man Still On Fire at empireonline.com, accessed October 9, 2014.
  16. ^ Todd McCarthy: The Equalizer ': Toronto Review on hollywoodreporter.com, accessed October 9, 2014.
  17. ↑ Björg Prüßmeier: After enthusiasm at test demonstrations: Sequel to Antoine Fuqua's action thriller “The Equalizer” with Denzel Washington in progress . In: Filmstarts.de . February 25, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.