Denzel Washington, despite being a brilliant and mercurial actor, tends to repeat himself. His latest film, The Equalizer, looks almost comically similar to his previous work: laconic Washington character with possible military training becomes attached to and rescues a young, innocent girl. It’s practically a sequel to Man on Fire.
Granted, these movies would be much worse if not for Washington’s blistering charisma. And he certainly doesn’t lack self-awareness: he recently explained the Equalizer script as “a classic story, the innocent girl and the guy coming in to save the day and kick some butt. You’ll get some popcorn and escape for a couple of hours.” The girl this time around is Chloë Grace Moretz; the director is Antoine Fuqua, whose Training Day gave Washington an Oscar. The Equalizer is out in September.
