Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a man full of mystery with a past he is trying to move on from, however he is called into action when a young girl Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz) is being controlled by violent Russian gangsters.

I definitely enjoyed watching this film more the first time around. Rewatching it a second time and really looking at the film, it is a good film with a few flaws that does stop it being a great one. Having never watched the 80s tv show of The Equalizer, I don't know how it compares to this film. This is a very fun movie that is made even better with Denzel Washington as the leading man. Robert McCall is a very interesting character and has traits of a man you don't want to mess with.

The slow build up in this movie was great, as we witness Robert living a normal life working at a hardware store during the day and visiting a diner every night to read a book. Denzel is really good in this movie as a man who is just a quiet man and wants his life to stay that way, until he meets Teri. Played by the wonderful Chloe Grace Moretz. She plays a prostitute for the Russia Mafia. After each visit to the diner you start to see Robert warming up to Teri until she finally stops coming. I was a little disappointed to see Chloe just disappear pretty early on as I felt she could have given so much more to the film.

I am not sure if Robert has some sort of OCD, but it seems that way to me with everything he does. Especially the use of hit stopwatch and watching him brutalise the gangsters in that office with such careful and precise calculation was fascinating and among my favourite scene in the whole movie.

It has the typical cliché Russia gangster villains that is so overused it becomes tiring. However I did like Marton Csokas as Teddy in this film. He felt believable in a way where he could go toe to toe with McCall. There were scenes where Robert trains a guy called Ralphie to be a security that just dragged the film down a little for me. Was one too many scenes with them together that felt out of place and served no real purpose except to maybe give Robert more motivation to do what he does at the end. Also had that scene with the corrupt cops that offered nothing except to show Denzel kicking ass again. The end showdown was not what I expected, and to be honest was a little disappointment. On paper I think it sounds cool, but it was pulled off a little too silly.

The Equalizer is a film that is enjoyable but could have been so much better with a few tweaks here and there. 7/10.