The Equalizer 3
The Equalizer 3, USA 2023. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, screenplay by Richard Wenk.
CineStar Theater 5, Row 6, Seats 7+8. Original version.
(This post originally appeared, in slightly different form, at my Instagram account betweendrafts.)
Denzel Washington counts among my all-time favorite actors, and with Fuqua’s Equalizer series in particular, our little household fell in love right from the start.
Antoine Fuqua’s 2023 The Equalizer 3 is again so extremely violent as to cross over into body horror territory at times, and it is, like the entire series, even darker than comparable action franchises. But it’s also always more hopeful and emotionally intimate.
Marcelo Zarvo’s outstanding score keeps turning from eerie to terrifying and back on a dime. The cinematography is again very different, this time with Robert Richardson at the helm—reminiscent of his work for Scorsese at times and a perfect fit for this movie’s theme.
Fuqua has often stressed that his main influence is Kurosawa Akira, but when the stakes get high and the action gets rolling, there’s a recognizable likeness to the objective-oriented character action and tightly-paced dramatic progression of David Memet’s scripts.
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