Antoine Fuqua‘s The Equalizer is said to have scored the highest ratings ever from a test audience for an R-rated movie. I don’t exactly know how high the bar is set for such screenings, but I do know I will never base my decisions on what test audiences have to say. However, given this is a reteaming of Fuqua with his Training Day star, Denzel Washington, I have to at least stand up and take notice.
Loosely based on the late-’80s TV series centered on a private detective available for hire if you have a problem that you don’t know how to solve, The Equalizer will be adjusted for Washington to play McCall, a man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when McCall meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.
The film hits theaters on September 26, check out the latest poster below.
