THE EQUALIZER

Sony Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 132 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Equalizer.



In Sony Pictures The Equalizer, hardware depot manager Denzel Washington takes it upon himself to protect a hooker Chloe Grace Moretz from her pimp David Meunier  - and soon goes up against the Russian Mafia.

Living an ordinary life as a hardware manager, at a hardware depot that is based on Home Depot and Lowes, Washington works closely with his fellow hardware workers, including security guard applicant Johnny Skourtis. Washington soon makes friends with Moretz who is interested in Washington's books. After Moretz is beaten by Meunier, Washington goes after Meunier - who happens to be with the Russian Mafia.

Based on the TV show The Equalizer that starred Edward Woodward, and Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer is about a former government operative who offers his services in helping people who have the odds against them. In the movie, Washington meets with his former government colleagues Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo about Marton Csokas, a Russian enforcer who was assigned to find out what happened to Meunier. The adversarial relationship between Csokas and Washington was most interesting to me. It is interesting that Washington's character had no real back story in the movie so Washington created his own back story for his character, with the character having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

While a popular TV series, I had never watched The Equalizer at the time. I have a feeling that the movie took on more of the style of the TV show in that the movie was more of a suspense thriller - rather than an action film, which some people might think the movie would seem to be. But make no mistake that the violence in the movie is fairly graphic.

At the end of the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to read that The Equalizer was Written by someone I used to work with at Showtime, Richard Wenk. Sony Pictures plan on doing a sequel to The Equalizer with Richard writing the script. I hope they keep Richard, not just because I know him, but so that there will be more of a coherent consistency to the next movie. Fuqua hopes the sequel to be more international.

Rated R for graphic violence and language. Running time: 132 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Like us on Facebook: Pancho's Movie Reviews

FLIGHT

Paramount Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 138 Minutes



Click below to watch the Flight trailer.



In Paramount Pictures Flight, after flying through a turbulant storm - a drunken airline pilot Denzel Washington makes a miraculous crash landing with his passenger airliner.

Produced and Directed by Robert Zemeckis, in his first R rated film since Used Cars, this is a tour-de-force performance by Denzel Washington. Similar to real-life events, the focus of the movie really is on Washington and his situation rather than on most anything else in the movie. Just as the rough weather was rougher than I thought it would be, the movie is much more dramatic than what the trailer makes it out to be. I could see an Oscar nomination for Washington for this role. With the media staking out his home and the National Transportation Safety Bureau, NTSB, hearing for the plane crash headed by Melissa Leo after him, Washington is in for a rough ride - with the possibility of going to jail. It is a shame that he has this situation as after such an incredible feat to save the plane because Washington, for a time, is called a real American hero for his relevant skills as a pilot. Even with the help of his airlines collegue Bruce Greenwood, his lawyer Don Cheadle, and his new girlfriend, addict Kelly Reilly, Washington is in for a rough time. Even being sequestered in a hotel does not help him. It is sad that it is a tradition that passengers are called souls by the flight crew. John Goodman was a lot of fun as Washington's hippie best friend.

Rated R for alcohol and drug abuse, nudity, language, smoking. Running time: 138 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews


 

The Book of Eli

Rated R

Warner Bros. Pictures

Running time: 118 minutes

In a post-apocalyptic world, Denzel Washington travels across the devastated country to deliver a book - of which some aggressive survivors want to procure.

The first act of The Book of Eli is very slow as Denzel just basically survives among the ruins. It is only when he arrives at a village that a story begins. You slowly learn about the war that devestated the world, and about Denzel's purpose in life as he travels in a land of illiterates. Why the land is full of illiterates I did not understand. Savage survivalists I could understand, but not illiterates. The movie reminds me of Mad Max and The Road Warrior. Sadly, the women in this post-apocalyptic film are basically objects to be used by the men stronger than them. Mila Kunis's character is one such character, used by Gary Oldman to learn more about Denzel and his book, until she runs away to travel in the safety of Denzel's protection. What happens with Denzel towards the end of the movie is unbelievable, unless he has some sort of powers that were not explained in the movie.

Denzel rigorously trained with Bruce Lee's prodigy Dan Inosanto and supposedly did his own stunts. Unfortunately with the editing, you can not really see Denzel's martial moves that actually shows this training. With the editing that was used - anybody without training could have performed those moves, so it was hard to tell of Denzel's training. The movie is much more of an intellectual film rather than an action film. However, even with the intellectualism of the film, the movie is very graphic.

Rated R for violence. Running time: 118 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.