Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning team up again almost 20 years since Man on Fire for the action thriller The Equalizer 3. The Equalizer 3 is a great movie, a must see for action fans, and a reminder of why Washington is a legend and the Equalizer movies are so successful.
The third and final chapter in The Equalizer trilogy, Washington is back as retired US Marine and former DIA officer turned vigilante, Robert McCall, to deliver harsh justice to protect the people of a small town in Italy. Regardless, if action thrillers are your type of movies, the movie gets right into it and keeps you on your seat the whole way through and shows us that Karma hits hard. While traveling to Italy to take down a crime ring based out of a vineyard that is responsible for trafficking drugs and terrorism in Sicily, he is injured and finds himself in the small coastal town of Altamonte in the care of the beloved local doctor Enzo. During his recovery, he connects with the people of the town and discovers that the good people are being plagued by the brutality of the mafia organization Camorra. He anonymously tips off CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) about the Sicilian vineyard, and she and other CIA agents journey there to deal with that situation. While there she tracks “Roberto” down and locates him but he continues to keep his identity private. (It is revealed at the end that she is the daughter of Robert’s friends Brian and Susan who were murdered in The Equalizer 2). In the meantime, Vincent Quaranda (Andrea Scarduzio) and his mafia members terrorize and kill people in villages on the Almafi Coast for commercialization. He uses his younger brother, Marco Quaranda (Andrea Dodero) and his gang members to crack down and terrorize those in Altamonte for his purposes. Roberto gets better and gets involved and single handedly takes down the Camorra starting with Marco and it’s violent leader Vincent in an equally brutal way.
I’ll mention that for those like me who haven’t seen the first two Equalizers, you will be able to follow the whole way through without getting lost because the storyline can stand alone. The movie doesn’t hold back with a lot of action packed scenes that were hard to watch if you’re like me and typically don’t watch a lot of graphic, bloody violence but even if it’s not your thing you can’t look away. Also, like the other Equalizer movies the bad guys are based on real life things around the world including ruthlessly pushing people out of their communities, drugs, and terrorist organizations and those like Vincent and the Camorra who hurt and kill innocent people without conscience for greed and power. It’s hard to feel anything but satisfaction when the Equalizer comes through and takes everything from them. Karma hits hard.
The Equalizer 3 directed by Antoine Fuqua released in theaters September 1, 2023.
By McKenna Fuller
