Equalizer returns to life of helping others

There will be action movies upon action movies, action stars and more action stars, but the combination of both is difficult to contain, such as will be found in The Equalizer, starring Denzel Washington. When Denzel’s character (Robert McCall) promised his deceased wife that he would retire from the government military service and live a peaceful life of a worker at the Home Mart Hardware store, he didn’t figure on witnessing a crime that would make him return to a life as crime buster.

A young girl, Ali, had been brutally beaten up when abducted by men, after which she ends up in a hospital. Denzel vows to save her from the shameful life of prostitution and does everything in his power to do just that. This starts him out on a rampage to help save this child from the life of ignominy she had been forced into. He uses money to bribe the Russian mob holding her by force, uses every trick in the book but they wouldn’t budge. Meantime, Denzel’s activities have reached the ear of the Russians bosses who sent their senior ranking members to go after him and silence him for good. Denzel visits fellow retired operatives for information he can use for his next step.

We are nearing the end of our story when Denzel, with the information he has garnered from his old friends, seeks out and kills members of the mob one by one. He tells himself that finally he can rest. But this is not in God’s plans, apparently. Denzel bumps into Ali on the street carrying a bunch of books. She tells him, she is intent on pursuing an education and thanks him for having given her that second chance.

The story will not be complete if we don’t include the side story of Ralphie, an overweight Mexican security trainee whose dream is to become a full-fledged security guard. Denzel, who has become his friend at Home Mart, promises to help him with the warning that it will not be a walk in the park, and that he will need to follow all his instructions to get anywhere. Ralphie does as he is told and at the strike of dawn, we find the two out on the highway jogging and Ralphie being left behind. This workout continues until little by little Ralphie catches up even if in the end he collapses from sheer exhaustion.

We can imagine other exercises Ralphie will be given. Perhaps the one where he will lift a heavy object until he can lift it above his head and hold it there for five minutes. Eventually, however, the exercises work, Ralphie loses weight, passes his qualifying exam, and becomes a full-fledged security guard at Home Mart.   

As Denzel reaches home for a much-needed rest, he receives a call for help, and after a few moments of thought, decides to end his government operative secret existence and puts an online advertisement identifying himself as “The Equalizer.” 

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