To be honest,
for me, the film is just about violence in the most stylish fashion the writers
could come up with. The possibility of the events or even an attempt to make
the script meaningful didn’t seem to matter to them at all. They had Denzel
Washington in their corner, dishing out the violence, and they even had me
interested to see how the film would play out—and I bet you are too.
I’ve seen this
movie so many times, just for the beauty of how Denzel handled the character
and how the character handled situations.
The film is
based on a CBS television series from 1985 of the same name, which ran for four
seasons. Both the film and TV series share the same foundation: a retired
espionage/intelligence officer with a mysterious past uses the skills from his
former career to deliver justice on behalf of those who are oppressed. In this
film, the people needing rescue include a young woman being used for
prostitution, a friend’s mother being extorted by the police, and a colleague
who got robbed. But the film’s main focus is on the young woman named Teri,
played by Chloë Grace Moretz.
The main plot
follows our lead, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), who develops a friendship
with Teri. They meet at a diner and just talk. Robert knows Teri works for a
pimping organization that uses her and other young girls as prostitutes, but he
initially minds his own business.
One day, they
take a walk together, and Teri misses an appointment. She gets beaten and ends
up in the hospital. Robert decides to confront the men responsible. He tries to
buy her freedom, but the men turn down his offer. So, he does what he does
best—killing all of them.
An enforcer is
sent to handle the situation, and we get to watch a showdown between the
enforcer and Robert as they try to outsmart each other.
The man behind
the camera is Antoine Fuqua, whom I became aware of when his film Olympus
Has Fallen (2013) outperformed the star-studded White
House Down (2013) at the box office. Both films were released two
months apart and centered around a terrorist attack on the White House.
Antoine’s idea
of a man who lives his life based on rules, timing, and structure is what we
see in this film—and the consequences when those rules and structure are
disrupted. The so-called suspense in this film felt like a waste of time to me,
as I had already seen the preview and knew this guy was similar to Liam Neeson
in Taken (2008).
But once Denzel
stepped into the character, the film went on an adrenaline rush. Things started
happening quickly, making me eager to see how it would all end.
I enjoyed Chloë
Grace Moretz’s character in the film, even though she wasn’t present much. She
was more of a catalyst that brought out Denzel’s cool performance, but she made
her presence felt. She’s a great actress, and we only see her at the beginning before
Denzel goes psycho and starts taking down everyone who hurt her. Then, we see
her again at the end, after Denzel has taken care of business.
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t see this film—it’s entertaining.
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