History Film / TheEqualizer

''The Equalizer'' is a 2014 film directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Creator/DenzelWashington. It is [[TheRemake a remake]] of [[Series/TheEqualizer the 1980s show]] which starred Edward Woodward in the titular role.

* ArcWords: Seems to be "{{Who are you}}?" as multiple of [=McCall=]'s targets ask when being beaten by him, [[spoiler:including Nicolai at the climax]].

* BaldOfEvil[=/=]BeardOfEvil: The man that fights Robert in the climax is a bald man with a rather thick beard.

--> '''Ralphie:''' [[spoiler:A buck ninety my ass.]]

* FreudianThreat: [=McCall=] takes a pistol off Andre and tells him to order his mooks to surrender. Then he points the gun at Andre's crotch. Next time we see Andre & Co., they're all tied up.

** Averted with Nicolai who is suggested to have been an EnfanteTerrible.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: [=McCall=] uses a nail gun like a pistol, but nail guns are specifically designed so that they ''don't'' fire nails through the air like bullets. They have a second trigger by the barrel that needs to be pressed against a surface before firing.

** [=McCall=] offers Slavi $9,800 to set Alina free--he refuses and gets killed for it. At the end of the movie, Slavi says a mysterious benefactor left "almost $10,000" for her to make a fresh start.

* IWantHimAlive: Nicolai wants Robert alive to MakeAnExampleOfThem and for interrogation, as he assumes he's working for another organised crime group. Eventually Robert does so much damage to Pushkin's organisation this requirement goes right out the window and Nicolai is ordering his mooks to shoot Robert on sight.

* HealItWithFire: At one point, [=McCall=] treats a bullet wound in his shoulder with a brass doorknob heated up with a blowtorch.

* EvilCounterpart: Nikolai to Robert. Both are very, ''very'' good at killing people. The difference is that Nikolai is TheSociopath, while [=McCall=] is motivated by caring about the people around him.

* GroinAttack: [=McCall=] threatens this on Andre so he'll order his mooks to surrender.

* NiceGuy: [=McCall=] is well liked by his fellow colleagues at Home Mart.
** Hell, when not killing people, Robert is a otherwise exteremely friendly man, although a little mysterious.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: After the burglar takes the till and then takes Jenny's grandmother's ring, Robert tells her not to resist, since it's not worth losing her life over it. [[spoiler:Later, after giving the police the information he has, Robert calmly takes a sledgehammer from the shelf and leaves. Later, the woman finds the ring in her cash drawer, as Robert is calmly cleaning the hammer before returning it to the shelf. You fill in the rest.]]

* BrickJoke: When [=McCall=] is helping Ralphie lose weight, he tells him that one day he might have to drag his 190-lb ass out of a burning building. Later, when [[spoiler:[=McCall=] is wounded after an intense brawl, Ralphie comes back to help drag him to safety]].

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. When Robert asks Slavi about Alina getting beaten up, the latter replies that her name doesn't ring a bell. But later in the conversation, he seems to remember who she is.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Robert appears to be an average cool guy with some enigmatic past and issues during the first act of the movie. He reveals his lethal nature when he effortlessly wipes the floor with Slavi, his goons and their blood.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] during the burglar scene. As Robert tries to find a way to deal with the criminal, he watches a boy and his mother going into the store. To avoid a bloodshed and possibly their deaths, [=McCall=] advises Jenny to hand her ring to the thief so he would leave.

* CorruptCop: TheMafiya employs three of these in the movie: Remar, Pederson, and Masters. Remar and Pederson end up being killed, but Masters tries to reform.

* ArcWords: Seems to be "Who are you?" as multiple of [=McCall=]'s targets ask when being beaten by him, [[spoiler:including Nicolai at the climax]].

* BadassGrandpa: Robert, played by 59-years old Denzel Washington, is mockingly called "dedushka" (Russian for "grandfather") by Slavi. Shortly after, Robert shows his true nature and does quite a number on them. He keeps kicking asses and taking names during the rest of the movie.

** Truthfully, that despends on if he ''enjoys'' killing. Robert is the type of guy that is perfectly willing to let you come out of this unharmed if you simply apologize or whatever. And he doesn't go out looking for trouble, it comes to ''him''. In any other scenario he's one of those friendly guys who seems to know everyone, and looking out for your best interest.

** Truthfully, that despends on if he ''enojoys'' killing. Robert is the type of guy that is perfectly willing to let you come out of this unharmed if you simply apologize or whatever. And he doesn't go out looking for trouble, it comes to ''him''. In any other scenario he's one of those friendly guys who seems to know everyone, and looking out for your best interest.

** Trythfully, that despends on if he ''enojoys'' killing. Robert is the type of guy that is perfectly willing to let you come out of this unharmed if you simply apologize or whatever. And he doesn't go out looking for trouble, it comes to ''him''. In any other scenario he's one of those friendly guys who seems to know everyone, and looking out for your best interest.

* TheSociopath: Susan describes Nicolai as a "sociopath with a business card". The description is quite apt, with his utter coldness and blatant disregard of caring about other people.

* AxCrazy: Behind his FauxAffablyEvil facade Nicolai is ''psychotic.'' See NoHoldsBarredBeatdown for details.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Nicolai delivers a massively brutal one to an Irish mobster that continues for some time after he is already dead. It makes even the CorruptCop Masters uncomfortable and gets him to call out Nicolai on such a needless action.

* WasItReallyWorthIt: As the last member of TheMafiya is bleeding out on the floor, Robert sits next to him and points out that he's dying over a matter of $9,800.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: The end of the movie has [[spoiler:Robert sitting in his usual place at the diner, but this time he's on his laptop, having decided to offer his skills to those who are in need of help.]]
* ArcWords: Seems to be "Who are you?" as multiple of [=McCall=]'s targets ask when being beaten by him, [[spoiler: including Nicolai at the climax]].

* BadassGrandpa: Robert, played by 59-years old Denzel Washington, is mockingly called "dedushka" (Russian for "grandfather) by Slavi. Shortly after, Robert shows his true nature and does quite a number on them. He keeps kicking asses and taking names during the rest of the movie.

* BloodierAndGorier[=/=]DarkerAndEdgier: So very much so compared to the original series it's based on. A typical plot in the CBS series has [=McCall=] pulling an elaborate mindgame with his associates helping him, one that usually forces the guilty party to incriminate themselves and sometimes leaves them at the mercy of those they've wronged. In the movie, [=McCall=] simply takes out everyone in his path personally, using such delightful tactics as [[spoiler:a shotglass to the eye socket, corkscrew to the jaw, a barb wire noose, a tree trimmer through the neck, and gunning someone down with a high-powered nailgun.]]

* BrickJoke: When [=McCall=] is helping Ralphie lose weight, he tells him that one day he might have to drag his 190-lb ass out of a burning building. Later, when [[spoiler:[=McCall=] is wounded after an intense brawl, Ralphie comes back to help drag him to safety.]]

* BrokenAce: Yes, [=McCall=] is a JackOfAllTrades but when it comes down to it, he is harboring a lot of internal problems including what appears to be OCD.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] When Robert asks Slavi about Alina getting beaten up, the latter replies that her name doesn't ring a bell. But later in the conversation he seems to remember who she is.

* ColdBloodedTorture: It is actually ''Robert'' who employs one of these! [[spoiler: He handcuffs Masters inside his own car and proceeds to suffocate him with the car fumes.]]
* CombatPragmatist: Robert is this and an ImprobableWeaponUser. He'll memorize every object in the room around him, and then brutally murder you with it. He'll stab you with a glass shard, drag your face through broken glass, and stab you with your own knife. Justified in that Robert is just a normal human being and physically no longer in his prime so he never gives his opponents the chance to really prepare themselves or fight back. The one instance were he doesn't have surprise on his side and has to fight face to face, well...see RealityEnsues below.
* CorruptCop: TheMafiya employs three of these in the movie: Remar, Pederson and Masters. Remar and Pederson end up being killed, but Masters tries to reform.
* CoverDrop: The theatrical poster depicts [=McCall=] armed with a nail gun in the midst of rain. [[spoiler: This later shows up in the climax when [=McCall=] finishes off Teddy.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: [=McCall=] is heavily implied to have done highly questionable things during his tenure working in special operations for the United States governments. People who prey on the innocent as well as those abuse their power - especially corrupt cops - disgust him.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Nicolai flat-out states during his meeting with [=McCall=] that he doesn't understand what he can gain from being sentimental, believing it to be a weakness. Also, [[spoiler: Pushkin doesn't understand why Robert would come to kill him and tries to bribe him into leaving, to no avail.]]

* EyeScream: This is how Robert kills the first Mook in the whole movie (and we get to see the aftermath in some autopsy photos later on)
* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler: Robert retired from his previous career by pretending to have been killed in a car bomb.]]

* ForWantOfANail: If the Russian mob pimp hadn't beat the call girl, or at least accepted [=McCall=]'s money, nobody would have died. Basically if [=McCall=] is offering you a deal, ''you take it and run the hell away''.

* GoryDiscretionShot: Pops up a couple of times, like [=McCall=] using a small hammer against a Home Mart robber or whatever he did to Teddy's bodyguard, but [[spoiler: we don't get to see the moment Robert turns on the hand drill at the Home Mart, just the expected result.]]

* GreatOffscreenWar: [=McCall=] sends information [[spoiler: he obtained from a memory stick in Masters' safe deposit box]] to the local FBI office. [[spoiler: The information is a complete list of [[TheMafiya Pushkin's payroll]], including several Congressmen and the Governor. The story is not over with [=McCall=] destroying the Russians by any means.]]

* ImprobableWeaponUser: [=McCall=] finds innovative uses for a wine corkscrew, a power drill, a roll of barbed wire and a fishing spear, among other things.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Robert's preference, especially in the last act when he uses [[spoiler:the contents of the Home Mart he works at.]]

* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: Inverted on two occasions. [[spoiler: After locking himself in with them, [=McCall=] takes out Slavi and company using only the items available in Slavi's office; and at the end he confronts Teddy and his goons in the big-box hardware store he works at, and proceeds to use ''the entire contents of the store'' against them. The only time [=McCall=] actually uses a gun is to force one of Slavi's enforcers to shoot his partner.]]

* MookHorrorShow: The last big action sequence in the film features [[spoiler:Robert stalking Nikolai's men through the Home Mart where he works after they've taken his co-workers hostage, and dispatching them one by one in various gruesome ways.]]

* PrecisionFStrike: In one of his rare moments of swearing on the movie, Nicolai tells Pushkin (in Russian: "Go fuck yourself."

* SirSwearsALot: Masters is noticeably more foul mouthed than anyone on the cast, spewing the F-word roughly every sentence.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Compared to other mobsters and corrupt officers who regularly curse and shout, Nicolai speaks in a low, faux-polite tone of voice and only uses one expletive on the whole movie. It doesn't make him any less evil.

* StuffBlowingUp: We are treated to a glorious slow-mo shot of Robert blowing up [[spoiler:the entire harbor and all the petrol tankers in it. Later invoked to point out why you should never put butane gas tanks in the microwave.]]

* ThemeMusicPowerUp: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FekN9hhi1uM This music]] that plays when [[spoiler: Robert emerges and kills Teddy.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Ralphie, thanks to [=McCall's=] training regimen. [[spoiler: Not only does he pass the Home Mart security guard test, he plays a major role in helping [=McCall=] take down Teddy and his muscle in the final battle.]]
* UncertainDoom: Masters' final fate is left unknown but he despairingly notes that he won't last a week.
* UnflinchingWalk: After Robert blows up [[spoiler: the harbor and all petrol tankers in there.]]

* WeHelpTheHelpless: At the end of the movie, [[spoiler: Robert has apparently decided to make a habit of this as he's seen responding to an online forum post asking for his help.]]
* WhamLine: "He didn't come for help. [[spoiler: He came to get permission.]]"

* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: Inverted on two occasions. [[spoiler: After locking himself in with them, [=McCall=] takes out Slavi and company using only the items available in Slavi's office; and at the he end confronts Teddy and his goons in the big-box hardware store he works at, and proceeds to use ''the entire contents of the store'' against them. The only time [=McCall=] actually uses a gun is to force one of Slavi's enforcers to shoot his partner.]]

** The film is produced by Sony (through Columbia Pi ctures), and isn't keen on letting you forget that fact.