It used to be that some television series (and later TV movies as remakes) were derived from hit films.  That still occurs, but more often now movies originate on the small screen, then migrate to the big screen as big budget, star driven blockbusters that sometimes bear little resemblance to their predecessors.  I knew of the series “The Equalizer,” though I don’t recall ever seeing it.  Now that concept is a revenge drama with Denzel Washington — and it’s pretty good.

Antoine Fuqua (who directed Washington to an Oscar in Training Day) helms this contemporary version set in Boston, but it almost seems like a Michael Mann movie. (And of course Mann directed the Miami Vice remake almost a decade ago). With its evocative music selections (which reminded me of Manhunter), crisp but brooding cinematography, very deliberate pacing preceding explosive sequences of violence, and exquisite attention to detail, Fuqua’s film seems like a trip back in time to Mann’s glory days of Thief, Manhunter, Heat and The Insider.  But where Mann’s films are a bit more stylized, Fuqua’s are a bit denser and rougher.

A seemingly mild-mannered man quietly observes the world around him, choosing to interact only with his immediate environment, until a savage act of brutality prods him into one of samaritan vengeance.  Things escalate, and before long the stakes achieve global significance.  But at its heart, this is an old-fashioned vigilante movie, with one superbly-skilled man taking on a criminal organization in the name of good citizenship.  It’s hard to root against a guy like that.

Washington delivers another commanding performance, this one in highly restrained mode that fits the character perfectly.  And he is matched in command and intensity by Marton Csokas, playing a Russian problem solver who recognizes Washington’s character as a threat.  Every hero needs a villain of similar capability, and Csokas brings his best in his face-offs with Washington.  Chalk up another nice performance by Chloe Grace Moretz, too, as the Russian hooker whose situation instigates the personal conflict.

Movies like this are too often one-dimensional anger-fueling demands for retribution with lots of explosions and fighting.  The Equalizer certainly qualifies on these counts but credit Antoine Fuqua and writer Richard Wenk for investing more into the project than the formula demands, staying primarily focused on character, and being creative with the story’s setting and resolution.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  7 October 2014.