Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become ... Read allRobert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends' protector by taking on the mafia.Robert McCall finds himself at home in Southern Italy but he discovers his friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends' protector by taking on the mafia.
- Awards
- 6 nominations
- Chiara Bonucci
- (as Sonia Ben Ammar)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe international posters and US IMAX poster have various variations of the phrase 'The Final Chapter' as the tagline. However Antoine Fuqua in an interview while promoting the film has said a prequel and a sequel could happen if Denzel was still interested.
- GoofsThe film is set in the fictional coastal town of Altamonte, and not Altomonte a real, mountain village not situated at the coast. The filming location was Atrani, on the Amalfi coast.
- Quotes
Robert McCall: Is that a Timex?
Marco Quaranta: No, it's a B...
Robert McCall: [grabs Marco's arm] That's the median nerve that I'm compressing. On a scale one to ten, that's two. That's three. You don't want me to go to four. I go to four, you shit yourself. You don't want that. I don't want that! They don't want that! Tell your compadres that they can leave. Tell them to beat it!
- ConnectionsFeatured in eTalk Daily: Episode dated 28 August 2023 (2023)
- SoundtracksLove, Disorderly (The Equalizer 3 Remix)
Written by Thomas Azier and Obi Blanche
Produced and Performed by Thomas Azier
Thomas Azier appears courtesy of Hylas Records
As an action movie fan, I really enjoyed the Equalizer movies, still being aware that we are not talking about masterpieces. They are fun and enjoyable vigilante movies where Denzel Washington is freaking cool and badass as he takes down, alone, large and structured criminal organizations. Without the value he brings into these movies, I don't know if they would be even worth watching. The Equalizer 3 fits perfectly into this path, with some slight changes.
The first thing to say is that this movie is very very gory and brutal, much more compared to the first two movies. Clearly it was decided to go one level up, so one needs to be prepared. The movie looks very dark, the Italian Mafia gives sort of modernized Godfather vibes, and most importantly, is beautifully shot. All of that can be appreciated since the very beginning of the movie, where fantastic camera work is done as the viewer follows a man entering a building full of dead people, brutally murdered. This very intense initial scene really sets the tone of the movie, to which the music score also fits really well.
The movie is located in a tiny Italian village, whose people are constantly threatened by the mafia, where "business" brought McCall (Denzel), too. This is the third big action movie to be shot in Italy (after Indy 5 and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning) to come out in theaters in 2023, at least that I know of. Whether or not this decision is based on financial benefits of some sort, it provided The Equalizer 3 with beautiful and picturesque scenery.
As an Italian and fan of Denzel Washington, it was really entertaining to watch Denzel Washington sitting at the cafe, talking broken Italian, making friends, getting familiar with the people and the quiet atmosphere of the town. I found the representation of the town and of the people authentic, very well done, and not too stereotypical. The Italian language is real Italian spoken by Italian actors, the accents are real, the film is shot in different Italian towns on the Amalfi coast, and so on. One can see the great attention to detail and care that was put into the making of this movie, which I mentioned above about the directing. I did have a "what?!" moment, though, that I could not wrap my head around: Aminah (Gaia Scodellaro) takes McCall on a tour of the village, by telling him that she'll help him discover the authentic food specialties of the town. As they go on a stroll and talk, they pass by some food stands, and Aminah shows McCall different authentic Italian dishes. Then, however, she invites him to grab a Kebab (great, but not Italian at all!), which he does! Seriously, what happened there? There was all that nice fish and stuff, too-why a Kebab??
I have read a lot of criticism about the action in this movie, especially about it being too little. The problem that I see with the action is with the fact that McCall is never really challenged by any of his enemies rather than with the length of the action scenes. In other words, none of the villains or his men are even close to Robert McCall's level, so it seems quite easy for him to take them down in creatively brutal ways. This applies, unfortunately, also to the ending of the movie, which is, anyway, very very powerful. Also, the non-action parts build the tension between McCall and the villain, and they are not boring at all.
Another weak point of the movie, from my point of view, has to do with some of the supporting characters and their relationship to the hero (McCall). Dakota Fanning's character (CIA) could have been a very good helper in the fight against the mafia, but instead she ends up not doing so much at all... Along with that, one aspect of McCall being in this town is the attachments that the townspeople form with him, but we actually don't have much evidence of this beyond him eating in a cafe once in a while. We do see McCall having an emotional response when they are threatened, we do see him getting comfortable in the town, but while a deeper layer to that is mentioned, the viewer doesn't directly witness this: for example, when McCall says that the people of the town brought him peace, or that he understood that this is the place where he belongs. All these sentiments sound a bit out of place and don't match the level of interactions that we as viewers have witnessed. We expect some deeper character development to happen in the "kebab"/walks scene, but the dialogue between McCall and Aminah doesn't actually build to anything relevant.
Overall, a very good and extremely brutal vigilante movie, with some weaknesses, very well shot, with a fantastic Denzel Washington doing very badass things. Worthwhile final chapter, 7 stars!
- luca-settembre
- Jan 10, 2024
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- El justiciero: Capítulo final
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $70,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $92,373,751
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $34,604,229
- Sep 3, 2023
- Gross worldwide
- $191,067,560
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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