![]() (There’s even talk of The Equalizer serving as the introduction of a franchise, which would be a first for Denzel-who, despite repeating himself many, many times over the last few years, has never made a sequel. As with Neeson’s, Denzel’s ride has been fun at times, but surely this is not the only side of him fans want to see from now on. In this career left-turn Denzel most closely resembles Liam Neeson, another dramatic, invigorating performer who’s turned to a steady diet of action (anti-)heroes later in his career. ![]() (I suppose we can be grateful he didn’t appear in The Expendables 3.) What’s especially weird about this career arc is that he came to the party late-Stallone and the rest of the club began and made their careers as action heroes and never really left, so it’s unsurprising that they would try to rekindle the fire well into old age. Yet Denzel is now approaching the status of aging action hero: an elite but mildly pathetic club that includes Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He often worked with exciting, challenging directors: Spike Lee brought out the best of him in Mo’ Better Blues, He Got Game, and, of course Malcolm X Mira Nair made him a charming, complicated romantic lead in her thoughtful interracial love story Mississippi Masala he returned to his early stage roots and tackled Shakespeare in Kenneth Branagh’s delightful Much Ado About Nothing. Silas Trip in the Civil War drama Glory (that horrific, perfect single tear may have single-handedly won him his first Oscar). In the film, the military sees no moral conflict in torturing suspects for information. Two FBI agents team up with the CIA to save the day. military zealots abduct a Muslim religious leader and an Army general cordons off Queens to form a detention camp. ![]() The Siege, starring Denzel Washington and Annette Bening, is a story of ‘blowback’ and the extreme measures government will implement to maintain control. Martial law is imposed in New York City when U.S. Sometimes his characters were aggrieved, resentful men pushed to their breaking points, like Pfc. The film reminds viewers that foreign policy actions have unintended consequences. In the 1980s and 1990s, a “Denzel movie” wasn’t so clearly defined as it is now. But for every Fallen there was a He Got Game for every Virtuosity a Philadelphia. The audience at my screening cheered when the fireball went up.ĭenzel starred in action movies early in his career as well, of course. He certainly doesn’t look like he’s approaching his seventh glorious decade on Earth, and his box office clout has only grown: Out of his last 17 films, only three have made less than $50 million most have made upward of $70 million.* Compare that to his career prior to 2000, where all but six of his films fell below $50 million.Īnd the movie even features the archetypal badass movie shot: Denzel, cool as ice, sauntering in slow motion toward the camera as, behind him, a shipyard is blown into fiery bits. The formula is clearly working-he’s one of the few major Hollywood players of the ’80s and ’90s who’s still a consistently bankable star. You’ll find all of this in The Equalizer, in which Denzel-and of course he is “Denzel” to all of us, not “Washington”-plays a former Special Forces soldier who comes out of retirement to save a young prostitute from a predictably tattoo-adorned Russian mob. The stakes are improbably high, and the star navigates them sporting his familiar, undeniably cool demeanor and trademark megawatt grin. Lots of gun-wielding, fistfights, killings some scenes of torture maybe an explosion here and there. The Equalizer 3 comes to theaters September 1.What exactly is a “Denzel movie”? In 2014, it means the Hollywood star, now nearly 60, being a badass. Dakota Fanning, with whom Denzel starred in the excellent Man on Fire (2004), is also in the movie, and shows up at the very end of the trailer. There’s something about the way Denzel calmly tells bad guys he’s going to destroy them in these movies - a mobster jokingly asks “You warning me?” and Denzel responds “I’m preparing you” before ruining that man’s entire month (and his tracksuit).ĭirector Antoine Fuqua, who has collaborated with Denzel many times throughout his career and directed the first two Equalizer movies, returns for this one as well. But when the mafia intervenes and threatens the lives of the people he cares about, he turns back to his old ways: Brutal violence. the mafia” thriller coming to theaters this fall.ĭenzel’s Robert McCall is now making a home in Southern Italy, with friends and what looks like a happy life. The trailer for the final installment dropped Tuesday, giving us a taste of the “Denzel vs. The Equalizer movies are generally solid action fare that get elevated significantly by the fact that they are led by Denzel freaking Washington. Directed Rob Reiner, this iconic film follows the courtroom battle between a young military lawyer, played Tom Cruise, and a hardened Marine colonel, portrayed.
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