The Equalizer

"What do you see when you look at me?"

2014 2h 12m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🍅

61%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.3

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 10,262🍅61%Rotten Tomatoes●57Metacritic★7.3IMDB · 464,792

ThrillerActionCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

McCall believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri, a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.

“What do you see when you look at me?”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

NetflixSubscription

YouTube TVSubscription

Spectrum On DemandRent

PlexRent

Amazon VideoBuy

Apple TV StoreBuy

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Denzel Washington
Robert McCall
Marton Csokas
Teddy
Chloë Grace Moretz
Teri
David Harbour
Masters
Haley Bennett
Mandy
Bill Pullman
Brian Plummer
Melissa Leo
Susan Plummer
David Meunier
Slavi

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writers: Richard Wenk
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Equalizer Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, shot by Mauro Fiore. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Refoua shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Denzel Washington and Marton Csokas and Chloë Grace Moretz carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Antoine Fuqua directs. Mauro Fiore behind the camera. Harry Gregson-Williams scores. John Refoua cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.5× over at the box office.
3Released 12 years ago.
4Part of the "The Equalizer Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Antoine Fuqua, shot by Mauro Fiore. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor John Refoua shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Denzel Washington and Marton Csokas and Chloë Grace Moretz carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "What do you see when you look at me?".
10IMDB entry: tt0455944 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1110,262 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
12Classified under 26 themes, including "assassin", "corruption", "hitman", "call girl".

The technical file

Cinematography: Mauro Fiore
Original score: Harry Gregson-Williams
Editing: John Refoua
Production design: Naomi Shohan
Costume design: David C. Robinson
Makeup / hair: Liz Bernstrom
VFX supervisor: Sean Devereaux
Sound: Steve Pederson
Stunt coordinator: Keith Woulard
Runtime: 132 min · 2h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $55,000,000
Box office: $192,330,738
Return: 350% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Equalizer (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 61% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 57/100
IMDB rating: 7.3/10 · 464,792 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 9 nominations total

Part of

The Equalizer Collection

The Equalizer is a 2014 American vigilante action thriller film, loosely based on the 1980s TV series of the same name. A sequel was released on July 20, 2018, with Washington and Fuqua returning. On August 30, 2023, a third movie was released making this series a trilogy.

Also by

Antoine Fuqua

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

mspanther2017-10-23
★ 8/10
Watched the movie last night, kept me interested although somewhat predictable plot. Big bad guy, quiet good guy, helpless victims, bad guy gets his. Overall I did like the movie, but then again I like anything Denzel is in.
Dark Jedi2018-05-10
★ 8/10
For me this was a very entertaining vigilante flick. Denzel Washington is excellent in his role as a cold and calculating yet compassionate vigilante. The movie is slower than a lot of movies in this genre but that does not make it boring and when the action starts it is measured (for a movie in this genre) and well done. Although there is a red thread, started by McCall’s first act of vigilantism, running through the movie he also performs a few on the side jobs as well during the movie. I like the vigilante stuff so for me this was some nice fillers to round off the movie. The main thread pitches McCall against a real psychopathic Russian enforcer. No one can say that this movie did not have a well done bad guy. The role is quite well played. The guy is creepy to say the least. Not to mention violent of course but then so is McCall when the time is right. One thing I liked with this movie is that McCall it is not one of the usual run around, look dangerous and clobber the bad guys in periodic outbursts of violence stereotypes. McCall is always calm, calculating, behaving intelligently and the baddies almost never realizes the mistake they just did until it is quite a bit too late. Sure, the capacity of McCall to clobber the bad guys, usually without getting hurt himself, is bordering on superhuman but what the heck, it is fiction after all. Totally realistic movies are rarely fun, at least not movies of this genre. Also, the end fight where the baddies are more or less running around aimlessly and get taken out could have been better. Especially since the Russian mobster had shown quite a bit of intelligence up until that point. Having said that, I did like that it did not degenerate into the usual 20 minute shoot anything that moves nonsense. McCall is continuing his cold and calculating rampage through the unfortunate individuals on the wrong side and the various ways of disposing of them are rather creative. On the whole I found this to be a rather entertaining movie. In one sense it is the usual vigilante stuff, which I happen to like, but in one sense it is not your normal run of the mill vigilante movie thanks to Denzel Washington’s cold, calculating and intelligent portrayal of McCall.
Gimly2019-01-20
★ 7/10
Expected pretty good, got very good. Can't call The Equaliser a perfect movie, but I love me a mixed bag of content like this. Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time.