Film Talk: Latest Movie Releases – Denzel’s back to dish out justice in trilogy closer
Could we ever imagine Hollywood without this man?
Star of a storied back catalogue including Malcolm X, The Pelican Brief and Philadelphia, Denzel Hayes Washington Jr has been a pillar of the industry for over three decades.
Son of a beauty parlour owner and a Pentecostal minister, Washington was arguably not the young man one would picture as a future action star. Yet, it is his rough and tough roles that have come to define his career. A particularly masterful turn came in 2001’s Training Day. Starring opposite Ethan Hawke in this superb tale of cop corruption, our boy Denzel stole the show with a performance that bagged him the Best Actor Oscar (incidentally his second Academy gong). Then of course there was Man On Fire, a 2004 ripper of a revenge rampage flick that put Washington centre stage with a young Dakota Fanning. And, lest we forget, there was Unstoppable – director Tony Scott’s telling of a real-life runaway train incident in which Big Denz and Chris Pine shed blood, sweat and tears to save the day.
For me, however, two of Washington’s performances should always be set above all others that this Tinseltown titan has graced us with thus far. 1999’s The Bone Collector saw him in the lead role of quadriplegic forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme, and thanks to said incredible turn it remains one of the greatest movies of all time. And then came American Gangster, where his portrayal of heroin kingpin Frank Lucas sealed the deal on one of the best crime biopics ever made.
This week, we see Denzel Washington take on a third outing of the Equalizer series, and action fans across the land are pumped for the punches to come. But does this one hit the mark and live up to this leviathan’s legacy? Let’s take a look...
THE EQUALIZER 3 (15, 109 mins)
Released: August 30 (UK & Ireland)
Bookended by bloodbaths, The Equalizer 3 completes a gratuitously gory trilogy which reunited two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua to portray a former government assassin turned vigilante made famous on the small screen by Edward Woodward.
Returning screenwriter Robert Wenk stitches loose narrative threads between the three instalments as he transplants Robert McCall to the cobblestoned lanes and charming piazzas of picture postcard southern Italy, where locals congregate to watch films projected on to a whitewashed building facade.
Death and dismemberment run rampant through paradise and the wanton bloodshed is exhausting.
It is not enough for Fuqua to luxuriate over the aftermath of one rampage through a vineyard masseria – a gory tableaux of lifeless goons whose eye sockets and craniums have been forcibly introduced to every sharp object in the establishment.
The Equalizer 3 needlessly flashes back to the slaughter through McCall’s jaded eyes, replaying each grisly kill computer-game stylee and bombarding us with cruelty and carnage until we wave a white flag in wearied submission.
Washington’s committed performance, recuperating from his tormented character’s life-threatening wounds with a walking cane, delays the inevitable butchery and a protracted showdown with the Camorra that flirts uncomfortably with risibility as McCall singlehandedly neutralises a small army of gun-toting thugs.
The titular crusader is badly hurt during a high-stakes job in Sicily and loses consciousness on the outskirts of the picturesque fishing village of Altamonte.
An off-duty Carabinieri (Eugenio Mastrandrea) spirits Robert to local doctor Enzo (Remo Girone), who performs surgery behind closed doors, removing bullets and dressing Robert’s deep wounds.
“Will the bad men come looking for you?” asks Enzo. “No,” softly replies Robert.
The American regains his strength and humanity in the close-knit community and befriends locals including warm-hearted waitress Aminah (Gaia Scodellaro) and family-oriented fishmonger Angelo (Daniele Perrone).
Alas, sadistic crime boss Vincent Quaranta (Andrea Scarduzio) is targeting Altamonte for a lucrative development of hotels and casinos and despatches younger brother Marco (Andrea Dodero) to terrorise the residents into submission through extortion and intimidation.
Robert witnesses the bullying and refuses to turn a blind eye to the insidious threat of the criminal fraternity.
“They’re like cancer, and like cancer – no cure,” laments Enzo, pushing the medical metaphor.
Meanwhile, Robert lures CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) to Naples to investigate shipments of amphetamines connected to an active Syrian terrorist cell.
The Equalizer 3 numbs us with relentless destruction against a backdrop of unspoilt European beauty.
One smouldering ember of potential romance with Scodellaro’s waitress is extinguished by a tsunami of glossy crimson spewing from severed arteries as Fuqua and cinematographer Robert Richardson conceive elaborate shots to fixate on the exterminations.
Be grateful this final chapter has the shortest running time of a saga of steadily diminishing returns.
COBWEB (15, 88 mins)
Released: September 1 (UK & Ireland)
In a key scene from director Samuel Bodin’s suspenseful horror thriller, father and son carefully lay down rat poison in response to scratching behind the walls of the boy’s bedroom and the tyke observes the pellets’ heady aroma of cinnamon.
“Be careful. Not everything is as sweet as it seems,” remarks his father.
This sage counsel has multiple applications in Cobweb, an unsettling tale of things that go bump in the night penned by Chris Thomas Devlin, which exploits universal fears of the dark and the creaks, sighs and groans that are part of the fabric of older houses.
Clocking in under 90 minutes, Bodin’s picture unfolds in the week leading up to Halloween and delights in the witching season’s iconography, including carved pumpkins and costumed trick or treaters.
Lead actor Woody Norman, who was deservedly Bafta nominated for his tour-de-force supporting performance in C’mon C’mon, finesses a repertoire of terrified, wide-eyed stares and silent shrieks at the blackened heart of the mystery. He plays eight-year-old Peter, who is emotionally distant from secretive and protective parents Mark (Antony Starr) and Carol (Lizzy Caplan).
They are oblivious to the relentless bullying their son suffers at the hands of a classmate (Luke Busey).
The only people who care are supply teacher Miss Devine (Cleopatra Coleman), who is urged to stop meddling by the elementary school’s concerned principal (Jay Rincon), and a girl called Sarah (Aleksandra Dragova), whose voice emanates through the walls.
Peter tries in vain to tell his parents about this guardian angel but they dismiss his concerns as an overly active imagination.
“This is an old house. There’s bound to be bumps in the night,” coos Carol.
After an argument with his parents about trick or treating, Peter learns an 11-year-old girl disappeared from the neighbourhood at Halloween and reflects tearfully on his insolence with a brief stay in the basement.
In his hour of need, Sarah is Peter’s sole comfort and the boy vows to help his sympathetic phantom escape from her prison between the walls.
Cobweb is genuinely unnerving for an opening hour of inference and menace before screenwriter Devlin clarifies whether Peter’s monsters are real or imagined.
SOUND OF FREEDOM (15, 131 mins)
Released: September 1 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Based on a true story, director Alejandro Monteverde’s action thriller has been one of the year’s surprise hits at the US box office, outperforming many summer blockbusters including Fast X, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts.
Homeland Security Investigations special agent Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) works tirelessly to arrest anyone involved in the possession or distribution of child pornography.
It’s emotionally exhausting work and Tim becomes frustrated that his best efforts rarely result in children being saved from their horrific ordeal.
Consequently, he poses as a paedophile to gain the trust of one predator, Ernst Oshinsky (Kris Avedisian), and extract intelligence to rescue trafficked child Miguel (Lucas Ávila) from the clutches of Earl Buchanan (Gary Basaraba).
PASSAGES (18, 92 mins)
Released: September 1 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Naturalistic sex scenes punctuate writer-director Ira Sachs’ provocative romantic drama, which received its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Narcissistic movie director Tomas (Franz Rogowski) is married to artist Martin (Ben Whishaw), who has reluctantly agreed to an open relationship to feed his husband’s need for adoration.
At a bar, Tomas meets teacher Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos) and they sleep together, a dalliance which he proudly shares with Martin. This moment of lust catalyses something deeper and Tomas contemplates pushing the self-destruct button on his marriageto pursue his feelings for Agathe.
