The Equalizer franchise has its highs and lows for me. I thought the first one was pretty good but I hated, hated, hated the second. So this time around? Closer to the first… but not quite there.

After equalizing some Italian mobsters, Denzel gets equalized in returns and spends time recovering in a quaint Italian town. But there are always more mafia goons to equalize.

It’s funny… in the first film, I mostly enjoyed Denzel’s interactions with the regular folk and thought it fell apart in the generic final action scene. This time? They don’t do nearly enough to establish Denzel’s relationship with the townsfolk but the final action scene is pretty solid (if only the bad guys had been remotely interesting).

The townsfolk should have been a bigger star… and, to be fair, they put in the time but I never felt the connection. And it matters because they are what drives Denzel to action. They should have been the beating heart of the film. It’s telling that the coda brings back characters from the earlier films and it was more heartfelt than anything in Italy. But maybe that’s just me… if you disagree on this key point, then you’ll probably dig this movie.

Dakota Fanning shows up and it’s a cute reunion between the two stars. They spent some quality time back in Man on Fire so it must have been a fun Italian vacation for them. I’m not entirely sure what value her subplot brought to the movie… but it must have been cool to film.

Yeah, I’m lukewarm on another Equalizer movie (alert the media). I settled on a kinda mediocre score since there are some good moments but the emotional core was missing.

Score: 72