Movie review: The Equalizer

There are many reasons why The Equalizer isn't a good movie. But it's still kind of a good time.

Well it is, if your prefer your Denzel Washington in badass mode.

No, that doesn't often make for good films - as the likes of Safe House, Two Guns, and the Taking of Pelham 123 - attest.

With The Equalizer, he's one movie closer to an inevitable clash of the middle-aged titans with Liam Neeson - another class act with crass habits. Surely, one day there will be battle of these deadly dads, a showdown of surprisingly lightning reflexes and whispered threats.

Of course, yes, The Equalizer is based on the fine 80s television series, which starred a smartly suited Edward Woodward as a sort of James Bond neighbourhood watch vigilante in New York. But this take removes the flash.

It's got Washington's Robert McCall in Boston, living alone and working a day job at a home improvement megastore and spending his insomniac hours reading in an all-night diner, where he's befriended by teenage prostitute Teri (Moretz in another jailbait role).

She, of course, becomes the reason McCall is soon employing his own particular set of skills he has acquired over a very long career ... sorry that was that Neeson guy in Taken. Otherwise, same idea.

She's left in ICU. McCall makes her Russian mafia pimp an offer he can't refusenik. Cue a corkscrew to throat, and dead henchpersons.

Soon, you pretty much know how this is going to play out. And the worry is Washington's suburban samurai cool and the slow reveal about his past aren't going to be enough to sustain the next two hours.