The Equalizer
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: September 26, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
17
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottSep 26, 2014
There's a soothing catharsis in the idea that good guys are every bit as capable as bad guys of raining hellfire down on their enemies. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottSep 25, 2014
Mr. Fuqua, while not the world’s most subtle filmmaker, directs the action sequences with bluntness and clarity and effectively uses his star as an oasis of calm in a jumpy, nasty universe. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 25, 2014
The movie is tense and coiled for its first hour, then becomes routine in its second half. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 23, 2014
Fuqua steadily parades his big moments, and the movie works as unhinged spectacle. As a thriller it's less certain. Read full review
60
EmpireKim NewmanSep 22, 2014
Though overstretched and a trifle ponderous, this is a solidly acceptable star vehicle with more than enough righteous vengeance for an evening of classy thrills. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 26, 2014
There’s a special kind of hell for artists who array vigilante revenge-porn in saintly garb, and Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua should go to the front of that damnable line after The Equalizer. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 25, 2014
This Equalizer is a brooding, brutal origin tale, one that starts well but steadily caves into genre clichés. It’s a B-movie sheep in A-movie clothing, acceptable meathead mayhem as long as you know what you’re paying for. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 25, 2014
Mr. Fuqua, who did such a fine job directing Mr. Washington and Ethan Hawke in "Training Day," loses control of an increasingly slapdash script, and the whole movie turns into a slaughterhouse. The question isn't who wants it — box office action is assured — but who needs it? Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 25, 2014
For an hour or so The Equalizer glides along and works; in the second hour, plus change, it turns into a shameless slaughter contrivance with a flabby sense of pace. I did like one line: "When you pay for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too." Washington's the rain; by the end, the movie is the mud. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 7, 2014
Not particularly sophisticated, the searing intensity of revenge in The Equalizer is still occasionally arresting (and even entertaining) in its stylish hard-R violence. Read full review
50
VarietyScott FoundasSep 7, 2014
Ponderously overlong and not even half as much fun as it should have been, The Equalizer still gets a lot of mileage out of Washington’s unassailable star presence. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc MohanSep 26, 2014
The lunacy to which The Equalizer descends is especially disappointing because the movie starts out with some promise. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 24, 2014
It’s just more joyless junk, another title to bury at the bottom of Fuqua’s resume. Read full review
42
HitfixDrew McWeenySep 7, 2014
It's a dull film. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 25, 2014
Fuqua’s film is lacking much of an intelligible plot other than “tough hombre rights wrongs in ways pushing the boundaries of a 15 rating”. Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasSep 25, 2014
Say this for The Equalizer: It gets the job done, and that job, to quote A Clockwork Orange, is delivering a little of the old ultra-violence. Read full review
40
The GuardianPaul MacInnesSep 9, 2014
Denzel is so cool, so made of pure nails he can make even the most preposterous action scene feel thrilling. But Denzel's strength is also his weakness. Read full review
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