Overall good, but two scenes in this movie made me laugh really hard... - The Equalizer (2014) Discussion

[–] whenry83 9 years ago

100% agree.

1) car scene was the worst ever. He could've a) reversed the car out of the garage b) unlocked/opened the door c) opened the windows or d) all of the above.

2) Why can't he just shoot somebody with a gun and get it over with?

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[–] QCTeamkill 9 years ago

The guy was chained to the car. One of his hands got stuck. That's why breaking the glass or trying to open the door would do no good. Besides, Denzel was watching him the entire time, lol. What could he do?

He didn't use guns against the guys, because by using guns, they would have easily found him. It would give away his position. So, he went full silent mode.

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[–] Creasy47 9 years ago

It's irrelevant whether Denzel was watching him or not, because he could've just shattered his window and been a lot better off. Would've certainly put a major kink in his plan.

As for the gun part, that was thrown out the window the moment the big-bearded enemy spotted him and they had the knife/glass fight. Plus, all the guns had suppressors on them, and it seemed like the bad guys were finding their dead comrades immediately, whether Denzel used weaponry or not.

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

Ever tried breaking a car window with your bare hands? They just get shattered real easy, huh? Besides, he had no leverage sitting down chained. That is, in no f'n way possible.

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[–] waldomarek 9 years ago

so you're telling us when you're suffocating, you're just gonna give up on breaking the car window because you know it will be pointless?

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

Well, not necessarily. That is, if you're delusional about your own strength and/or ignorant about the durability of the windowpane.

So, you would rather have watched a fool tug and pull for a while, and then die anyway? A cop would know better, I'm sure.

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[–] BluthSitwell 9 years ago

Well, ofcause we have no idea how much of little weakling you are.. But when i was a kid we broke plenty of car windows on used or broken cars,.. Cars that was from the mid 90s... Its REALLY easy.

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

Sure you did...

Anyway, the car was Jaguar XJ6 Series 3 from 1986; a high end flagship model. I doubt its windows were very weak. I might be wrong, but it's perfectly plausible to assume that. The chained-down cop obviously did, and I wouldn't blame him. We don't really know how tightly he was chained down either.

Also, he'd have to had acted quickly as he was suffocating, weakening by the second, and Denzel's character was right there keeping guard. He had absolutely no chance.

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[–] njoydesign 9 years ago

Having owned this model, I can tell you there are quite enough interior parts you could rip out/unscrew to use as a hammer))

But hey, this is a movie, so we shouldn't be too picky about these things. Although I agree this scenne is one of the weakest. However, the bigger issue I had with this movie was why Masters didn't just tell the guys at the money place to shoot Bob the moment they walked in...

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[–] ahm-van-schijndel 7 years ago

Or he could just squeeze of that garden hose next to him

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[–] mike_james27 9 years ago

I punched out a car window when I was 15. It's not as hard as you think. A big guy like that cop could have easily broken that window.

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

I guess you might have - car windows were probably less durable in 1942. However, this movie was situated in modern times, and the car looked quite new too, iirc. Besides, as mentioned, the guy was chained down and without leverage. I stand by my assertion.

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[–] mike_james27 9 years ago

Was that some kinda lame joke? I'm 29 years old. I punched out like a '95 Mustang, and some of my friends punched out tons of cars.

I was probably 130 lbs at the time. Trust me, it's not as hard as you think to punch out a car window. Even sitting down, he could have shifted his body weight into it and smashed it easily. The guy was like 230 lbs.

And no, his car was not quite modern. It looked like something from the 70's.

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[–] FullyOperationalSamaritan 9 years ago

The car may be old. But the windows could have been new. The car may have been remodeled.

Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone.

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

@mike_james27: The car was Jaguar XJ6 Series 3 from 1986; a high end flagship model. I doubt its windows were very weak. I might be wrong, but it's perfectly plausible to assume that. The chained-down cop obviously did, and I wouldn't blame him. We don't really know how tightly he was chained down either.

Also, he'd have to had acted quickly as he was suffocating, weakening by the second, and Denzel's character was right there keeping guard. He had absolutely no chance.

Good points by FullyOperationalSamaritan btw. Just a little imagination is all you need ;)!

(Ok, so -27 isn't your birth year.. :P)

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Mellow-Fellow 9 years ago

Yeah he could have used a sharp object. Dont you have one in your car? I can think of a screwdriver under my seat, knife on my keychain. But those windows are really hard he couldn't have broken it unless he was smart and had one of them little pointy glass breakers.

Beside the point any car made after like 1995 is incapable of killing you in that way unless you sit there for an unbelievably long time and it is completely airtight, since the oxygen standards are so stringent. A guy I knew in highschool about 10 years ago died because he got drunk and parked his car in the sealed garage with it running but it was an old "el camino" with a built up chevy 350 and they said he would have lived had the garage been a little bigger or the morning come an hour or two sooner (or he an hour or two later), most people think it was a suicide since he was never the same after getting caught beating off at summer camp in a room full of guys, you are probably laughing but true story, he didn't deny it, he doubled down and just said hey everyone does it but you know back in highschool how much ridicule that would get? Well let me just say it was enough that I felt sorry for him even then as a boy, lol. He was always the kid getting picked on but a pretty nice guy really. I hung out with his group, or more ran into them a few times around that age and it didn't really help him that he hung around in a neighborhood full of dick heads who treated him like *beep* Wish I could go back and tell him all he had to do was pop one of them in the mouth the next time they said something he really didn't like and he would either get new friends, or at least respect from people, perhaps even them, maybe a beatdown.. Anyway I feel ive gone off on a tangent here and must take my leave. Good day.

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[–] writinman2004 9 years ago

Shatter it with what?

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[–] dougzinboston 9 years ago

JUST shatter the window? You're not serious, right? Now, if you asked why a cop didn't have a window punch or a window breaker in his car, that's pretty legit. But to believe a guy, sitting down (no leverage), in a car seat (limited positioning), cuffed to a wheel (reduced mobility), and suffocating to punch ACROSS his body (even with some forward angle) and shatter a window...you're unreasonably off. Now, why was the left hand cuffed? It reduces extension if opening the door, it takes away from utilizing the power of an elbow strike to the window, etc. Could he have kicked out the winshield? Yes. Woudl he need to have used to same force for a side door? Yes, but could not because of his limited positioning ability. Seriously, how long do you want this movie to actually be?? He kickds it out, gets shot in the leg then we have to sit thought 10 minutes of plan B?

If Robert had enough time to rig the car with the hose, it isn't unreasonable to think he hadn't done other things to the car, like disrupting the shifting linkage. Again, how long do you want this movie to be?

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Iceman373 9 years ago

"Besides, Denzel was watching him the entire time."

It doesn't matter who is watching you...if you are panicking enough you will do whatever you have to do to reduce the suffering. You aren't going to be thinking, "I could break the glass, but he is right there." And right when Denzel leaves, he would have broke the glass, not sat there screaming for him to come back and save him.

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

Well, obviously the cop wasn't panicking enough, then. Obviously he understood the points dougzinboston stated, and realized it would be useless to struggle. He probably figured it would only increase his suffering, not reduce it. Not everyone goes completely bonkers in a hopeless situation. By the time Denzel's character left, he was surely close to losing his conciousness already, so no dice there either.

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[–] Iceman373 9 years ago

It was a terrible movie no matter how much you try to justify it. Name one other good scene other than the office scene where he took out a bunch of guys.....case closed. Shut up....YOU LOST!!!! You can't win this argument.

BTW, I was being serious when I asked you to name another good scene in the TERRIBLE F'ing movie. The movie was horsesh**!!!!

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[–] stevepc 9 years ago

Hi. I'm nothing to do with this discussion. I just wanted to point out that you seem like quite a sad, obnoxious little twerp. Sorry.

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[–] Iceman373 9 years ago

You should be sorry, as you just came up with ad hominem attacks without actually coming up with a legitimate counter argument that would actually explain how the movie was good in any way, shape, or form. Take your sorry ass elsewhere...oh, and welcome to the "Real world," you know, where truth will be spoken that you don't agree with, but it's the truth nonetheless.

"B b b b but it's negative."

Hey, I know it's negative. Just like the fact that you are probably ugly as *beep* but it's still a fact...the truth. Don't hate on me just for speaking the truth. LOL.

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[–] stevepc 9 years ago

You're doing it again. You're a weird one. A proper internet arguer. All I was doing was pointing out that you come across as a sad *beep* In your reply you came across even worse. "YOU LOST!"

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[–] rolland-makinano 8 years ago

Hey who gives a crap
about how accurate and detailed the scenes are.
Any movie made in Hollywood is just that.
I call it hollywoodized.

Just enjoy the damn movie for what it's worth.

I saw Hunt for the Red October at the theater long ago.
And if any of you been on a nuclear sub like I have
some of the scenes were outright wrong.
Besides I read the novel version by
Tom Clancy it was way different than the movie.
As was Jaws, God Father, Overboard, Patriots etc.....

Truthfully The Equalizer was a little boring,
I fell asleep a couple of times watching it.

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[–] pjk84 9 years ago

I wasn't arguing about how good this movie was. I was arguing how reasonable it was for the cop to break the window for a chance to escape.

I think we all know how that turned out.

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[–] herath-damith 9 years ago

I actually enjoyed the movie! lot of my friends too!! you most can argue this was wrong, there's a hole etc, etc, but if you for a minute stop thinking what are the holes you can find and think what would be the movie length and how boring it would be if they tried to make the film covering all the holes!!

And if you actually tried to get to know the story you know what robert (Denzel) is, What kind of a character and the skills guy has, so eliminating all those mentioned holes. it's impossible someone to out smart robert easily, so in every seen you know this guy is in control! makers don't need to try covering holes as people pointed out!! that's in the character!!! that's what i think.

i also can think lots of holes in any movie, but unless makers did something absolutely unjustifiable wrong thing that we'll notice when watching a movie we should enjoy it without trying to look for holes. otherwise what's the point!!!

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] roba-8 9 years ago

Hi. I'm a screenwriter.

1. I don't know.
2. Is not the first time that movies do that. And Home Alone was not the first one too.

5 years before Home Alone, Witness did the same thing. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090329/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Skyfall did something like that too and also a movie called "Assault on the 13th precinct"

And it seems to be that the ending of Witness is also got his ending from a older movie.

And you right about the weak ending.

The writer of the movie mixed up Home Alone with Silence of the Lambs. The problem is, in those both movies, the villain was good.

In The Equalizer the villain almost don't exist. He sucks. And the bad russian gang suck as well. I really think the villain should be at least a better shooter. And i think also that in the first act, the villain should show his skills.

I really was looking for a great villain, but in the movie we have the Russian Villain cliché. The Tv-Serie Dexter did the same thing.

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[–] gilbert_gumphrey 9 years ago

For a screenwriter, you sure have bad spelling and grammar...

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[–] gil-sn 9 years ago

You don't have to write/speak english to be a screenwriter, you know?
Freaking americans always suposing there is no world besides them. lol

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[–] roba-8 8 years ago

I'm brazilian. A brazilian screenwriter. I don't know to write in english very well.

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[–] Calimarina 9 years ago

There is no official regulatory body for the English language like there is for the other Romance languages. He can write how he chooses.

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[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bishopofbattle 9 years ago

Actually it stands for "Internet"

As in Internet Movie DataBase.

:-)

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[–] 9 years ago

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[–] bishopofbattle 9 years ago

Wow! What a stunningly anger-filled response.

No insult intended, and I left this out of my original post, but I thought you made an honest mistake, possibly because you were too young to use IMDB when it started.

But as age was largely irrelevant and could be seen as a flame-type comment, I left it out and simply corrected what I thought was simply an honest mistake.

And I find it interesting that a five-year old such as myself has more sense than to post non-sense such as you do. Then again, I don't know your age, but as stated, age is irrelevant.

It must be hard to be you, and for that I am sorry.

:-)

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[–] roba-8 8 years ago

I'm brazilian. A brazilian screenwriter. I don't know to write in english very well.

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[–] stevepc 9 years ago

Hi. I'm a screenwriter.

You shouldn't lie on the internet.

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[–] secretagentjr 9 years ago

The car was rigged. It obeyed Robert McCall...

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[–] Aswinning_11 9 years ago

This movie reminds me of a few Korean ones where we have this mysterious badass with super skills cleaning up a city. Also there's always a woman. A formula that works!

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[–] don-damon 9 years ago

Doesn't anyone ever watch a movie for its entertainment value, instead of trying pull the wings off of it.
Denzel Washington, one of my favorite actors did real well with this different approach to getting the bad guys. I get so tired of the same old shoot 'em up movies and the good guy rides off into the sunset. Come on! I thought having him kill the bad guys without using a Glock or an AK-47 was ingenious and clever. A nail gun, a drill, a sledge hammer, Constantine razor wire, and the best for last, electrocution. If you missed it, McCall was ex-CIA or Black ops. He has the skills to kill without the usual quick draw, bullet to the head. If you want that kind of movie, watch Jason Statham or Stallone. Boring after watching the same recipe for death and destruction. I've seen every movie DW has made, this one is different for a change and I really enjoyed it. Besides the things people point out, I have no problem with how it went. I think it was really smart for McCall to get them into his arena for the final show down. A good hunter always makes use of familiar surroundings.

I would like to see another "Equalizer" movie. I don't know if DW is up to doing much more of the Action/Thriller type movies. Would like to see more of more thoughtful Denzel. Sort of what Anthony Hopkins has done with his retiring years. I know Denzel has more good years left, but action movies might not be his best genre. But I do wish him all the best and luck.

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[–] Crafty78 9 years ago

'I think it was really smart for McCall to get them into his arena for the final show down. A good hunter always makes use of familiar surroundings.'

The thing is though, he didn't know that he'd be forced to go to his place of work for the final showdown. He had to go there to rescue his work mates.

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[–] BenRiver 9 years ago

I agree. DW was a bada//ss and the style and rhythm of the movie was great. The exploding pier scene was excellent!!!

I really hope there is a sequel and they use the same director.

--------
Woman: "Can we watch something else?"
Man: "No, I want to see how this ends."

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[–] equalthree 9 years ago

There will no doubt be a sequel but I'm not sure how DW got through this one - he wasn't in that great a shape. It looked like he had man boobs and a paunch.

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[–] jeffsh 9 years ago

I like Dw as an actor but he just didnt pull off the action scenes. He was showing his age big time.

-only uneducated minds are not open to any ideas other than their own.

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[–] Diedelmon 9 years ago

I think Denzel was trying to find his perfect action hero. We know he likes different styles and how he enjoys to find the perfect part fit for a genre. He's been tangled with action movies for a few years now, and he always has the main role - the badass agent who can crush you in no time. I think he was searching for this. And I think this search is done.
Of course this movie has flaws - Philadelphia had flaws. The Pelican Brief had them. Training Day had them. Let's face it, all movies have flaws. Perfection is simply impossible - but overall it's great.
I, for one, find the russians very bad - these are not "typical russian villains". A trip through Google can enlighten us about sex slavery in Russia. The villains of it? Our good old Alexeis, Anatolys and - surprise - Nikolais. The slavery trade operates in a fashion similar to what was shown here, so I don't understand why people are "disappointed". Is it too real, so that makes it not nice?
Well, I said too much already. Just wanted to express something about my thoughts on the movie.

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[–] herath-damith 9 years ago

agreed!!! what's the point if we don't enjoy and looking for holes every-time!! yes mccall is smart to select his work place for final show down.

other who thinks he didn't select he had to go.... let's think mccall is very smart, don't you think he would have any other ways to do that sceen?? it's his call "are you ready to dei for your friends?" made bad guys to come there nice trap isn't it?!!! and other important thing is that final showdown isn't end of the movie! he went and cut off from the snake's head (pushkin) that's what different and entertais this movie coz most other movies end up with the final big bang (look at marvel, dc universes movies)! mccall has different approaching methods! that's what this is!! silent and deadly! not like all other movies with just bang!!! bang!! bang!!

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[–] filipe-fleming 9 years ago

He may have modified the car predicting what the guy would do to try to escape, but as he did not try anything, we will never know.

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[–] tom_mcclarey-3 9 years ago

1. It's called a deadlock. Some cars can't be opened from the inside in order to prevent car thieves from smashing a window open and opening the door.

2. Yeah, the finale was pretty dull.

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[–] jotte_ct 9 years ago

Ok, about the traps, here's one thing that puzzles me: so the power is off and he's sending Ralphie to turn it on in about 40 seconds. There's this bad guy in the kitchen, when power is back the microwave starts working to blow him up.
Now, I'm not kitchen appliance expert, but how on earth was he able to make the microwave start when power was back!???

38 1000...
39 1000...
40 1000...

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[–] jotham97 9 years ago

I'm pretty sure that in many places (especially factories), the lights run on their own circuit that you can turn on and off independently from the other lines. McCall only needed the lights to be out, so that may have been the only circuit he turned off.

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