The Equalizer 3 (2023)
Denzel Washington plays retired U.S. Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall for a third and according to the posters, final time as he settles down in the town of Altamonte (Actually Atrani) on Italy's beautiful Amalfi Coast following a gunshot injury. However his recent past comes back to haunt him in the shape of the local mafia and their role in the illegal drug trade and connection to terrorist bombings across the country.
Antoine Fuqua's film is at once a love letter to southern Italy and the gorgeous Amalfi Coast in it's portrayal of idyllic life - outdoor cafes, beach food, watching old movies projected onto buildings, all captured by beautiful cinematography - whilst it's also an incredibly violent, hard as nails thriller in the classic Italian poliziottesco mold.
At times it felt like i was watching a modern day reimagining of Lenzi's Violent Naples but with the ice cool and utterly charming Washington rather than the hot headed Maurizio Merli. An idea given more credence with 70% of the dialogue being subtitled and a cool and at times eerie score from Marcelo Zarvos.
Much of the film is given to characterisation as McCall recovers from his injury and even possibly falls for waitress Aminah (Gaia Scodellaro) as well as his more business like relationship with CIA operative Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning playing alongside Denzel Washington for the first time since the excellent Man on Fire twenty years earlier - there's definitely a screen chemistry between the pair just as their was in Tony Scott's Mexican set movie) and it's these well judged characters and layers of story telling that make the action even more hard hitting.
I absolutely loved this. If you enjoy classic Poliziotteschi films then you really shouldn't miss this.
The Postcards from the Amalfi Coast featurette gives a stunning birds eye view of the area The Equalizer 3 was filmed. In HD on a good screen it's worth the price of admission alone and it's only five and a half minutes long.
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