'equalizer' Is Violent But Irresistible

"The Equalizer" is the latest in the newest wave of action film, the Don't Mess With Pops genre, first hinted at years ago by Harrison Ford but perfected only recently by Liam Neeson. In Don't Mess With Pops movies, a peaceful man that any baby boomer can tell is in his prime - but that young people have the temerity to think of as a geezer - quietly takes abuse until he snaps and starts killing everybody. [...] Denzel Washington gets in on the action, loping into rooms as only he can, his face apparently placid but his eyes strangely dead, just an average guy doing his best to solve the population crisis. At the start of the movie, he's wearing a smock at Home Mart (think Home Depot), living a quiet life and working his way slowly through the 100 Great Books. In one impeccably composed sequence, Robert walks into an office, and Fuqua shows us what he sees - as in, every single thing in the room that could be used as a weapon.