There’s something special about watching Denzel Washington kick some serious ass, and he kicks some serious ass in The Equalizer, an overly long but more than satisfying vigilante thriller.

Denzel plays Denzel-who-in-this-movie-happens-to-be-employed-at-a-Home-Depot-ripoff, which means that he is the same cool, badass and quietly snarky guy he plays in most of his other movies, only this time he’s employed at a Home Depot ripoff--but used to be a CIA operative or military mastermind or something. It doesn’t really matter. He’s a badass.

When his friend, a young, attractive hooker who looks a lot like Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz), gets brutalized by her Russian mafia pimps (note: Denzel is too cool to want to sleep with her), Denzel puts his particular set of skills to good use. And starts a one-man war.

I’ve never seen the show upon which the movie is based, but The Equalizer exceeded my modest expectations. I had heard it was way too long (it is, at 132 minutes), slightly generic (“original” is not a word I would use to describe it) and somewhat boring (not true), but despite its flaws, The Equalizer is a lot of fun.

The film’s biggest fault is that you never really feel like Denzel’s life is at risk. He always seems to have the upper hand, and as a result The Equalizer isn’t particularly suspenseful. Still… director Antonie Fuqua (who collaborated with Denzel for Training Day) manages to make up for it with some solid action sequences, a decent albeit unoriginal story and legitimate fun factor.

The Equalizer isn’t perfect, but it’s a solid action film.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.