The Equalizer (2014)

Most people think so. 77% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics gave it 59%.

McCall believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri, a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can’t stand idly by – he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer. Wikipedia ↗

The Equalizer is a 2014 American action thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua, based on the 1985 television series. Denzel Washington stars as Robert McCall, a seemingly ordinary man working at a Home Depot-like hardware store in Boston who lives a quiet, precisely ordered life — eating at the same diner, reading classic literature, timing his activities with meticulous care. When McCall befriends Teri, a young Russian prostitute played by Chloë Grace Moretz, and she is brutally beaten by her handlers, he methodically and devastatingly eliminates her abusers, drawing the attention of a ruthless Russian enforcer named Teddy, played by Marton Csokas.

Denzel Washington brought a controlled intensity to McCall that made the character's violence feel both shocking and inevitable — his calm preparation before action and precise, lethal efficiency suggested a man whose dangerous past was always just beneath the surface. Antoine Fuqua staged the action sequences with a deliberate, almost ritualistic quality, emphasizing McCall's tactical intelligence over brute force. The hardware store climax, in which McCall weaponizes ordinary tools against a squad of armed mercenaries, was an inventively brutal set piece.

The Equalizer earned $192 million worldwide on a $55 million budget and launched a franchise.