Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a man with a mysterious past. By day, he works as a mild-mannered, exemplary employee at the Home Mart home improvement warehouse in Boston. His coworkers seem to love him and look up to him. But at night, McCall is a ruthless vigilante, seeking justice for those who can’t help themselves. Every evening, McCall enjoys his tea at the local diner. One of the regulars is a young woman named Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), an aspiring singer who finds herself trapped in the world of prostitution for the Russian mafia. After discovering that Teri has been brutally beaten, McCall tries to buy her freedom, but the Russians won’t agree to his terms, so McCall takes matters into his own hands. Mob boss Teddy (Marton Csokas) wants revenge, and starts to hunt down McCall, putting his full forces into the effort. However, Teddy has severely underestimated the skills of this one man army.

I never really watched the The Equalizer TV series when it originally aired, so I can’t really provide any comparisons between the film and the TV series. However, I can say that I really enjoyed Denzel Washington in this role. He plays both sides of the character convincingly. You can see the charming Robert McCall who’s happy to help out a customer at the Home Mart, or help his fellow employee prepare for his security guard exam. At the same time, he is also quite convincing as the menacing, meticulous, and self-assured Equalizer, who meters out his own deadly form of justice. The film doesn’t really delve into or explain McCall’s past that much, but you quickly get a sense that this guy is not your average Home Mart Employee—that he has some sort of military or intelligence background. He can systematically clear out a room of bad guys in under 30 seconds!

While it’s not specifically called out, McCall has some level of OCD, and this helps him to plan his attacks down to the second. He has the ability to look at a situation and quickly assess the outcome before putting a plan into action. The film utilizes a unique Equalizer Vision to portray how his mind works as he computes the situation, and then utilizes slow motion as he executes his kills so the viewer can see his amazing skills in action. Much of the movie plays out as a tense cat and mouse game between McCall and Teddy as they try to take one another down. However, McCall always seems to be two steps ahead.

Sony’s 4K Ultra HD release contains a solid video and audio presentation, which provides a noticeable upgrade over the already-great Blu-ray presentation. The picture is clean and crisp, providing a general increase in detail and sharpness throughout the film. This is especially noticeable in faces and clothing textures, and in some of the darker scenes. The colors also feel a bit richer, such as the beautiful sunrise that opens the movie. The 4K UHD release also includes a new Atmos audio track, which provides clear dialogue, and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to make the movie feel more immersive. The height channel is also well utilized during the climactic fight in the Home Mart to add even more dimension and depth to the experience.

This release contains a solid set of bonus material. The Blu-ray disc is the same as the one included in the previous release, and it contains all of the same bonus features—35 minutes of featurettes, plus the Vengeance Mode viewing experience. The Ultra HD disc contains a completely different set of bonus material—5 all-new deleted scenes, 26 minutes of featurttes, and 2 trailers. The UltraHD and Blu-ray discs come packed in a standard UHD keepcase with a cardboard slipcover. The release also includes an Ultraviolet/Movies Anywhere compatible UHD digital copy of the film.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:12:02)

4K UltraHD:
• 2160p / Widescreen 2:40:1
• HDR10
• Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible), English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Descriptive Audio, Czech 5.1, French (Parisian) 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French (Québécois) 5.1, German 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Hungarian 5.1, Italian 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Polish 5.1 VO, Portuguese 5.1, Russian 5.1, Spanish (Castilian) 5.1, Spanish (Latin American) 5.1, Thai 5.1, Turkish 5.1, Ukrainian 5.1
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Arabic, Cantonese, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Thai, Turkish,

Blu-ray:

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Descriptive Audio Service, French 5.1, Spanish 5.1
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Digital (Redemption Deadline 12/31/2020)

• Ultraviolet/Movies Anywhere Digital UHD copy of the film

Extras:

4K ULTRA HD:
• Deleted Scenes (5:54)
  Five all new, never-before-seen deleted scenes. Play All, or select from “McCall’s Epilogue” (1:58), “Six in a Row” (2:00), “Universal” (:24), “Crunchy” (:38), and “Happy Birthday” (1:10).
• Featurettes (26:22)
  Play All, or select from
  • A Villain’s Psychosis (4:04)
    The cast and filmmakers talk about the character of sociopath Teddy, and the actor who plays him. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with Marton Csokas (“Teddy”), screenwriter Richard Wenk, producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, director Antoine Fuqua, and producer/star Denzel Washington (“Robert McCall”).
  • A Modern Hero (2:24)
    The cast and director talk about the character of Robert McCall. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with star Denzel Washington, director Antoine Fugua, and actress Chloë Grace Moretz (“Teri”).
  • Joining Forces Again: Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua (4:52)
    Star Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua talk about getting back together again since their collaboration on Training Day, and creating the “Equalizer Vision” visual style. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, actress Chloë Grace Moretz.
  • Playing the Part: The Cast of The Equalizer (5:06)
    The cast and filmmakers talk about casting the film. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with producer Jason Blumenthal, screenwriter Richard Wenk, director Antoine Fugua, producer Todd Black, and actors Chloë Grace Moretz, Melissa Leo (“Susan Plummer”), Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, and Bill Pullman (“Brian Plummer”).
  • Boston: On Location (4:41)
    The cast and filmmakers talk about filming in Boston and making the city a character in the film. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with screenwriter Richard Wenk, producer Todd Black, star Denzel Washington, and production designer Naomi Shohan.
  • The Home Mart Advantage: The Action of The Equalizer (5:15)
    A behind-the-scenes look at creating the film’s action-packed sequences, including the big showdown in the Home Mart. Includes interviews with producer Jason Blumenthal, director Antoine Fugua, stunt coordinator Keith Woulard, star Denzel Washington, and actress Chloë Grace Moretz.
• Theatrical Trailer 1 (2:32)
• Theatrical Trailer 2 (2:32)

BLU-RAY

• Inside The Equalizer (7:51)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about rebooting the TV series into a film franchise about a real-life superhero. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with screenwriter Richard Wenk, producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, director Antoine Fugua, and actors Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bill Pullman, and Melissa Leo.
• Denzel Washington: A Different Kind of Superhero (6:56)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about working with Denzel Washington, and his performance in the film. Includes interviews with screenwriter Richard Wenk, producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, director Antoine Fugua, and actors Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Marton Csokas, David Harbour (“Masters”), Melissa Leo, and Bill Pullman.
• Equalizer Vision: Antoine Fuqua (7:06)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about working with director Antoine Fuqua, and filming the Equalizer Vision sequences. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with screenwriter Richard Wenk, producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, director Antoine Fugua, and actors Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bill Pullman, and Melissa Leo.
• Children of the Night (5:23)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about working with Chloë Grace Moretz, and the research she did for her role. Includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with screenwriter Richard Wenk, producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, director Antoine Fugua, and actors Denzel Washington and Chloë Grace Moretz.
• One Man Army: Training and Fighting (6:40)
  A behind-the-scenes look at the film’s fight sequences and the training Denzel went through in order to do his own stunts. Includes interviews with director Antoine Fugua, producers Jason Blumenthal & Todd Black, stunt coordinator Keith Woulard, screenwriter Richard Wenk, and actor Denzel Washington.
• Home Mart: Taking Care of Business One Bolt at a Time (2:11)
  Tongue-in-cheek ad for Home Mart that uses footage from the film to showcase top employee Robert McCall’s unique use of the store’s products.
• Photo Gallery (:52)
  Manually step through this gallery of production photos, or let the slideshow auto-advance.
• Previews (12:18)
  Trailers for UltraViolet Digital HD, “Fury”, “No Good Deed”, “Foxcatcher”, “When the Game Stands Tall”, “Predestination”, and “Powers”.
• Vengeance Mode with Denzel Washington & Antoine Fuqua (2:35:00)
  When you select to play the film back in “Vengeance Mode”, the film is constantly interrupted at various points with behind-the-scenes videos where director Antoine Fuqua and star Denzel Washington discuss the characters or current scene.

Final Thoughts:

The Equalizer is a fun, action-packed film that showcases Denzel Washington’s acting talent. Robert McCall can be a charming everyman one second and a ruthless vigilante out for justice the next. The film has a unique visual style that is really captured beautifully on Sony’s new 4K UltraHD release. This release also includes an upgraded Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and a solid selection of new bonus material (in addition to the content from the previous Blu-ray release). This release comes Highly Recommended for anyone who doesn’t already own the film, and still well worth the upgrade for fans of the franchise.