Verdict: * * * ½ – –

What happens when you cross a group of big, bad, bearded egotistical men running an international prostitution ring with arrogant smiles on their faces and bigger guns than body parts… with one man who has a good heart, a hidden history, lots of patience, love for good people and skills that rival some superheroes?

Pretty much what you think happens.

Ever since Glory, Denzel has been the grounding force in every movie he’s starred in, no matter what character he plays. Good guy, bad guy, guy down on his luck… when you see Denzel, you know everything’s going to be alright.

The Equalizer is no exception. And once again the talented direction of Antoine Fuqua takes what may appear to be a simple story and squeezes the most amazing detail from it from the opening scene to closing credits. Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a simple man, patient with an undercurrent of fathomless sorrow, who takes OCD to the next level. One day, he witnesses a heinous assault happening to a Russian-owned prostitute he just met named Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz). Teri is at the end of her rope, daring to dream but knowing those dreams will never come true. Then she’s put in the hospital by her Russian pimp and Robert can no longer look the other way.

There are times when a bad thing happens and you can’t ignore it, and you get restless knowing what you have to do. What follows are sleepless nights making the decision to do the right thing or to look the other way. For some, looking the other way is the only way to survive. But for very few, there is no decision… there’s only response. Especially if they’re the only person who can do anything about it.

You are what you are and this world brings to you what you are meant to deal with, and so Robert wanders through his extraordinarily organized life working in a hardware store and straightens things up around him. This is what any mild mannered superhero does. And yet Robert doesn’t really know it, he’s just doing what he feels is right. So I would consider this a superhero movie. Lives are saved, renewed, helped along the way by someone who is able to help against extraordinary odds, yet remains hidden in the shadows as if he didn’t even exist.

The Equalizer is a superhero movie for regular folks, for those who live in inner city areas and are just trying to do the right thing. Once in a while, a superhero appears and helps out quietly, then lets you live your life the way you were meant to. Superheroes appear where you least expect them to, and save the world one person at a time.

Right now, I’m willing to bet you, yes you reading this post, are a superhero to someone. You may not know it yet, you’ve just been doing what you thought was right. That, my friend, is how we change the world! One person at a time.