#Movie the equalizer how to#
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#Movie the equalizer series#

Latifah, who exudes natural instincts and a casual confidence, isnвЂ™t given much that requires her to do anything but cruise on her charisma, and cash checks for however long the series runs. But thereвЂ™s nothing in the episode that suggests it will. She exists in two worlds, and thereвЂ™s room throughout the season for the series to really dig into that dichotomy.

#Movie the equalizer how to#

She has to figure out how to switch off the soldier inside of her, where she seems most at ease, and switch on the mother, where she seems to struggle most. She has family, including her rambunctious 15-year-old daughter, Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes), and Aunt Vi (the great Lorraine Toussaint, with really nothing to do here), and friends.

#Movie the equalizer movie#

Unlike the original version and movie adaptations featuring imperturbable, lone-wolf vigilantes - seemingly without much backstory - Latifah puts a human face on a well-worn formula, grounding her character in reality. Leonardo DiCaprio's 11 Best Performances RankedДў021 Emmys Winners List: 'Ted Lasso,' 'The Crown,' and 'The Queen's Gambit' Lead the Night 'Close to Me': Sundance Now's Psychological Drama Is Well-Acted but Clings to Convention 'The Book of Boba Fett' Review: Disney's Obligatory Spinoff Plods Through an Aimless Premiere Of course, as a fighter for the proletariat, she follows them out of protective curiosity, and is soon drawn into a conspiracy that involves deep-fake videos, a murdered attorney, mercenaries, complemented by the usual car/motorcycle chases, fight sequences (watch Latifah effortlessly dispatch four goons), trite one-liners, and the like. ItвЂ™s representative of the many seriesвЂ™ plot contrivances that McCall just happens to see the woman being ushered into some kind of storage facility at Coney Island, perhaps reluctantly, by a nondescript man, late one night. What prompts her to enter a new career of reformer is a chance entanglement with the case of a young woman - Jewel (Lorna Courtney) - framed for murder and on the run from the real killers, who are backed by an Elon Musk-esque tech executive. Like the male вЂњEqualizerвЂќ characters, LatifahвЂ™s McCall is a former intelligence operative for the CIA who became disillusioned with the governmentвЂ™s methods and opted for civilian life. There are a number of callbacks to the original series, which the reboot relies on primarily (not the Denzel Washington movie adaptations), but they probably wonвЂ™t mean anything to new audiences. As yet another one of CBSвЂ™ exhumations of classic last-century crime/drama series (including вЂњMacGyver,вЂќ вЂњMagnum P.I.,вЂќ вЂњHawaii Five-0,вЂќ вЂњS.W.A.T.,вЂќ and more), this вЂњEqualizerвЂќ feels thoroughly unoriginal.

SheвЂ™s an enigmatic former CIA operative who uses her particular set of rather extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. In CBSвЂ™ New York City-set re-imagining of the 1980s series вЂњ The Equalizer,вЂќ starring the late Edward Woodward as the stoic menace with a populist message, multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah plays Robyn McCal.