{"id":1238497,"date":"2026-02-27T05:35:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T05:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=609740"},"modified":"2026-02-27T05:35:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T05:35:03","slug":"denzel-washingtons-most-underrated-thriller-is-about-to-leave-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/denzel-washingtons-most-underrated-thriller-is-about-to-leave-netflix\/","title":{"rendered":"Denzel Washington\u2019s most underrated thriller is about to leave Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Equalizer 3<\/a><\/em> wouldn\u2019t qualify as the<\/em> jewel of Denzel Washington\u2019s filmography, but it belongs on the crown. Skeptics: Please watch this one on Netflix<\/a> before it\u2019s gone on July 1.<\/p>\n

Washington has two Oscars<\/a> and nine nominations to his name, plus multiple Tonys for his stage work, and he\u2019s devoted a good portion of his career to bringing the work of playwright August Wilson to screens. He is rightfully regarded as a god-tier thespian. And yet Washington is no stranger to pageturner-y fluff, which he elevates with the same swagger he brings to Shakespeare. His three Equalizer movies are the middle ground between the stoic forcefulness of his award-worthy dramatic turns, and the multiple movies he made with hyper-dynamic director Tony Scott, in which he manages trains. (Unstoppable<\/a><\/em> and the Taking of Pelham 123<\/a><\/em> remake.) But The Equalizer 3<\/em> perfects the formula.<\/p>\n

As the Equalizer, Washington plays ex-Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall, who is supposedly out of the hero game, except that he keeps getting recruited by those in need, over and over and over again. He can\u2019t help it! He loves to do good, using his honed sense of sight and sound, which director Antoine Fuqua treats like a superpower.<\/p>\n

The first in the series, 2014\u2019s The<\/em> Equalizer<\/em> (also on Netflix) is kind of a mess: Washington is stuck dealing with sappy drama before Fuqua overplays his John Wick-level skills. There\u2019s no balance, no tension, and fewer beatdowns than you might expect a movie in which McCall needs to take down Russian sex traffickers. But the one time the Equalizer sets his watch to his the exact amount of time it\u2019ll take him to slice through a room full of goons, then executes his plan in ice-cold fashion\u2026 Well, that\u2019s gold.<\/p>\n

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