Washington stars in The Equalizer as Robert McCall, a mild-mannered man who works at Home Mart, and enjoys encouraging his co-workers, especially Ralphie (Johnny Skourtis), who wants to be a security guard. McCall lives alone in a spartan apartment. He has difficulty sleeping, so he spends most nights at a diner, where he sits alone and reads. Most night, he chats with a young prostitute named Alina (Chloe Grace Moretz). When Alina is beaten by her pimp and lands in the hospital, Robert decides to get involved. He begins to wage a war on the local Russian mafia. An enforcer named Teddy (Marton Csokas) is sent in to take care of the problem, and a battle of wills with Robert begins. This raises the question, who is Robert and how does he know how to do these things?

Given his somewhat diverse career (more on that later), it's not surprising that Denzel would want to branch-out and take-on a full-on action movie. The question is, why would we choose this script? Based (supposedly) on the 1980s television show, The Equalizer is so far beneath someone as revered as Denzel that it's ridiculous. This is one of those movies that if it weren't for the presence of a major star, would be relegated to late-night cable.

I know that many revere Denzel Washington, but I've never been a fan. Why? Because he comes across as incredibly humorless and he leads the pack in actors who appear to take themselves far too seriously (with Daniel Day-Lewis standing right behind him). He also seems to play the same character over and over. Still, I can't blame him for wanting to jump on-board the action bandwagon, especially with a project which clearly wants to be a franchise. But, despite this film's inexplicable box-office success, in my opinion, he backed the wrong horse. The Equalizer is garbage from beginning-to-end, as it offers hackneyed senseless violence with no exploration of story or character. Go back to your stone-faced dramas Denzel, and leave this kind of work to Liam Neeson.

The Equalizer probably lead to some face-palming at Home Depot on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 23 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no notable grain or defects from the source materials. This is a dark movie, but the image is never overly dark and the action is always visible. We don't get a lot of bold colors here, but the tones do look natural. The level of detail is excellent, as we can make out every line on the actor's faces and the depth is very good. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.0 Mbps. (That's a pretty low bitrate for 7.1 track.) The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The bass, from the music and from explosions, works well, without distortion or drowning out the other sounds. The stereo effects show good separation and the surround effects really come into play during the finale.

The Equalizer Blu-ray Disc contains several extra features. "Inside The Equalizer" (8 minutes) is a general making-of which focuses on the story and characters, while also touching on how the project came to be. We get comments from Washington, Moretz, and the creative team, who give us the standard soundbytes. "Denzel Washington: A Different Kind of Superhero" (7 minutes) focuses on Denzel's involvement in the film and has various parties comment on what it was like working with the actor. "Equalizer Vision: Antoine Fuqua" (7 minutes) profiles the director, allowing him to comment on the film, while others talk about his working style. Moretz's character is explored in "Children of the Night" (5 minutes), which also touches on real-life prostitution and an agency which helps people in that world. "One Man Army: Training and Fighting" (7 minutes) looks at the stuntwork and the prep-work done for the film. This contains a good deal of on-set rehearsal footage. "Home Mart: Taking Care of Business One Bolt at a Time" (2 minutes) is a fake commercial made up of clips from the movie. The final extra is a PHOTO GALLERY offering stills from the film.