Is this a joke?

This violence is actually explained in the beginning of the movie with the Mark Twain quote and also when he is reading "The Old Man and the Sea" and talk to Alina why the old man didn't let go the fish. So if you really need me to explain who is Robert McCall in this story than you are not worth of this movie.

First of all, I can relate to your high expectations from the IMDB rating and your ensuing disappointment. Sometimes I wish I didn't know a film's rating before watching it, because a high rating prematurely raises the bar for my enjoyment. However, the reverse can be true as well.

Either way, I agree that the rating system is usually reliable, and this is why I refer to it religiously to decide what to watch. Without doing this I would be watching a lot of crappy movies. Like you said, a 7 or above usually means the movie is decent, so I was expecting "Equalizer" to be a little better than my instincts were telling me, based on previews and posters.

I enjoyed the movie, even though it turned into a huge disappointment by the end. I also agree that it is overrated, and time will correct this to some degree. Still, I think you take it too seriously. Just because a movie seems serious--i.e. doesn't make fun of itself or acknowledge in some way that it's a little ridiculous--doesn't mean that you shouldn't take it with a grain of salt. I mean, self-parody, if it's not done well, is an annoying cop-out.

Things I liked about it: I think Denzel made a huge impact overall--with a lesser actor it would have truly stank. And like others said, the action was really cool. The retired badass vigilante character is always a guilty pleasure, even though it was taken too far and horribly cliched in this case. ("He didn't come for help. He came for permission." That was a groaner.) Additionally the sadistic, mob enforcer villain intrigued me for the first half of the film.

It did irritate me that the main character never really seemed to be in trouble, and even the worst bad guys didn't pose much of a challenge for him. And now that I think about it, there are a lot of glaring things that I could complain about but I don't have the space here. I guess my point is that with a movie like this, I try to enjoy anything I can, because all in all it's still watchable. Truly original action is almost impossible to come by, so we need to find other ways to enjoy films like this.

i do not agree with you, this movie is not excellent, it has some plot holes, it is unrealistic, but it is action movie and i think action movies cannot be excellent, realistic, unique etc. But I have enjoyed watching it, i personally like Denzel as an actor and roles like this suits him and i have rated this movie with 8/10.

Most new movies come with a Metascore below the imdb score, you should look at this before adjusting your expectations for a movie... I feel the true score is somewhere between these 2. If you took the the average of the current imdb score of this movie and the current metascore, you would find a more realistic score: (74 (out of 100) + 57) / 2 = 65.5/100

well I liked the moved because it's so american cliche. an seemingly ordinary guy gets awaken to avenge something. It's the whole "take matters into your own hands in a world full of crime, corruption and terror." There are plenty of flicks like that. It's about the media induced paranoia that we constantly live in a dangerous world where nobody can help but yourself...it gives the viewer a sense of power and justice because even a simple man -like me or you- can wipe out an entire drug cartell with just a bunch of home tools from walmart.

Don't worry, mate, you're doing the right thing by saying your opinion. And frankly, I agree. Terribly flawed film, but not overall terrible.
But that's what happens these days. Mediocre movies get overrated. IMO the rating will go down and settle somewhere around six as time passes.

From what I read in this thread, I get the impression you assume that this movie tries to be realistic and pass on a message because it has a serious tone. I do not understand why you think that, imo the serious tone's goal is to create tension and nothing else.

The premise alone is enough to see that this movie isn't trying to be realistic or give life lessons. We're talking about the "bad-ass white knight fighting a gang solo" cliché after all.

The movie is targeted at a specific audience that should easily recognise itself when reading the synopsis. It was crystal clear I was going to watch a cheesy cliché of a movie, most likely completelly predictable and pretty shallow. However, I do not think there is anything wrong with that if it is well executed - and I was not disappointed. It was entertaining, tense, and Washington's performance was solid.

I'm also glad they didn't resort to humour, it would have broken the tension and degraded the movie.

I'd give it a 7/10 because it's good at what it does, and doesn't pretend to be anything else than it is. If I didn't like the genre it would likely be closer to a 5/10.

It's a good old school eighties action style of movie i liked it.