The Equalizer, the film adaptation of the 80s TV show, stars Denzel Washington as an ex-CIA agent, who comes out of retirement to seek vigilante justice on Russian gangsters.

In The Equalizer, McCall (Washington) is pulled back into action when he meets a girl named Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz). Teri is currently under the control of violent Russian gangsters and desperately needs his help. Unable to turn her away, he determines to take them out, using his long dormant but not lost Special Forces skills.

'The Equalizer' Review

Critics are split on Washington and director Antoine Fuqua's latest collaboration. While some feel as though the two have combined for one of the best films of its kind in recent memory, others were disappointed with the effort. No matter where opinions landed on the movie as a whole, Washington's performance was praised across the board.

"It’s not quite that I think this movie is a guilty pleasure, since “pleasure” is hardly the applicable term. “The Equalizer” is gripping, mysterious and even sometimes moving, but it’s never pleasant, still less fun. If you decide to go, don’t claim you weren’t warned. If you skip it, you’re missing one of the year’s signal works of superior Hollywood craftsmanship.” – Anthony O’Hehir, Salon

“Apart from Washington, there's not to much to catch the eye here.… Like "A Walk Among the Tombstones," this is a similar, angry middle-aged avenger movie, all done by formula — insert Fist A into Face B – and aimed strictly at the AARP audience. Which is fine — so was "Taken." But that was six years ago. And since then, this mini-genre has begun to feel more and more expendable.” – Stephen Whitty, The Star-Ledger

“This action thriller, directed by Antoine Fuqua, operates on a program as old as the Hollywood Hills—fancify, if not justify, all sorts of grisly violence with razzle-dazzle technique, a few literary references, a seductively loathsome heavy, a vigilante's code and, in the current instance, a movie star so skillful that he doesn't look like he's slumming.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

“This updating of the fondly remembered late-80s TV show is the most exciting, violent and stylish film of its type in a very long while. Viscerally satisfying on a primal level, the star’s reunion with his Training Day directorAntoine Fuqua looks to be such a commercial success that a sequel, said to be already in the works, should be put on the Sony fast track,” Todd McCarthy, Entertainment Weekly

The Equalizer is currently in wide release.