Film Preview: The Equalizer (2014)

Poster

Poster #1

Additional posters can be found below.

Trailer Link

Release Date:

September 26, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “A former black ops commando who faked his death for a quiet life in Boston comes out of his retirement to rescue a young girl and finds himself face to face with Russian gangsters.”

Poster: C+ / D / C / D+ / D / D / D / D / D

Review: (#1-#5) I don’t quite understand why there are so many designs. Some are foreign, but the only two that are passable are the first, which features some reminiscent imagery and the third, which tries for something visually arresting. The others are simplistic, banal and forgettable.

(#6-#9) There hasn’t been a set of posters that have generated such deep ambivalence. These new designs are all generally distinctive from one another (excepting #6, which is almost identical to #5), but aren’t ultimately noteworthy.

Trailer: B / B-

Review: Advertising for a film like this is tough and pushing its comparison to many other recent vigilante films will certainly help it attract an audience. Much of this is superficial and lacks a clear intensity of excitement, but it could be decent.

(#2) This second trailer focuses more on Denzel Washington’s badassness, but that robs the film of anything resembling motivating plot. It will appeal to fans of Washington’s and Liam Neeson’s brands of aging action slickness, but there’s something so unnatural about these trailers that make the film feel utterly generic.