Sony is very high on their fall Denzel Washington vehicle “The Equalizer.” An adaptation of the Edward Woodward-starring TV classic (particularly beloved of Rob Reiner in “The Wolf Of Wall Street”), it made the Black List while only in script form, initially attracted the attention of hot directors like Nicolas Winding Refn and Rupert Wyatt, and the film’s apparently attracted some of the best test scores in the company’s history, enough so that they’ve already put a sequel into development.

Which is all very confusing, because from everything we’ve seen, including the full trailer that just landed today, the film looks pretty average at best. Denzel Washington stars as a former special ops sort who faked his death in order to live an ordinary life, but is drawn back to a world of violence in order to save a young prostitute (Chloë Grace Moretz) from the Russian mob. It appears to be essentially a reheated “Man On Fire,” but with journeyman Antoine Fuqua (reuniting with Washington for the first time since “Training Day”) at the helm, and without the bonkers stylistic touches that the late Tony Scott brought to that other film. But, I don’t know, maybe people just really liked “Man On Fire.” The film opens on September 26th.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjctHUEmutw]

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