Denzel Washington replaces Woodward as Robert McCall, a DIY store worker with a chequered past. Living alone in his modest Boston apartment, McCall barely sleeps and spends the greater proportion of his nights at a 24-hour diner, reading classic literature, arranging the condiments in neat rows and quietly brooding away the hours before dawn. Director Antoine Fuqua has brought us a varied collection of thrillers and action films throughout his career, ranging from the underrated Replacement Killers, to the superb Training Day (for which Washington deservedly won an Oscar) to last year’s absurdly violent Olympus Has Fallen. Fuqua’s take on The Equalizer is closer in spirit to the latter, albeit with more time spent on developing its characters and less on blowing up famous civic buildings. Screenwriter Richard Wenk’s plot is as formulaic as it comes, featuring as it does a stoic hero, a female in peril (with Moretz channelling some of Jodie Foster’s vulnerable performance in Taxi Driver) and a range of villains with dodgy Russian accents. But The Equalizer overcomes the familiar set-up of its story thanks to some solidly-staged, visceral action set-pieces from Fuqua, an intense performance from Washington, and some deliciously dark moments of humour, some of which may or may not be intentional. While Teddy plays detective, and gradually zeroes in on McCall’s whereabouts, McCall’s holding down his day job at the DIY store, helping his buddy Richie (Johnny Skourtis) lose weight, and occasionally stepping out to solve the city’s crime problems with his fists and a range of blunt instruments. By the time a fresh wave of villains has arrived (look out for one magnificent Russian hipster gangster with a waxed moustache), The Equalizer’s long since departed from its TV roots, and starts looking more like a remake of Straw Dogs crossed with hoary 80s horror The Toolbox Murders. It’s all highly entertaining, even if the second half’s gleeful chaos seems slightly at odds with the sombre tone of the first. Although by no means a classic film, The Equalizer’s a highly diverting one, and put together with technical proficiency by Fuqua – he and cinematographer Mauro Fiore bring a pleasingly scuzzy edge to the Boston setting, and add effective, bruising impact to the action. If The Equalizer teaches us one thing, it’s that here’s nothing deadlier than Denzel Washington holding a length of wire and a hedge trimmer. Gangsters of the world, beware. The Equalizer is out in UK cinemas on the 26th September. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.