Hail to the Queen
This action-drama is constantly on the move, shifting seamlessly between darker and lighter moments and never really taxing the audience, writes James Croot.
More than 30 years after acting tonguetwister Edward Woodward helped out those with a problem, another McCall is evening the odds.
Only this time it’s Robyn, rather than Robert, who is TV’s The Equalizer (which debuts on Prime at 8.30pm on Thursday and will also be available to stream on Sky Go) in a slick, but formulaic update.
Having stepped down from her globetrotting ‘‘charity work’’ – a cover for hot-spot troubleshooting for the CIA – the biggest challenge Robyn (Queen Latifah) faces now is how to fill her days and keep her rebellious teenage daughter from going off the rails.
But when a young immigrant waitress is seemingly framed for a murder she claims there’s no way she could have committed, Robyn’s sense of injustice sees her dusting off her special set of skills and seeking out her old comrades to solve what appears to be a potentially frightening conspiracy.
‘‘It doesn’t look a fake,’’
hacker and comedic relief Harry Keshegian (Adam Goldberg) says of the damning video footage, ‘‘but, if it is, it must be Russian blackhats, or an alphabet agency.’’
He then issues a warning. ‘‘You’ve no idea how deep these waters run.’’
‘‘What should I do? Let her drown?’’ Robyn snaps back.
In the safe hands of former Castle scribes Andrew Marlowe and Terri Miller, The Equalizer is a police procedural (even though our hero is often working against the authorities) that’s constantly on the move, shifts seamlessly between darker and lighter moments and never really taxes the audience.
In a way, it has more in common with The Blacklist or Elementary than any of the Law & Orders. Like the former, this is a show that loves a warehouse and bulletin board and has a main character with a potentially shadowy past – and, as she is constantly reminding us – has a ‘‘very particular set of skills’’ (‘‘I’m really bad at minding my own business. . . other things I’m really good at,’’ just one example in the opening episode). Meanwhile, as with
Elementary, there’s a tension between Robyn’s methods and those of the men in uniform – particularly NYPD detective Marcus Dante (Tory Kittles).
Network cop drama shaky cam abounds, although it is noticeable in the fight scenes that the action becomes blurry and the jukebox kicks in, which does leave you wondering what the creators are trying to gloss over or hide.
That said though, there are plenty of table-turning and crowd-pleasing moments to be had and Latifah (22 Jump Street, Taxi) has enough chutzpah, charisma and gravitas to pull it off.
Fans of the Denzel Washington series of films of the same name may lament the lighter tone, something which might have been more likely had someone like Viola Davis been in the lead, but odds are, if you like a good episodic American action drama, then you’ll adore The Equalizer.
The Equalizer debuts on Prime at 8.30pm on Thursday and will also be available to stream on Sky Go.