Escape to the Movies: The Equalizer - A Near-Perfect Dad Movie

[Ghadente]

I found it quite funny in one trailer/tv spot for this movie the voice over exclaimed "Denzel Washington, like you never seen him before" (or something to that extent). apparently those in charge of coming up with that commercial haven't seen half of his movies.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Is it me or Bob is really putting things in categories and banalizing things lately? "Oh, it's a movie aimed at teens with darker themes? It's must be a movie for weepy teens who can't understand life. Oh it's a movie with an old badass protagonist? It's a dad movie". It's been a mistake that I've seen with many critics.

They've been dismissing a movie or book with a certain aimed demographic while never truly watching its quality. There was always some good movies or book that managed to ascend the formula and tell a really great story. What's the tragedy? People are dismissing them without giving them a chance.

 

[Ylla]

I didnt like how the action was so heavily edited, the multiple shots, and the obvious fact that the choreography was made step by step, and not once with shots from different angles.
Denzel was much better in The Book of Eli, and so was the action.

Also John Wick looks really good, lets face it at this point killing puppies has more shock value than human beings suffering.

 

[Baghram]

After the whole atrocious behaviour on twitter thing I said to myself: 'I'm not going to watch Bob's content anymore'. But then I felt like I shouldn't stop watching his content simply because we have opposite opinions, that would be petty. And I just watched Bob put down an entire subgroup of humanity again.. God damn it Bob, I really don't want to dislike you but you make it really damned hard not to. Your elitist us versus them mentality is just really irritating. On top of that you treat everyone who has a different view from you as complete and utter trash, calling them insecure, subhuman or of a lower social 'class' whatever the hell that means.

I'm going to spell it out for you Bob. You are not as smart as you think you are. Nor are you as funny. You're not special or in any way unique. You're just a typical grown up man that mentally never outgrew his teens. And you have spent way too long in an echo chamber.And maybe your dad actually needs to step in and give you a time out so you can reflect on your abhorrent behaviour. Or if he's one of those insecure fathers that likes these sorts of movies then atleast a big old fashioned whooping.


Damn it, I had really high hopes that things would be different after the backlash and the apology.

On topic, I'm 23 and apparently I like dad movies. But I don't have kids nor am I terribly insecure, huh.

 

[Baghram]

Double post.

 

[El Comandante]

Huh manly evil ... manly bad uhg. Me like Mario, me make very simple conclusions because I have to compensate for something.
Thats how you sometimes sound to me Bob. You are clever and I realy like your work, it´s very informative and you made me reconsider two or three ideas I had about films and nerdism. The snobbish undertone however, you often use, seems to me like you want to impress your "other" fanbase or "some" "important" people. For me it hurts your credibility. There are a lot of life scripts (no one realy fits only one though) and the manly man is one. Critic is good but you sometimes give me the feeling that it´s mor than that.
Everyone is always talking about how important it is to consider how the other end pics up your message, please do that, unless you want to provoke and clickbait.

Edit: Also, I like dad movies and I´m not a dad ^^.

 

[MrDumpkins]

During this review I made the jack off motion so hard I nearly dislocated my shoulder. Is it me or does Moviebob tend to be more judgmental of a movie's audience than the actual movie?

Seriously, I thought his definition of "Dad" movie was spot on and I'm going to use it from now on. But as the video kept going it seemed like he had some sort of disdain for them, which I just felt was shameless considering he loves everything from his childhood and gushes about it as his job. Then makes fun of dads that want to go see a genre they liked as a kid as well.

I feel like after the 3 Kevin Smith episodes he did he's become a lot more judgmental about other people, and I don't like it. I already unfollowed him on twitter but I kept watching his shows because I like his content. But if it's going to keep being like this I'm going to quit anything he does in general, which really sucks because his old stuff is great.

 

[ACman]

Well.... That was some back-handed praise right there.....

At least the premise of this doesn't creep me out as much as 'Taken'. Don't get me wrong; Liam Neeson is a badass. But why not just make him the dad? Why does he need to be borderline stalking his ex-wife?`

 

[Strazdas]

Bob, you are good at writing movie reviews, however as evident by constant backpedaling, you are terribly at social commentary. please do not mix the two so i can continue watching your reviews and avoid the nonsense. You seem to have sorted this out in The Big Picture, it would be nice if you could sort it out here too.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

A wasted opportunity to have Denzel Washington and Chloë Grace Moretz team up and kill things in the style of Bob Goldthwait's God Bless America.

 

[Uriel_Hayabusa]

Wow, lots of thinly-veiled contempt towards this movie's target audience in this week's episode. If a movie critic who didn't like superhero movies criticized a Marvel movie in a similar way (''It's cool if you like that sort of thing, but liking that sort of thing makes you pretty lame'') then I imagine Bob would be up-in-arms about it.

 

[KRosen]

During this review I made the jack off motion so hard I nearly dislocated my shoulder. Is it me or does Moviebob tend to be more judgmental of a movie's audience than the actual movie?

This is why I left escapist original - literally the entire reason. I'm back because Archon is awesome.

 

[Cpt. Slow]

I like "Dad Movies", but I'm not a Dad...

You are now. Well, according to Bob 'I hate manly men and want to pander my SJW followers' Chipman.

I'm going to see this film and not a 'dad' myself, and everyone else who is going to see this shouldn't feel bad about it being labelled as a dad film.

 

[LightningFast]

10/10 would watch dad fall asleep during first thirty minutes and stay asleep through all the action scenes.

 

[Seneschal]

I've only ever heard of the Equalizer TV-show from pop-culture references. Was it just a cult success in its day, or big in America and not overseas? Incidentally, the co-star in the Equalizer, Keith Szarabajka, voices Harbinger (ME3), the Didact (Halo 4) and many other videogame baddies these days. How serendipitous.

Also, can't say Jack Reacher (which I really liked) felt very dad-like to me, but I guess it's not the content so much as the marketing and target demographic that defines a dad-movie. Reacher was investigative enough to remind me of those feature-length BBC mystery shows, it had scarce action, the lead is more "charming perceptive detective" than "socially inept super-assassin", and the female sidekick was involved throughout (except in the trailers).

EDIT:

Can Keanu Reeves starring in an action movie now be considered a dad movie? He's 50. Or does his immortality dsqualify that? Cause I'm interested to see John Wick for the Collateral-like action and silly lines.

Err, it's a blurry distinction in the first place; surely not every "lone male assassin" movie is automatically a dad-movie. And yes, I think Keanu's supernatural twinkishness means it's not geared exclusively towards 30+ male viewers.

 

[Evonisia]

During this review I made the jack off motion so hard I nearly dislocated my shoulder. Is it me or does Moviebob tend to be more judgmental of a movie's audience than the actual movie?

See also: his opinion on on the following fandoms or the general consumers.
Transformers.
Halo.
Call of Duty.
Battlefield.
Grant Theft Auto V (specifically V, I'm not sure if he's mentioned the others).
Madden.
A film for teenagers based on a novel for teenagers.
Fandoms of more serious films in the super hero genre (Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Rises etc.)

Though personally I just try to phase it out, especially when the content is heavy in it (should we forget that his E3 video had him insulting the fanbases of games he doesn't like, then pulling the "I hope we all get our enjoyment out of these games" card).

 

[RedDeadFred]

A cool! A written part of his review. That can be helpful.

*scrolls further*

What the fuck is this shit? A score? Wha....

Moviebob, what haz they done to you?

But I guess he'll get more traffic from Metacritic now, so I can understand.

I was surprised too! Also, his review isn't on Metacritic. I don't think they put any stock into movie reviews from video game sites. For example, they don't use IGN movie reviews either.

 

[Iklwa]

I just wanted to say that about halfway through the video, my dad called me.

"Man, have you seen the Equalizer? That's the shit right there!"

It took every ounce of discipline to not start laughing.