Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington join forces again in The Equalizer (2014), an action-packed crime thriller film. It follows Robert McCall (Washington), a soft-spoken former special forces commando who finds himself forced out of retirement to save the life of a teenage girl named Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz) through any lethal means.
Director Fuqua effortlessly leads up to the action, carving out a backstory for the characters that makes us root for them no matter how gruesome and vicious McCall gets in his efforts to save someone he barely knows.
For how much we appreciated the rollercoaster, we ached for movies that had a similar vibe or storyline. That search led us to 15 movies we think you’ll enjoy if you felt a rush while watching The Equalizer.
Although many of these films share tropes of taking the law into their own hands, they execute them in a way that makes each of them unique and worth the watch. Out of our choices, our favorites are Taxi Driver, Leon: The Professional, and John Wick.
Taxi Driver
- Release Year: 1976
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Hooks, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, Harvey Keitel
- Awards: Cannes Film Festival (Palme d’Or)
- Budget: $1.9 million
- Box Office: $28.4 million
Taxi Driver follows Travis Bickle (De Niro), an honorably discharged war vet who suffers from PTSD who takes a job driving a taxi at night through New York City. With his deteriorating mental state and growing black and white sense of right and wrong, Bickle discovers a way to fuel his violent rage by liberating a child prostitute (Foster).
It’s a classic film nominated for numerous academy awards, and it readily fits into the trope from The Equalizer of a loner individual finding purpose in helping a young girl trapped in a brutal adult line of work. Both protagonists go about this in a deathly fashion too.
Léon: The Professional
- Release Year: 1994
- Director: Luc Besson
- Cast: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman
- Awards: Czech Lion Award (Best Foreign Language Film)
- Budget: $16 million
- Box Office: $46.1 million
A professional assassin and titled character, Léon (Reno) reluctantly takes in his 12-year-old neighbor Matilda (Portman) after her family is murdered by her father’s employers. It takes little time for the quiet Léon to take Matilda under his wing, training the young girl at her request so she can seek out revenge on the corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Oldman).
Fans of The Equalizer can find appreciation for the bond that forms between the two lead characters. Léon and McCall certainly share an affinity for putting themselves in harm’s way to protect their younger companions.
John Wick
- Release Year: 2014
- Director: Chad Stahelski
- Cast: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Dean Winters, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, William Dafoe
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $20-$30 million
- Box Office: $86 million
As former hitman John Wick (Reeves) mourns the loss of his wife, he receives a puppy, her last gift to him, to cope with his overwhelming grief. However, men break into his home, stealing his vintage car and murdering his puppy. The film quickly escalates to a tale of vengeance as John tracks the men down, executing anyone in his path.
Both John and McCall from The Equalizer share a silent, stoic demeanor that’s quickly changed once they are forced back into their line of work. Their motivations may be different, but the action and how justice and vengeance drive both men should excite any fan of the genre.
Man on Fire
- Release Year: 2004
- Director: Tony Scott
- Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Radha Mitchell, Rachel Ticotin, Mickey Rourke
- Awards: BMI Film & TV Awards (Premio IMC Film Music)
- Budget: $70 million
- Box Office: $130.3 million
In Man on Fire, former CIA operative John W. Creasey (Washington) suffers from alcoholism, depression, and guilt stemming from what he’s done while with the CIA. Once he takes on a bodyguard position and bonds with the 9-year-old daughter Pita (Fanning), he comes to care for the girl. Their life soon takes an intense turn once she’s kidnapped and Creasey must use his training to save her.
This choice on our list has the advantage of featuring veteran actor Denzel Washington yet again. Like his role in The Equalizer, he portrays a worn-out retired professional and connects with a young girl, vowing to save her even if it means falling back to his old skills again.
Law Abiding Citizen
- Release Year: 2009
- Director: F. Gary Gray
- Cast: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb, Viola Davis, Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $53 million
- Box Office: $126.7 million
Law Abiding Citizen highlights how grief and anger can turn a good person into a bad guy. It tells the story of Clyde Shelton (Butler) who goes down an extreme, violent path of taking justice into his own hands once prosecuting attorney Nick Rice (Foxx) makes a deal with the man who murdered his family.
This shares traits with The Equalizer in the trope of dealing out vigilante justice with the main glaring difference being that we can root for our antagonist instead despite how many people he murders. It’s a refreshing take on the genre filled with action-packed sequences that’ll leave you eager to see how it ends.
The November Man
- Release Year: 2014
- Director: Roger Donaldson
- Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $15 million
- Box Office: $34.8 million
Named the “November Man” because of his ruthlessness, ex-CIA operative Peter Devereaux (Brosnan) finds himself brought back in to extract and protect an aide to the Russian President-elect with who he was formerly intimate. Once that agent is killed, Devereaux embarks on a mission to uncover a major CIA conspiracy.
There are more differences in this film compared to The Equalizer, but they are both rooted in the “lone wolf” type of man who happens to be a trained, retired professional agent. Although McCall’s mission was driven to help a stranger in need, Devereaux winds up uncovering a plot far bigger than expected.
Taken
- Release Year: 2008
- Director: Pierre Morel
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Katie Cassidy, Holly Valance
- Awards: Golden Schmoes Awards (Best Line: Liam Neeson | Biggest Surprise of the Year: Taken)
- Budget: $25 million
- Box Office: $226.8 million
A well-known film in pop culture, Taken is an edge-of-your-seat action crime tale of retired CIA agent Bryan Mills (Neeson) going to any length possible to save his 17-year-old daughter Kim (Grace) who was kidnapped during her trip to Europe.
With numerous people repeating the infamous line from the film, both Neeson’s character and Washington’s character in The Equalizer share similarities in their skills and sheer determination to save the life of an innocent. Taken is loaded with incredible action scenes, so if you enjoyed the fights in The Equalizer, you’ll love watching Neeson fight his way through Europe.
The Man from Nowhere
- Release Year: 2010
- Director: Jeong-beom Lee
- Cast: Won Bin, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Sae-ron
- Awards: Baek Sang Art Awards (Best Film)
- Budget: n/a
- Box Office: $43 million
A South Korean action thriller film, The Man from Nowhere centers around Cha Tae-sik (Bin), a quiet pawnshop owner who also happens to be a former special agent. His closest companion is a little girl named So-mi (Sae-ron). When this little girl is kidnapped following her mother’s torture and murder, Tae-sik puts his life at risk to save the only connection to the world he has.
The similarities between this film and The Equalizer are evident in how the protagonist dives back into his old work to help a girl in need much as McCall did. If you enjoy incredible action and fight scenes, The Man from Nowhere will easily impress you.
Colombiana
- Release Year: 2011
- Director: Oliver Megaton
- Cast: Zoe Saldana, Callum Blue, Michael Vartan, Lennie James, Cliff Curtis, Jordi Mollà
- Awards: ALMA Awards (Favorite Movie Actress – Drama/Adventure: Zoe Saldana)
- Budget: $40 million
- Box Office: $63.4 million
After witnessing her parents’ murder in Bogota as a child, Cataleya (Saldana) grows to become an accomplished and skillful assassin, having trained under her uncle Emilio (Curtis). Hitman by day and vigilante hunter on her own time, this ruthless, cold killer works to gain the attention of the people who slaughtered her parents to exact her revenge.
Colombiana takes a turn from many other films on this list as it follows a female assassin whose stoic and uncaring methods puts others at risk. She’s similar in her goals of McCall in The Equalizer of dwelling out personal justice, and the action in the film is more than enough to keep viewers heavily invested.
Commando
- Release Year: 1985
- Director: Mark L. Lester
- Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alyssa Milano, Rae Dawn Chong, Bill Duke, Vernon Wells, Dan Hedaya
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $9 million
- Box Office: $57.5 million
With Commando, you get a classic ’80s action flick. Retired special agent John Matrix (Schwarzenegger) finds himself forced out of retirement when his daughter is kidnapped by thugs seeking revenge. The subsequent actions find Matrix battling through several well-armed individuals to save his daughter.
If you’re a fan of the former Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, then you’ll love Commando if you haven’t seen it yet. It expertly tackles the “lone wolf” trope that The Equalizer follows with both men in the films not needing anyone’s help to take down the bad guys.
The Foreigner
- Release Year: 2017
- Director: Martin Campbell
- Cast: Jackie Chan, Katie Leung, Pierce Brosnan, Liu Tao, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $35 million
- Box Office: $145.4 million
The Foreigner is a compelling action thriller flick centered around a tale of revenge. It follows Ngoc Minh Quan (Chan), a widower and former special operations force soldier whose humble life is flipped upside down when his teenage daughter is killed in a terrorist attack. A game of cat-and-mouse ensues as he seeks to find the individuals responsible.
It’s a great take on a man yanked back into the fray because of an incident involving someone he loves was killed. Although The Equalizer dealt with the protagonist working to save a girl’s life, both men in each film share many traits from their former special agent status to their methods of going around the law.
A Walk Among the Tombstones
- Release Year: 2014
- Director: Scott Frank
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Brian Bradley, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $23-$28 million
- Box Office: $62.1 million
Detective Matt Scudder (Neeson) is a disgraced retired cop turned private eye who is called in for help by a drug addict who needs him to help his brother Kenny (Stevens) investigate his wife’s kidnapping and murder. Things take a more dangerous turn once Scudder discovers a string of similarities with other cases. When the kidnappers grab a young girl, it’s a race against the clock to find her before it’s too late.
Both Neeson’s character and Washington’s character from The Equalizer are another pair that easily share the lone wolf trope. They both even grow to start caring for other people, showing off a softer side to them they tried to hide away. Both films show a great telling of personal growth in an action-packed way.
Peppermint
- Release Year: 2018
- Director: Pierre Morel
- Cast: Jennifer Gardner, John Gallagher Jr., Juan Pablo Raba, John Ortiz, Tyson Ritter
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $22.8-$25 million
- Box Office: $53.9 million
Peppermint is another classic tale of vengeance. It tells the story of Riley North (Gardner), a former banker who went into self-imposed isolation after the cartel murders her husband and daughter. Once she’s railroaded by the cartel lawyer and made to look psychologically incompetent, Riley escapes before she can be committed. Five years later, she returns a different woman prepared to take her revenge.
Although Riley starts off without skills, unlike our protagonist in The Equalizer, they both still embark on a ruthless journey using vigilante justice. It’s a sort of mindless action flick, but one with a compelling story and motivation behind our lead character that makes her easy to root for.
Death Wish
- Release Year: 2018
- Director: Eli Roth
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dean Norris, Elizabeth Shue, Kimberly Elise
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $30 million
- Box Office: $49.6 million
Death Wish is a remake of a film made back in the ’70s with the same name. Dr. Paul Kersey (Willis) is called to the hospital when his wife and daughter encounter armed home invaders. When his wife is killed and his daughter wounded to the point that she’s comatose, Paul decides to go to war himself against violent criminals.
It’s an interesting tale to see how far a normal person will go when pushed to the edge. If you enjoy the shoot-’em-down type of films, then Death Wish is a good choice to visit after The Equalizer to get your action fix.
Nobody
- Release Year: 2021
- Director: Ilya Naishuller
- Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielson, Colin Salmon, RZA, Aleksei Serebryakov, Michael Ironside, Christopher Lloyd
- Awards: n/a
- Budget: $16 million
- Box Office: $61.6 million
The last recommendation is the newest released film on this list. Nobody is an exciting action movie that follows Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk), a seemingly unremarkable husband and father. A “nobody”, so to speak. He has long turned the other chin, coming across as non-violent. But those simmering instinctual urges come out, sending him down a violent path.
It’s an incredible movie that holds similarities with The Equalizer in terms of both the protagonists appearing to be normal men that are simply hiding their skills away. Nobody is filled with great fight sequences that any action lover will enjoy.