His kindness is repaid, particularly by Ralphie, who risks his life to save his friend in a time of need. Forcibly.) And when Teri gets out of the hospital, Robert gives her a gift, in secret, that will make a huge difference in the girl’s life. (He does get the stolen merchandise back later. When a thug robs the Home Mart, Robert makes the right decision and gives the guy what he wants, protecting innocent lives. He’s a mentor, it seems, for nearly everyone he comes across-encouraging Ralphie to lay off the potato chips and helping the guy and his mother repair their restaurant when it suffers a mysterious electrical fire. Indeed, almost every time Robert’s about to start maiming and killing folks, he gives them a chance to escape their fearsome fate.īut Robert’s much more admirable when he’s not the dealer of death. He’s enraged that these dirty officers are “disrespecting the badge,” and he’ll do what he can to encourage them to return to the straight and narrow-before laying down the hurt.

When he discovers that policemen are shaking down businesses for “protection” money, he gives the cops an opportunity to do the right thing too. He very much wants to rescue Teri (a victim of human trafficking), and he even tries to do so at first without violence, plopping nearly $10,000 in front of Slavi as payment for her freedom. He’s sort of like Batman, you might say, only with a penchant for death and power tools. And while we’ll take issue with Robert’s way of intervening, his motives are always admirable. He later says that he laid down his weapons and brutal methods out of respect for his dead wife, and he never planned to pick them up again.īut when he sees such a grave injustice, and when he knows he can do something about it, he begins to feel like he has to act. When we first meet him, he’s just fine being a regular ol’ guy, a friend, an employee, a diner patron. Robert becomes the Equalizer again reluctantly, it would seem. And he’s about to make Slavi an offer that the man really, really shouldn’t refuse. He can transform into a bear just woken, a wildfire just sparked. He could make it quick or excruciating, using a gun or a knife or a hose or a blowtorch. But if things turn ugly, Robert knows he can be particularly persuasive when he wants to.īefore Home Mart, Robert killed for a living. He hopes the meeting will be just a simple business transaction. But in that moment, Robert decides to pay a visit to Slavi, her violent pimp. Next time Robert sees Teri, she’s in the hospital, her face looking like it’s been grated. He looks at Robert and, mistaking him for a John, says Teri’s “no good.” He has one of his henchmen give Robert a card-advertising Russian prostitutes-and tells him to give the number a jingle to get someone better. A man gets out, grabs Teri and hits her, forcing her into the vehicle. And they walk out of the diner together, just talking.Ī block or two away, an SUV pulls in front of them. “You can be anything you want to be,” Robert tells her. “You know what I really am,” she says, embarrassed. And in the space of a minute or two, without saying much of anything, she somehow spills out her hopelessness, her sorrow over what her life has been, what her life will always be. Then one dark evening, sporting a fresh bruise on her cheek, Teri sits down beside Robert at his normal table and hands him a CD-a collection of songs she’s recorded. She’d like to be a singer, and sugar can be murder on the vocal chords. She asks him about the book he’s reading he questions her eating habits. “Thought you were giving up on that refined sugar,” he chides Teri as she picks at a piece of pie. The only time Robert gets pushy is when the subject turns to diet. When he can’t sleep (which is every night), he heads on down to the local diner and reads, exchanging a friendly word or two with the other night owls. He’s been training Ralphie, a fellow Home Mart employee, to lose a little weight so the guy can apply for a security guard position. He works at a Boston Home Mart, cutting plywood and helping customers. In fact, he seems like a really good guy. Oh, he’s pleasant enough when you haven’t crossed him. This is one guy you wouldn’t want to accidentally cut off on the freeway. It’s a good thing Robert McCall takes the bus.

The equalizer