The Equalizer – The Black Saviour

Full transcript of The Equalizer – The Black Saviour.

0:00KT: It's another week in the For Your Reference household, and it is a Fuqua Washington edition, Oti. We're always going to have a nasty time, even if you haven't watched The Equalizer number three. But we would strongly, strongly recommend that you go and check out our Training Day review episode, in way of other sort of offerings with Denzel Washington, a little known film called Fallen.

0:27KT: Let's get on with the show. Hey friends and pussy Ferrari lovers. Welcome back to the For Your Reference podcast. You got your host, KT.

0:39Oti: Oti.

0:40KT: Infiltrate Pip's Book Club with exact precision to annihilate enemies of friends you made along the way. Give offerings to the Black Saviour. I'm not talking about Oti. To the Black Saviour. In The Equalizer trilogy this week.

0:57Oti: Woo

0:58KT: Woo hoo hoo hoo! I guess as we'll say here, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. Uh, uh, uh, ah.

1:08Oti: What the hell was that?

1:09KT: It was me training for Equalizer 3. Oh my, I guess I set the tone in such a nasty way. Welcome, welcome friends and lovers. If you are new to the For Your Reference household, if you do love a Fuqua in Washington, and that's how you know that you've made it, just by the last names alone. I'm not talking about John David Washington either.

1:34Oti: He keep on coming up. Just the man be.

1:37KT: You didn't think you'll magically see him in Italy, just because of nepo babies. Oh, friends and lovers we've done event watching before, you know, Fast and the Furious, Halloween, maybe it's a good thing we didn't get to Insidious. But. I'm very excited to talk about the franchise overall. if you want to go and see the stats, we can talk about the stats, at another time. But let's get into, I guess, our first impressions throughout the films, just so we can pepper it, and then we'll get to The Equalizer 3 first impressions.

2:13Oti: I love the reintroduction of Denzel as leading action man. Uh, you know, like it gave us the classic Fuqua Sisu

2:23KT: It was brutal. It was Sisu in the US and in Italy.

2:29Oti: know, it's always good to get the reunion of Fuqua and Denzel again, uh, you know, reminiscent of Training Day and all that. So I was in for it. It didn't disappoint. Uh, you know, like you said, it's always good to get a Black Saviour, just saving people out there.

2:46KT: Well, that's credit to you because you on our rewatch on our path to Equalizer 3, you're the one that pointed out he's the Black Saviour.

2:54Oti: He is.

2:58KT: cause obviously we had watched The Equalizer. I think definitely after the release of it, but we had watched it a few years ago and in the lead up to Equalizer 3, um, yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. It did what it needed to do. I think like a lot of people, I was like, Hmm, in a world of Jonathan Wickenstons. Not to say that there isn't space, but where does, like, The Equalizer fit? But The Equalizer actually came out a month before the first Jonathan Wickenston thing. So I guess spank my ass and call me daddy because I got it all wrong. but I, I guess, you know, and I guess we can talk more into whether it became more effective.

3:37KT: or whether it became more obvious, but, you know, rewatching it in the 2020s, like, I do understand that Robert McCall has OCD. So, you know, there's a lot of the way that the action was shot, not just him with, you know, folding and unfolding his napkin and tea bags and that sort of thing. But even the way the action was shot was to denote to his OCD and his sort of military position. So I get that, but to watch it in the 2020s, I couldn't help, but think of like Robert Downey Jr. with his Sherlock Holmes or even, you know, your Benedict plantation Cumberbatch. Hashtag never forget friends and lovers. with his Sherlock as well. I think there were also moments of him studying the moment and that sort of thing.

4:20KT: and I'm not saying that it wasn't effective, but again, I can't not like. I couldn't not notice it in the contemporary time that it came out. and I guess also even in the first film, I noticed that the scenes that were, where he would like estimate, they kind of cut it down in the, like the next sort of films, but particularly in the first one, because I guess that's where they really wanted to, you know, I guess, demonstrate the OCD and the way he was timing things so precisely, they would map it all out in his head.

4:53KT: And then they will do a blow by blow, patty cake, action, punch, kick. And it's like, but I read he like, you already told me what was going to happen. And now I'm sitting here watching him do it. But then I guess maybe I should be grateful because it is a bit more labored. And I was starting to rub my knee in Equalizer 3.

5:14Oti: Wow.

5:18KT: So that, I guess that's my way of saying the first Equalizer is the strongest one. Let's do a quick summary of, uh, The Equalizer 2. I guess, AKA when Pedro Pascal decided to be daddy.

5:31Oti: I thought going into this, I know where the sort of plot line would go, but you know, with McCall, sort of losing closer friends. Okay. But I didn't expect it to go as hard as it did.

5:42KT: I you it was pre Sisu!

5:53Oti: I told you were right, I think the first one was the strongest of the two.

5:56KT: I don't see a world where someone would argue that the second one is better. And I'm not sure I'm ready to defeat those damp nerds in the

6:04Oti: the sub fans.

6:04KT: of the internet and the sub threads. I just don't, you just can't, even if you talk about like the final scene in number two, how it was so money, he had a fucking harpoon, didn't he? Yeah, like even then, that doesn't make, it doesn't even come close to the first one.

6:20Oti: I hear you, but it did have some, you know, it did have more action scenes in this. We get to see him sort of expand the realms of what he can do. Uh, but as he said, in terms of story, I felt the first one had more, you know, resonance and connected with it more.

6:38KT: I guess we can talk about it in each specific movie, but I just want to generally say while we're talking about The Equalizer 2, I didn't like that each film reset, right? So, we're building a lot of, you know, Chloë Grace Moretz does a really good job, in the first film as Alina, but we never, like, it, like, the world folds in on itself and then it resets again for the next movie. And even Equalizer 3 does the same thing. So, even though it's a franchise... you know they're really much on their own without the benefit of it being part of a franchise. Does that make sense?

7:17Oti: Well, we get the sort of overarching characters coming through like his c

7:21KT: Yeah, but then they killed, yeah, but then they killed Susan off anyway, but you know

7:26Oti: like

7:28KT: It was a two tiered world and it was caving in on itself. so the resetting, I didn't necessarily care for. I would say that, uh, The Equalizer 2 was weakest, but then I guess the sort of, uh, concession I would give friends and lovers is, you know. We, but me, I'm very interested in storytelling, even in an action film. so I guess that's why I would say it was the weakest. and I do need to correct myself because this was pre Pedro Pascal becoming daddy. name was even Dave York. He was the one that moved into the neighborhoods in New York.

8:06KT: He was in the candy man's. okay, well, let's get to our first impressions. Let's get to the main event of today. The Equalizer 3 first impression. So

8:17Oti: Equalizer 3 scales new heights in grandeur, overshadowing its predecessors. With Washington and Fanning's nostalgic reunion against Italy's backdrop, it's a cinematic feast, albeit not without its familiar flavors.

8:31KT: I think the flavor tastes like a wanker. Now I see why you called me a wanker in this first impressions in another review. wow. I okay. Well, let's, let's digest that in a second. let me get my first impressions. We shift pace in the last offering of Mr McCall and the lovable friends he meets along the way. Charming remnants of what made this franchise so much fun.

8:59Oti: Nice.

8:59KT: Oh, with the illustrious backdrop of Italy, fuck yeah. Fuck!

9:02Oti: fuck yeah.

9:07KT: Okay, so let's, let's actually talk about all three films, but I guess we can center The Equalizer 3. what all of these films have in common is the big bad. even though they kind of shift in every sort of film, I kind of want to talk about how effective it was, whether it was effective, whether you felt like one was stronger than the other. In the first Equalizer, we have the Russian mafia. in the second Equalizer, we have like a double agent type situation. and in The Equalizer 3, we have the Italian mafia. So it's a mafia sandwich, if you're nasty.

9:44Oti: sure is. I felt that I had more fun when it came to him trying to bring down the Italian mafia.

9:51KT: Interesting.

9:52Oti: Just because it felt quite different for some reason. It was nice seeing Denzel in Italy and just...

10:00KT: So you wanted, so it wasn't enough for him to save white Americans. You wanted him to go and save other white people.

10:06Oti: Yeah, in Europe.

10:07KT: With an accent. Well, if you're saviour of the world, I guess.

10:14Oti: Yeah, he's a globetrotter, you know, why not? But I think part of it is the scene at the start of Equalizer 3. I think that's where it sets the expectations for me or what the movie would be.

10:28KT: Interesting.

10:29Oti: Because we dive into some brutality there.

10:32KT: Final boss KT loading. Interesting. But keep going.

10:36Oti: I felt that it set the tone for what I'd expect from throughout the movie. And they did disappoint in that regard, as to where the first Equalizer, yes, we get sort of a more. Settled with introduction to McCall, which is nice in terms of story setting, but Equalizer 3 just brings, like, we already settled, we know what to expect, so bring it.

10:58KT: Okay. Okay. So, okay. What I'm about to say isn't necessarily about the themes, but it is about the beautiful limitations of the human body. So let me know, sir. You wish I, you wish I Mitch McConnell on that, but I didn't.

11:16Oti: Ha ha ha! You need to glitch, bro. Ha ha ha ha ha!

11:19KT: I'll get, we'll get to where we need to go, but I just need to say this in regards to The Equalizer 3, we've already spoilt a lot of the franchise, but again, spoiler, spoiler, spoiler. When we open to the opening scene of The Equalizer 3, we see all of, we see the war path, we see the blood path, right? And it leads to Robert McCall. And we're just supposed to believe that he did all of that. And it wasn't until later on in the film where they did a flashback on how he did it. I'm pretty sure Fuqua was the one holding the camera and punching and stabbing them all. Like it was, it was already, it was already showing the limitations in which they were able to shoot the action scenes from the opening.

12:03Oti: bruv. It's not exactly The Irishman where we get Robert De Niro trying to kick

12:09KT: Got that little chicken wing. Chicken Got that level. Not to that level. Fuqua was very creative in how he shot those scenes to make it feel, Neeson's climbing the fence. Have we got like a scale now?

12:28Oti: It wasn't

12:29KT: you've got, you've got Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 3. Then you've got Liam Neeson's and Taken's and then you've got Robert De Niro, The Irishman.

12:38Oti: Nah, it wasn't that shaky. I felt like he did quite well in terms of shooting those.

12:44KT: But come on, we watched one and two leading up to three.

12:47Oti: We did.

12:48KT: So we saw how quick with it Denzel was. He was leaving with something in

12:52Oti: He was living with something. But I think the good thing was... They're way older people in that movie than Denzel. So,

13:00KT: old lady on the stairs, she's like, best protect your neck.

13:10Oti: I did not know. You're going to come with that. You're ridiculous. Far out.

13:14KT: But that wasn't even the theme. So if we talk about the, I guess the big bad of a fucking film critics that, uh, talk shit about The Equalizer 3. I think on paper, the biggest bad, I guess the most compelling biggest bad would be the double agent sort of component. again, the world fell in on itself because it didn't do the groundwork that it needed to do. Like, if we go back to Jonathan Wickenston, for example, the high table being excommunicado, that has gravitas, that has weight to it because of the way it was set up in the world. You tell me Daddy Pedro Pascal, Woohoo.

13:56Oti: York is going to say that, oh, you set a new scene and you say, these are my old colleagues, your best friends, and there was no reference to it in the first movie, you

14:07KT: Actually, yeah, there were no remnants, like no mention.

14:11Oti: we, of course he has a past and that's the introduction of McCall. We don't know his past. And I think the second one is trying to set that a bit more, but it still felt quite disconnected from, cause I didn't care. Like I couldn't buy the emotional, emotional buy in between. His buddies betraying him or trying to kill Susan because, you know, and as much we, I felt the gravitas of Susan dying and how it affected McCall because.

14:38KT: You felt it or you, you could see

14:40Oti: the

14:41KT: they're working.

14:43Oti: betrayal aspects between him, his buddy agents, it just, just felt like it was other big, bad people, just

14:49KT: It was just

14:49Oti: close to home. Yeah. Like it didn't, it didn't feel close to home for McCall. In terms of the betrayal aspect of it, it just felt, this could be a mafia group from wherever doing it, you know? And

15:01KT: And I know Peter Stormare is Swedish, but I just love hearing him with his Russian accent talking about using a pencil for death.

15:08Oti: a pencil to get. And

15:10KT: And I guess if we round off the big bad sort of theme, going back to The Equalizer 3, I feel like the richness of cinema, and I extend that to the quality, the growing quality and production of television programming, allows us to be able to access storytelling, you know, that we probably wouldn't have been able to access 10, 15, 20 years ago. And the reason why I'm saying that. is Gomorrah exists, L'Immortale exists when we get around to it. So if I wanted to watch a gritty drug game story in Italy, I would watch a production that was made there. I didn't need to see our, you know, our best friend, hold on to the handrail, Robert McCall. I didn't need

15:56Oti: Ah, you're trash.

15:58KT: was he not holding onto the handrail? Those Italy steps be tricky, bruv. But what I'm saying is, cause you're saying it felt good to change the backdrop for me. I'm like, I could watch an Italian made show or film about this. I didn't need him to go on vacation or to live a new life in order to explore storytelling set in Italy. Right.

16:30Oti: And to live a new you wanted to see until you see it.

16:32KT: saw it.

16:35Oti: Sorry.

16:37KT: No,

16:38Oti: felt it, it brought a fresh, it brought a fresh aspect to the movie. It was something new, you know, new characters, especially after everything that happened with, the second Equalizer.

16:49KT: you're saying new and fresh, but you also said earlier, they, they put old people around him. So which one is it?

16:59Oti: that You're ridiculous.

17:01KT: Oh, so your words have no meaning? Is that what you're saying?

17:06Oti: I meant in terms of setting. I felt in terms of environment and, and just creating a, a sense of him trying to tell a new chapter. Especially after everything that transpired with the second one, because he's lost everything and he's trying to bring new meaning to his life where he's going to draw new connections. And he went in as much to say that he felt home at the end of it. He felt like he's found his people.

17:36KT: Why are you laughing?

17:38Oti: Because I can see your face and I know what you're going to say.

17:41KT: I didn't say anything.

17:42Oti: He found his people. In the second movie, we get to see McCall rescue a black person, which I think it's, that's a unique moment in this franchise and I appreciated it. In as much as I love his Black Saviour, you know, around the world, it was good to see him, uh, save Ashton Sanders, who was playing like, what was it, Miles?

18:08KT: Okay, friends and lovers, I hope we are respected in some form because this review episode is not it. But also, if we can digress for a second, he would be an anti Black Saviour if he only saved white people, can we be real?

18:24Oti: But that's, we're just assuming that all the black people are safe because no one would ever go after them because McCall is at the helm.

18:31KT: Is this a Key and Peele sketch for the zombies?

18:40Oti: Exactly. I would, I would be in that world.

18:46KT: Well, if there's ever a moment to go on a tangent, it is always about our Black Saviour, Oti, over here.

18:53KT: Ever since we watched that Kanye documentary, you'll be wild. I'm cootie. I have to turn off the podcasting equipment when you start going on your rants. Oh, oh man. let's get into the next theme. Let's talk about the friends and lovers we meet along the way and needing or wanting. To save them. again, I've got to give this to one of the earlier sort of offerings. I got to give this to the first Equalizer film because it did the most work in order to get us to care about the characters that Robert McCall starts to care for. You know, we see that with Alina, and she's really, she really is the core of it. We also have, you know, his friend working in the Home Depot sort of equivalent as well. and for me, for me, if the franchise was just Robert McCall on his random adventures, what do you call it? Renegading.

19:57Oti: ha

19:58KT: Like, just renegading around helping random people, I will be absolutely there for it. I think also the reason why I think the first one is the strongest is because it did try to stay the most insular when it started focusing on the Russian mafia and trying to take them down. I kind of like. Like, cool. We get it. We've seen it, you know. so I was kind of just trying to stay in the insular sort of stories, but I guess it wasn't to be.

20:26Oti: I hear you, but I'll raise Dakota Fanning as Emma.

20:31KT: But did she really do the thing?

20:33Oti: Nostalgia plays a big thing. Was it, was, did it all

20:37KT: nostalgia what compelled his body to, rip through all those bodies?

20:43Oti: Ha ha Granted,

20:45KT: the Nostalgializer

20:46Oti: Friends to save along the way. Alina. Is by far the most emotional that we've been connected to in terms of anyone that even more so than Susan, because Susan, we don't even Susan dies in the background without him even knowing she was in trouble

21:02KT: with a Tupperware of soup. couldn't have just swung around the Chinese restaurant around the corner? Gotta get your nutrients in if you want to hold on to the handrails in the Italy steps.

21:16Oti: Yes, Alina is by far the most that we've been emotionally invested in, anyone that is being saved, even more so than Miles in the second one.

21:25KT: Yeah, I got a lot of time for Ashton Sanders. We love Ashton.

21:29Oti: I got a lot of time for that. He knows, he's hiding behind a false wall. He sees that people are there, you know, they've just left. Even before the door closes, the guy walks out. Idiot. I would be there until morning. What was he doing?

21:51KT: was the point of Robert McCall installing all of these cameras for a moment like this? Literally, a moment like this. He's giving Ashton a play by play on how to hide, right? Hide securely, be safe. The most you can do is not be a liability, right? What a fucking waste. What a fucking waste of his prowess, acumen, gravitas, to do all of that just for him to walk out. So yes, I agree with you.

22:20Oti: Yeah, I, I was like, come on man. You, you, you you don't even, you're not helping yourself at this point. Yeah. For the third one, we don't really care about any of them. Really? Yeah. We don't know them. He doesn't even know them to be fair. Yeah. You know, he's learning, he's getting to see these characters as we go along with him. So there's not that emotional, Oh, you need to be saved. It's more, I want to set roots in Italy, you know, and, and fair enough. I'll give you that the first one, hands down, when it comes to Alina, even though Emma, Dakota, and just Washington seeing them. Reminiscent of Man on Fire. It just warmed my bloody heart.

23:01KT: Is Man on Fire worth watching?

23:02Oti: Is that not what you're Well, we've watched it together.

23:04KT: I'm Mitch McConnell, there you go. There's your callback, friends and lovers. okay, so, which, sorry, so which big bad did you say was the better big bad out of the three films? Do you still stick with Italian mafia? Yeah. Okay. I would say it was the double agents. It had the most potential, even, I don't think any of them executed. Who, who would you say were the most compelling friends and lovers to save?

23:28Oti: Alina, hands down.

23:30KT: Yes. If Miles had tried to help himself, then it would've been him. So let's get into the next theme, but I guess in this case, it's more of a trope, the dead catalyst. So in the first Equalizer, we have the dead wife, the second Equalizer, we have the dead friend and the third Equalizer.

23:50Oti: I don't tell me you're going to say the dead joints, because

23:59KT: If I can use an Archer reference, let's go with that. That one's better. Oh, Oti.

24:08Oti: I know you, I think when it comes to death surrounding McCall, I think the dead wife. Is carried along throughout the entire

24:18KT: But was the emotional weight carried?

24:20Oti: Yeah, because he lost the person that grounded him, you know, and

24:24KT: no, but that's all implied that wasn't

24:27Oti: It's implied, but they're telling us, they're building that backdrop throughout.

24:31KT: But telling us, just exposition, bruv.

24:33Oti: No, like in the second one,

24:34KT: What is telling if not exposition persevering,

24:37Oti: But in the second one, we get Susan coming, over with the bowl of soup, uh, you know, because it was the wife's birthday, you know, things like that. It builds up, doesn't

24:49KT: that, but that's, that, but then that becomes a connection between McCall and Susan. We still haven't met the wife. We still haven't, cause you know, cause honestly, you gotta compare the two. Jonathan Wickenston and The Equalizer. They both had dead wives.

25:04Oti: I think. I didn't care that much that we didn't get to see her.

25:09KT: Yeah. But we know why

25:11KT: there's documented, uh, in instances of, you know why

25:15Oti: Oh, uh, I don't know. Like, we've watched Spartacus. You know, we saw Sura in every bloody instance. As long as Spartacus blinked, Sura was there.

25:26KT: Mind indeed my friend,

25:27Oti: I don't think we needed that for McCall.

25:29KT: Okay. But you also said that it's not as emotionally pulling as it could be.

25:34Oti: Leave me alone.

25:36KT: Oh, so you would like a dead wife too, is that what you need? You just need the memories. You just need a taste.

25:43Oti: just the taste.

25:43KT: just need a little something. I just like, cause we, we say it a lot, you know, when we're watching things. If you are crafting, we're not talking about a documentary. If you are crafting a narrative, you are writing a film. As you're writing a television show, don't kill off people without any sort of impact, without any sort of emotional resonance. Don't waste the kill. Mm-hmm. When we think about The Wire, we even think about Snowfall, but you know what I mean? Like don't waste the kill. There needs to be a reason, and I think it's so easy to just insert a dead wife to be like, I've got man punches for my feelings.

26:20Oti: Ha ha ha ha ha. I can see where you're going with that. Maybe it would have given us a better connection between, you know, even Denzel and his wife. but to me, I felt like it was enough for me to sort of. fill in the blanks a little bit that I could see how the absence of McCall's wife affected him or made him who he is or try, you know, even bring him back to the game. I could feel that. I really didn't think that it distracted too much, but I guess now that you've brought it up, you might, it could have been nice if you got a few scenes at the start.

26:57Oti: Just to build that life before he became the, you know, the man alone in a coffee shop, you know, just playing with napkins. I could, I could see that.

27:06KT: Is that a euphemism?

27:08Oti: Don't know.

27:09KT: at all times, sir. Hands at all times. in, in true FYR fashion, this is an action franchise and we're talking about the action now. Thoughts, feelings, where was it most effective for you?

27:21Oti: I think the second one takes it just because it had so much more and it had so much more to play with as well.

27:30Oti: You know, we had different environments where that happened while in the third one, it's set in Italy, but it's sort of confined, even though we felt that I felt that third one had a bigger budget to go with,

27:42KT: Oh yeah. Oh yeah,

27:42Oti: know, we got explosions, you know, we got some good

27:46KT: Not designated

27:48Oti: Ha ha ha ha. I

27:49KT: Hashtag Never forget

27:53Oti: Just, you don't need to see it. You can be told there was an explosion. Now I could, I could, it felt more grandiose, but I think the second one, just because we get to see even him having to be at his A game because he's going up against, you know, similar, similar trained agents. So yeah. Yeah. Second one goes for

28:13KT: one. It's so hard for me to separate, like, storyline from action, because if you're nasty, there's always emotion in the motion, you know? So... I don't know, like, I guess, yes, if you're talking about action, action, because the, the timing of precision and the, you know, coordinating and then playing out the whole scene after the planning scene, that kind of got a bit laborious. So yeah, I think I would concede and agree with

28:43Oti: Yes. And I think

28:44KT: you in the rain as well.

28:45Oti: I know you compared the shooting to, you know, being shaky and whatnot, but I still feel that it was done sort of better than we've seen in Taken, we're taking, just felt like duck just covering up a lot of shit.

28:58KT: Taken's not even allowed in the chat. I don't

29:03Oti: no, I'm just saying

29:04KT: been mute, blocked, deleted, reported. Taken is in the same bar that Liam Neeson's is in, in Atlanta. We're here for the deep cuts, friends and lovers. You know, what's so interesting when you go on to Don Cheadle's Algae Rhythm Internet in the IMDb trivia, you know, the first two films, they focus so much on the fact because, you know, I didn't even notice and also respectfully, I don't even care, but there's so much trivia about, oh, you'll notice That Robert McCall barely uses a pistol. He uses like, he uses it against them. So they're shooting the pistol and all this. And at the end of the day, I actually don't care. Like, you know, even if you, if you want to be Batman and you want to start shooting, that's cool as well. You know?

29:53Oti: Oh, I would say as my favorite, one of my recent favorite Batmans was him when he was shooting people. Ben Affleck is underrated as Batman. I love that. I enjoyed that. Batman voice.

30:07KT: put it away. But what I was saying was the IMDb trivia is so interesting because it's so meticulous in explaining. I don't know if it's a moral thing, but just the fact that Robert McCall doesn't use bullets, and he doesn't use many, but he uses the harpoon in number two. That's one of the facts. As well, but it's so funny how there's so much, uh, care from the fans and people putting it in an IMDb trivia.

30:34Oti: Next minute you cut to Equalizer 3 where he fucking shoots through the head and uses through the head to shoot another person and you're retired. So aren't you supposed to be like chilling out on your skills? Oh, he was like, Oh, this, this Italians don't know what I'm about. Let me teach

30:54KT: me take it back. Biblical style. So you, you prefer the action of the second one?

31:03Oti: in as much as I've heard that the action scenes in the third one are more gruesome, the second one just goes, I think, different. I think even, like you said, the potential of what the second one could have been in terms of the storyline with the big bad, oh, I think those just some more tantalizing morsels that we could have gotten

31:20KT: Oh, absolutely. also, I didn't want to distract by talking about our favorite Tyrese, Baby Boy Gibson. but it's kind of a similar sort of scenario with The Equalizer. When we started watching The Fast and the Furious franchise, we thought it was John Singleton that got signed onto the film and then he brought in Tyrese.

31:42Oti: right?

31:43KT: once we knew that Singleton was directing and then we saw Tyrese, we're like, oh, okay, okay, okay. and then you realize the, it was the other way around Tyrese got attached to Fast and Furious franchise. And then he brought on, John Singleton. That's how this was. So we can talk about Gerard Butler in a second because he was potentially considered for the role of Robert McCall. Denzel got attached to it and he suggested Antoine Fuqua.

32:07Oti: Fuqua. Nice.

32:08KT: direct these series. Yeah.

32:10Oti: Oh, you gotta love that.

32:11KT: What do you think about a Gerard Butler Equalizer?

32:14Oti: Isn't that what Geostorm is?

32:17KT: I wouldn't know. Cause I'm not a fucking nerd.

32:21Oti: Uh, I don't know, man. Like he was really, really good in 300. And I think

32:28KT: bro, that's too much. That's like Super Saiyan level on these little, no,

32:36Oti: Whoa.

32:37KT: that's too, that's too hard, bro.

32:39Oti: He, he, he was, you know, he, I think, he, he hasn't gotten to the point where he has

32:44KT: Would you want Gerard Butler fist fighting our Pedro Pascal? He'll knock the mustache off him. Respectfully.

32:52KT: Cause we know Pedro Pascal is a lover, not a fighter.

32:55Oti: Oh wow, not in this.

32:58KT: Against Gerard Butler though, in the rain, we'll fight in the shade. Fuck you.

33:05Oti: Are you saying, are you saying Gerard Butler would be more intimidating than Denzel in the streets?

33:11KT: Are we talking about American Gangster Denzel? Are we talking about The Equalizer 3 sipping on some latte in Italy?

33:19Oti: I, I'm talking about Training Day Denzel. I think he'll bring the goods.

33:24KT: Okay. I think I'll be feeling other things in my loins.

33:27Oti: I think you're the other things in my life.

33:34KT: Ooh, well, I guess we need to air out the studio, friends and lovers. is there anything that you want to say about either of the films or about the franchise generally?

33:43Oti: No, like I appreciate, I appreciate the fact that we get to see Denzel and Fuqua work in such a body of work together and it, watching the third one, in as much as I had like, ooh, faulty in there, it was good. We get to see Dakota and, and Denzel again. Oh, love. Overall, the franchise is solid. I think just seeing Denzel in anything is a win.

34:08KT: That's exactly the point though, you go to watch something because Denzel's in it.

34:13KT: It's exactly what I was, we were talking about it in a review episode recently, when I said, I don't consider Denzel an action star because for me that restricts the, the whole breadth of his work and his range.

34:28Oti: Oh, he can be anything

34:30KT: I saw Emancipation. Will Smith stays an action star.

34:33Oti: stuff. Come on now. Don't come and spit on

34:37KT: How come you spit on me, man?

34:42Oti: But

34:42KT: like, I'm always going to be there for Denzel. I'm always going to be there for Fuqua. But, yeah, it's, it's nice to, you know, lay this franchise to rest.

34:52Oti: Nah, man, Fuqua could have stayed away from Emancipation, bruv. We did not need that.

34:58KT: No, we, we did it. Nobody needed that. but I like, cause the way I see it is I'll catch you on the next one. You know what I mean? Like I'll always be here for Denzel and Fuqua. It doesn't need to live and breathe inside of this Equalizer. In saying that though, the only correct answer is Queen Latifah's TV series, The Equalizer. That is some age appropriate action right there.

35:21Oti: Oh, you cannot, you cannot go wrong with Cleo as, you know, as an Equalizer.

35:25KT: Is that your favorite Queen Latifah, by the way?

35:27Oti: It is! I think Cleo is movie. Ha ha ha ha!

35:38KT: Oh, but my favorite Queen Latifah is The Last Holiday. Cause we're just a couple of wholesome gals.

35:45Oti: Wayland Taffer is the chat.

35:50KT: but also there have been rumors or maybe some speculating if there's going to be another Equalizer, I would actually be in for a prequel. I don't know why people were saying Michael B. Jordan No,

36:05Oti: in You don't want Malcolm and Marie level of performance there?

36:08KT: friends and lovers. This is how you end a relationship and how you end a podcast. Anyway, I would be very much interested in, you know, cause you know, we say we're not interested, but I would actually be interested to see, what, uh, early Robert McCall looks like

36:26Oti: A hundred percent.

36:28KT: and him and Susan were fucking that's for sure.

36:30Oti: And him and threesomes out there.

36:31KT: Right on top of the wife's corpse. Hoo, hoo, hoo. It got spicy, friends and lovers.

36:38Oti: hmm. Mm hmm.

36:39KT: Uh, we're going to finish off in a segment we call For Your Reference. Oti.

36:43Oti: Oh, you know what I'm going to say already. Training Day! King Kong ain't got nothing on me!

36:51KT: Who? Who? Who?

36:52Oti: Oh, is that your way to bring Gerard Butler into the, into the mix?

36:55KT: No, I'm the natives in King Kong. Haha.

37:01Oti: Wow.

37:03KT: That's a gift to the friends and lovers that stay all the way to the end here. I think it's no surprise, I'm going to reference Jonathan Wickenston then. One of the best movies coming out this year. if you would like to revert your excommunicado on Twitter, Instagram, and Spill, where ever you're from.

37:20Oti: We're at hello@fyrpodcast.com.

37:22KT: We're also on Ferrari Pussy Podcast. If you'd like to leave a rating and review and we'll see you guys next week.

37:30Oti: Bye!

37:30KT: Bye.