I recall when back in 1985 and on TV appeared a brand new show called The Equalizer. Robert McCall, the show’s protagonist, is an aging ex-British secret service agent turned do-gooder for anyone in need. As played by Edward Woodward, McCall charmed me with his very tough, no-nonsense attitude which was pleasantly mixed in with a genuine altruistic streak. Despite his age, McCall was still very much a willy, dangerous man, one who could -and would- coldly take down the most hardened killers. But his decision post-retirement to help those in need, often for no pay at all, allowed viewers to see that a very good heart beats beneath that hardened granite exterior.
There was something else that made the show unique, and that was the fish-out-of-water aspect. As mentioned before, Robert McCall is an elderly British secret agent operating in an American milieu (his base of operations was New York City). This added, in my opinion, a unique element to the show, not unlike the excellent music by the Police’s Stewart Copeland…
I had the feeling that in Robert McCall’s Equalizer audiences were presented with a thinly veiled James Bond, now much older, who decided to spend his twilight years helping others.
The show was a success and lasted for four years before leaving the air in 1989. In 2014, a movie adaptation of the TV show was made. As directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Olympus Has Fallen), the film version featured considerable changes to the TV show’s original concept, along with several similarities.
Of course, the biggest change was getting veteran actor Denzel Washington to play this version of Robert McCall. Yes, Mr. Washington isn’t quite as “old” as the Edward Woodward version and certainly isn’t anywhere near as British (sarcasm mode…off!) yet as written the character isn’t that far off from the TV show’s version.
The movie version is basically an “origin” story. We are introduced to McCall and through various circumstances he winds up butting heads with a dangerous Russian mob, culminating in a showdown in the Home Mart, a Home Depot-like store where the retired McCall works.
It is at the very end of the movie that we dive into the heart of the TV show’s premise. We find that all this action has awoken in McCall a desire to help others. He now has a website that asks people who need help to contact him, and that he will “equalize” the odds.
As a film, The Equalizer isn’t bad. Unfortunately, neither is it particularly memorable. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it is a perfectly adequate film that never really rises above any other number of good but not great action films out there. Denzel Washington is always a pleasure to watch on screen, but the general emotionlessness of his character as written made him hard for me to get into him. Worse is the movie’s main villain, an ex-Russian Spetsznaz enforcer for a Russian mob boss who might just as well have been called Mr. Villain.
In sum, I can only give The Equalizer a mild recommendation. There is nothing terribly wrong with the film, but neither is there much that makes it stand out from so many other, better, action films.
Ok, so now let me get into my musings…
There has been much made, in particular with the casting of the upcoming Fantastic Four film, with the way Hollywood has of late remade known works yet changed the race of protagonists in these reworkings.
In the Fantastic Four movie, the white, blond haired and blue eyed Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, has been cast with Michael B. Jordan in that role.
Mr. Jordan is an up and coming actor whose previous work has been praised. He’s also, for those who haven’t noticed in the picture of him above, an African American, just about the exact opposite of the Johnny Storm we’ve seen in print and movies since his first appearance in the first Fantastic Four comic way back in 1961.
To make matters…stranger, Johnny Storm’s sister is fellow Fantastic Four member Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Girl/Woman. In the comics, she looks like her brother…
And in the upcoming movie, Sue Storm is being played by Kate Mara…
The explanation as to how Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara are siblings, I believe, is that Sue Storm was adopted (Don’t hold me to that, I believe I read it in an article somewhere).
As mentioned, there has been some controversy generated by this casting, with some arguing that changing Johnny Storm from a white guy to an African American goes against the character’s very long history. To which others say “grow up”, that we’re living in a different society and this is a comic book character and showing him as being a different race than originally conceived doesn’t matter. What matters is showing the diverse culture that actually exists in this world.
To which I say yeah…but…
Sometimes, the character’s originally created race does matter with the work they are associated with.
Take for example the 1999 Will Smith starrer Wild Wild West, a remake of the beloved The Wild Wild West tv show that aired from 1965 to 1969 and which featured Robert Conrad in the title role.
When I first heard the movie version of the TV show was in the works (and before it was released and almost universally panned), I couldn’t help but shake my head at the casting choice. Sure, Will Smith was at his very “hottest” at the time, having just appeared in Independence Day, Men in Black, and Enemy of the State. But having him in the role of James T. West, a U.S. Secret Service agent operating just after the end of the Civil War, made no sense at all. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I couldn’t help wonder how an African American would fare during that time and in that particular job. Yes, The Wild Wild West movie and TV show were strictly fantasy, but they nonetheless took place during a specific historical period, one in which it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an African American to be able to take and succeed in such a job/role.
In the case of the Fantastic Four movie, I believe switching the Human Torch’s race may be ok, but it does create a bit of confusion, specifically with regard to his “sister”, and I can’t help but wonder if doing so -and spending precious screen time explaining how exactly they’re siblings- will ultimately take away from the movie or not. I also couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t just re-cast Sue Storm with an African American actress as well and avoid all the inevitable questions to follow.
In the case of The Equalizer, while the movie did echo elements of the TV show, I felt that changing the Robert McCall character from an ex-British agent to an ex-American agent changed the movie’s dynamic to a degree that I couldn’t help but wonder why they bothered calling it a remake at all. As I said before, there was a “fish out of water” element to the original TV show in having McCall be a very obviously British individual operating on the streets of New York. By having Denzel Washington play McCall, we now have an ex-US secret agent in a US city and that whole fish out of water element is completely and totally gone. He’s as much a part of the scenery as the TV McCall wasn’t.
In fact, had the makers of the film renamed Denzel Washington’s character from Robert McCall to Paul Kersey, removed the few elements of his being an ex-agent and the scene where he visits his old handlers, they could just as easily converted this film into a remake of Charles Bronson’s Death Wish, albeit with a more resourceful protagonist.
The point is this: The Equalizer was created with certain elements regarding the main character. So too, for that matter, were The Fantastic Four and The Wild Wild West. While one can applaud modern entertainment companies’ use of diverse races in their features, there may be times where changing racial elements present in the original work begins to work against the remake, providing us something that is perhaps too far removed from what it is trying to adapt. Should this become the case, it might be better to create something “new” rather than a remake that wanders too far afield of what the original was all about.