Fuqua's direction is slick but generally uninspired.

Washington is a pleasure to watch on the screen. The two-time Oscar winner is able to tap into his own surplus of moral righteousness even when the script is pulling the carpet out from under him.

It's often cheesy and it's not deep, despite repeated cameos for a copy of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, but it is, appropriately enough, the equal of The Equalizer.

Some may find the ending acceptable but unfortunately it hurt the film considerably for me.