The Equalizer: Season One DVD Review

THE SEASON – 3/5

Synopsis: Robyn McCall (QUEEN LATIFAH), an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background, uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall comes across to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter, but to a trusted few, she is “The Equalizer” – an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.

Quick Hit Review: The Equalizer is a property I’m only familiar with due to the Denzel Washington films rather than the TV series from the 80s and when this new series was announced, I didn’t really have much expectations, though disappointed we wouldn’t get any more from Washington who really made those movies as good as they were.

As for this version starring Queen Latifah, it has some things going for it, with decent storylines and the performances were mostly fine, however I would say the biggest liability was Queen Latifah herself. For sure she’s a solid actress but even in the pilot episode it was apparent she was miscast, not entirely believable as a former special ops soldier and it doesn’t help any fight scenes are so shoddily edited that it took away any suspense. Thinking about it, seems like someone like, realistically, Paula Patton or Jada Pinkett Smith could’ve been more suitable for the lead.

However, the supporting players had some charm including Adam Goldberg as a hacker and Liza Lipira as a markswoman were wonderful additions. Chris Noth also has a role playing McCall’s former mentor and her intel source for anything a hack couldn’t acquire.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3/5

VIDEO – 4¼/5, AUDIO – 4¼/5

Paramount releases The Equalizer: Season One onto DVD presented with a 16×9 enhanced 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio as originally aired on CBS. As it is, and for standard definition, the show looks fairly good, no major issues like pixilation or artifacts and black levels are well balanced.

Each episode comes with a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 track that is satisfactory, offering up clear enough dialogue coming from the center channel, and some okay depth for the more action-centric scenes (like gunfire or explosions).

OVERALL – 3¼/5

Overall, The Equalizer: Season One has its moments and can say it was pretty entertaining; I just have questions whether Queen Latifah was the right fit as McCall as there seems to be better options out there, like Paula Patton as an example. The DVD release has okay features while the video and audio tracks are more than adequate.