n Sicily, Italy, a brutal massacre has occurred at a sprawling farm; men have been shot, stabbed, or had their faces cleaved nearly in half by butcher knives. And it’s all been conducted by an unusually skilled, secretive man, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), aiming to right a wrong. “I know what you are.”

Although audiences will know from the very second that Washington appears onscreen that he’s the protagonist, it would otherwise be difficult to tell, considering the remarkable bloodthirstiness he’s unleashed upon the armed thugs guarding the vineyard. Pulling the trigger of a shotgun hovering within a foot or so of a mobster’s face, leaving a mutilated husk, is certainly a ruthless way to depict a righteous hero. “Will the bad men come looking for you?” asks Dr. Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone), a kindly figure who helps McCall in his time of need. But what if Robert is the bad man?

Fortunately, since this is the third film of the series, it’s obvious that Denzel is the source of morals, even if he goes about saving lives and standing up for the meek in the most visually violent ways imaginable. Curiously, the cold open is designed solely to demonstrate McCall’s proficiency in killing; viewers aren’t even told what injustice transpired to summon the elite assassin’s wrath (or why he’s in Italy). Like virtually every character Liam Neeson has portrayed in the last few years (or Jason Stratham in his standalone actioners), Washington is now a shadowy fixer who, with unexplained knowledge and resources and motives, goes out of his way to fight for underdogs – including the everyday shopkeepers (like fishmonger Angelo [Daniele Perrone] and cafe waitress Aminah [Gaia Scodellaro]) of a tiny town near Naples who are terrorized by young motorcycle-riding protection racketeers, who work for the Quaranta brothers’ (two perpetually frowning scoundrels) crime syndicate.

Also into this world comes CIA financial crimes division agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), who will become an unwitting participant in McCall’s quest to take down the Quarantas, as she investigates Syrian drug dealers in a seemingly unrelated incident. At the same time, the lone enforcer contends with his own identity (surrounded by religious symbols and rites), haunted by all of the people he’s executed, even if they worked for coldhearted murderers. The plot remains simple and predictable, never blurring the lines between heroism and villainy, though it does throw an unnecessary, unexplained romance into the mix. The mystery of Collins attempting to uncover McCall’s background is routine, while the local mafia brutes continuing their reign of terror is similarly standard – as is the equalizer’s eventual plan to reap vengeance. And it never really gets more complicated than that.

“Everything in life is about timing.” Despite the utter simplicity, there’s something undeniably satisfying about McCall’s path of destruction, particularly when he embarrasses transgressors by interrupting their aggressions. Since the baddies are so evil and the scenarios so black and white, it’s easy to root for over-the-top demises. And, indeed, as if competing against the previous two chapters, “The Equalizer 3” aspires to outdo the casualties and atrocities to an appreciable degree. It builds to the same sort of finale, in which Robert singlehandedly slaughters a small army of gangsters, working his way up to the head honcho, who morbidly yet amusingly gets it worst of all. The actual conclusion is rather anticlimactic, though the message is humorously gratifying, if terribly unlikely. This series didn’t need a “final” episode, but it’s nevertheless entertaining for what it is – and what it sets out to be.

– Mike Massie