By Brian VanHooker Published Jul 12, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT It's one of those reboots everyone forgets is a reboot
Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection Most reboots are obviously a reboot. After all, the whole point of a reboot is usually to take a well-known intellectual property and squeeze some more cash out of it — a tried-and-true formula for Hollywood movies . But occasionally, a more obscure property gets reimagined that most people don’t even know is based on something that existed before, or the reboot is so good that it completely overshadows the original.
Denzel Washington ’s action trilogy The Equalizer — which is now available to stream on HBO Max as of July 1 — is one such reboot.
The original CBS series The Equalizer debuted back in September 1985. It starred Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former covert-ops spy for the US government who became disillusioned with his work. Now, to make up for past misdeeds, he’s basically a vigilante-for-hire in New York City, helping ordinary people by beating up on rapists, murderers, dirty cops, and the like. He even places an ad for his services in his local newspaper reading: "GOT A PROBLEM? ODDS AGAINST YOU? CALL THE EQUALIZER: 212-555-4200."
Created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim, the show was a success in its day, but not a huge one. The height of its popularity came during season 2, when it, on average, reached 15 million people a week. The show was canceled after its fourth season because of a contract dispute CBS had with Universal over a different show called Murder, She Wrote . Eventually, The Equalizer did well in reruns and it was even released on DVD.
25 years after the show was canceled, Oscar-winner Denzel Washington took on the role of Robert McCall, who has a similar background as a former spy and assassin. But in the present, he’s just trying to lay low, working at a hardware store and helping out his co-workers with things like losing weight. Unlike the TV show, Robert isn’t a vigilante for hire, but he does occasionally right wrongs as he sees them, like forcing dirty cops into returning the protection money they get from shaking down local businesses.
One day, Robert decides to exact revenge upon the wrong person, opening up a can of worms that requires him to summon back all of his special training.
Robert is a regular at a small diner where he occasionally chats with a teenage girl there who happens to be a prostitute. After she gets beaten up badly by her pimp, Robert tracks him down and ends up killing the pimp and the men who work for him. However, it turns out that the pimp was part of the Russian mafia, and now the whole organization is out to kill Robert.
Photo: Stefano Montesi/Sony Pictures Entertainment The movie also has two really solid sequels that are totally on-par with the first movie. 2018’s The Equalizer 2 delves more into Robert’s mysterious past and shows him more actively working as a vigilante-for-hire. And in The Equalizer 3 , Robert is on a mission in Italy where he’s retrieving money stolen in a cyber-heist. After he shoots a man with deep mafia ties, he again takes on an entire crime organization.
Like John Wick and Nobody , The Equalizer is another one of those secret-agent-turned-ordinary-guy stories where their past suddenly comes back to haunt them. The biggest difference with The Equalizer is that it's a reboot of a 1980s TV show, and it features one of the best working actors alive. As…