“The Equalizer” is on pace to match box office expectations. The Denzel Washington-starring action flick, from “Training Day” director Antoine Fuqua, made $1.45 million in showings starting at 7 pm at 2693 locations on Thursday night. Also read: ‘The Equalizer’ Reviews: Critics Divided on Denzel Washington's New Action Film An R-rated shooter, the $55 million film from Sony and Village Roadshow picture is expected to make around $30 million and come in first place this weekend. By way of comparison, Washington's last gun-heavy action film, “2 G

An unfazed tough guy walking away from an massive explosion in slow motion, it’s a tipping point reached long ago—this sequence has become a well-worn cliché in the visual vocabulary of pop culture even beyond cinema. Hell, it’s even been celebrated and mocked by the Lonely Island Guys in song. So it’s perhaps both a testament and symbol of Antoine Fuqua’s fortunate/unfortunate filmmaking modus operandi that the director not only embraces the hackneyed sequence, but also attempts to top it and create the most gloriously excessive walking-away-from-explosions scene ever made.

"There comes a point where you have to help people who can't help themselves." Denzel Washington is back protecting the good people again as The Equalizer, but it doesn't seem to be something he's excited about in this extended TV spot for the action thriller from director Antoine Fuqua. It looks like we're going to get a good threatening monologue from Washington at some point, and that's always great. Plus, if you look carefully, I'm pretty sure Washington smashes a shot glass into someone's eye socket in this TV spot.

The Equalizer has released a full trailer online, in which former black ops commando Denzel Washington comes out of retirement in order to rescue Chloë Grace Moretz from some very bad people. "I promised I would never go back to being that person" says Washington grimly, before going back to being that person in fine style! And so, out come the firsts of fury, one-liners and heavy weaponry as our hero sets about making some powerful enemies in his attempts to reintroduce a little justice into the world.