Even given TV’s present obsession with rebooting and reviving something and every little thing, The Equalizer is an curious alternative. The unique 1985-89 CBS sequence, starring Edward Woodward as a spy-turned-private eye who cleaned up a crime-ridden New York Metropolis, is barely a hazy reminiscence to most viewers and performs like a dusty relic nowadays. (He did most of his enterprise through pay cellphone, and marketed his providers with a categorized advert within the newspaper.) However the Equalizer model not too long ago bought a revamp with a pair of Denzel Washington movies, and CBS’ new take — debuting this Sunday, Feb. 7 after the Tremendous Bowl; I’ve seen the premiere — is an effectively constructed thrill trip, bringing the franchise firmly into the 2020s and offering an ideal starring automobile for Queen Latifah, who makes the entire thing click on into place.
Latifah performs Robyn McCall (a play on the unique’s Robert McCall), a former CIA operative who’s again house in NYC after a sequence of worldwide missions, however nonetheless haunted by dangerous recollections. She’s attempting to put low, however she’s hounded by a former CIA colleague named Bishop (Chris Noth), and she or he finally ends up coming to assistance from a younger woman who witnessed a homicide after which finds herself framed for it. “Who do you go to for those who can’t go to the cops?” the woman asks, and that conjures up Robyn to arrange her personal justice-for-hire aspect hustle, untangling conspiracies and preventing for the downtrodden in a courageous new world of deepfakes and driverless automobiles. (Oh, and she or he posts her advert on social media this time.)
Sure, that is all fairly standard-issue CBS crime drama fare from Fort EPs Andrew Marlow and Terri Miller, however Latifah’s star presence offers it an edge. She has a straightforward charisma and an air of authority as Robyn — and she or he’s additionally a significant improve within the struggle scenes. (She’s far more convincing kicking butt than Woodward ever was.) It’s simple to root for her as she takes on villains like a smug Elon Musk-ian tech guru within the premiere: “You assume you should buy and promote the entire world,” she tells him… and he can’t, dammit! The premiere additionally delivers on the motion entrance with a sequence of high-octane stunt sequences, together with Robyn pulling off a daring jail break on bike — though it’s exhausting to inform if we will anticipate this degree of eye-popping results every week, or in the event that they blew their complete finances on the premiere.
The Equalizer assembles a rock-solid workforce behind Robyn as effectively, with NCIS alum Liza Lapira as sharpshooter Mel and Adam Goldberg as bearded hacker Harry backing her up. (A procedural is barely pretty much as good as its crime-solving workforce, and I may fairly simply see these three busting crooks collectively for about 200 episodes or so.) Noth is intriguingly enigmatic as Bishop, utilizing old-school spy techniques to remain in contact, and he and Latifah have a singular vibe that’s price maintaining a tally of. Plus, it’s at all times good to see Lorraine Toussaint, right here enjoying Robyn’s Aunt Vi, on our TVs.
I want I bought to see a couple of episode, simply to see how these relationships develop. The scenes with Robyn and her bratty teen daughter Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes) really feel a little bit hackneyed at first, however additionally they have a pleasant, eye-opening second the place Robyn takes her to a girls’s jail and factors out that many of the ladies there are Black. There’s an unstated layer of social justice to Robyn’s mission, and I’m wondering how far they’ll push that angle in future episodes. (The premiere bends over backwards to point out the NYPD cops aren’t the dangerous guys.) However it has a robust basis to construct from, due to Queen Latifah. Lengthy might she reign.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: With explosive motion scenes and a star flip from Queen Latifah, CBS’ Equalizer reboot places a strong new spin on an outdated franchise.