Spoilers! 'Equalizer 3' director explains Denzel Washington's final Robert McCall ending
Spoiler alert! The following post discusses the ending of“The Equalizer 3,”so beware if you haven’t yet seen Denzel Washington's final film in the franchise.
Now it all makes sense in "The Equalizer 3."
Everything from reluctant vigilante Robert McCall's (Denzel Washington) appearance in southern Italy, far from his normal Boston home, is explained at the end of the third and final "The Equalizer."
Even McCall's mysterious choice to pull in CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) to help crack the case against the regional Italian Mafia (specifically the Camorra) has meaning that extends into the franchise's history. Collins herself kept asking "Why me?" throughout "The Equalizer 3."
So we asked Antoine Fuqua, who directed Washington in all three films starting with 2014's "The Equalizer," to break down the ending.
Who is Emma Collins in 'The Equalizer 3'?
It wasn't chance that McCall dropped a dime to the green CIA analyst Collins to feed details about the Mafia terrorizing the small Italian town he had come to love. The film's ending reveals that Collins is the daughter of McCall's best friend, confidante and one-time intelligence colleague Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo) and her husband Brian (Bill Pullman).
In "Equalizer 2," Susan Plummer's murder propelled McCall onto a vengeful killing spree against the murdering thugs who betrayed her, unleashing a disturbing lust for killing that consumes him into the third film. Tipping off Collins to the Mafia's designer drug ring connection to international terrorists is McCall's way of paying tribute to his lost friend while busting it up.
"He was doing a solid to Susan, his only real friend who knew him intimately," says Fuqua. "He was secretly feeding (Collins) information, to help her move up the career ladder, but also to teach her."
Collins survived a car bombing and was promoted for her work on the case. One of McCall's last lines is uttered to Collins in the hospital: “Your mother would be proud of you.”
There's been rampant "Equalizer 2" online discussion over the fate of Brian, who required McCall's help to save him from an at-home assassination attempt, but was not seen again in the movie or in "Equalizer 3."
Rest assured Brian Plummer lives.
"He's safe and sound," says Fuqua. "Probably living at the house."
What was Robert McCall's first and final 'Equalizer 3' mission?
"Equalizer 3" opens with McCall just after his ruthless killing of a small army of Sicilian mobsters. McCall then adds to the gruesome tally with more killings, without explaining his real reasoning.
"That's part of the mystery, right until the end, why he's there in Italy," says Fuqua.
McCall explains his exotic location change to Collins. When McCall was a Boston Lyft driver in "Equalizer 2," he picked up a passenger, Greg Dyer, who unknowingly relayed how his entire pension of $366,400 was stolen. McCall tracked down the criminals behind the theft in Italy and killed them, uncovering the drug ring.
McCall removed the $366,400 that was stolen from Dyer from the criminal coffers. After the entire ring was broken, McCall directed Collins to return the money, in cash, to the shocked Bostonite ride-sharing app user and his wife.
"Dyer lived on the street (McCall) used to live on, and McCall gave him a lift," says Fuqua. "The money is the final payback after his final masterpiece of violence."
Does Robert McCall die in 'Equalizer 3'?
Against all odds, McCall is still standing in the end of "Equalizer 3." His vigilante days are over as he appears to settle back into the Italian town he restored to peace.
Killing McCall in the final film was not an option for Fuqua. "It would be too disappointing to see a man doing the right thing have a tragic end," he says.
Keeping McCall alive also leaves the door open for a possible movie return, even for the film billed as the last "Equalizer."
“If Denzel called me with a great script he was passionate about, then I’m not going to say no to Denzel Washington," says Fuqua.
What happens to the baddest villain in 'Equalizer 3'?
Italian actor Andrea Scarduzio showed a black heart as menacing crime boss Vincent Quaranta, using brutal deaths to send a message to the Italian town. But the reign ended when McCall came visiting at Vincent's opulent home and dispatched his security one by one. The panicked Vincent shoots off a gun looking like Al Pacino's Tony Montana at the end of "Scarface," an accidental homage, says Scarduzio.
"I didn't think about that when we were shooting the scene," says Scarduzio. "But after the trailer, so many people told me that it reminded them of 'Scarface.' "
McCall definitely made a statement in the prolonged killing of Vincent, filling the drug-dealing crime boss with his own deadly drugs before marching the stumbling man into the public square, barefoot in his pajamas. Scarduzio shot the turbulent barefoot final scenes over 10 nights in the Italian winter, finishing on Christmas Eve. The only time a stunt person was used was for Vincent's death, run over by a car.
"Everything else was me, falling down the stairs and in the streets, I still have scars all over my legs shooting the final agony, those street falls," says Scarduzio. "I wear them proudly."