Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has retired from all that unpleasant government assassin stuff. He’s settled in a picturesque little town on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, made friends with a local ristorante family and is working to reconcile all the horrible things he has done in his life.

But when he discovers that his new friends are being bled by the local hoods, he comes out of retirement and uses his particular skill set to take on nothing less than the Italian mafia. Maybe he was bored.

Antoine Fuqua’s Equalizer franchise, started nine years ago, has never pretended to be anything but revenge cinema, and this third and probably final entry is no exception. But to paraphrase Woody Allen’s comment on sex without love being an empty and degrading experience, as revenge franchises go, this is one of the best. In a prime example of pure star power, Denzel makes it all worth watching, and he ends the trilogy on a stylish and slick high note. (119 min)

Out in theatres now.