After the pitiful The Equalizer 2, it felt that the collaboration between director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington needed a break from the franchise. And to be fair, they did, if only for five years.

Still, apparently it was long enough for the franchise to find its feet somewhat, with this sequel, which sees its lead character on foreign soil throughout.

After successfully bringing down an entire Italian crime syndicate in Sicily, Robert McMcCall (Washington) walks away with a quiet sense of a job well done. That is until he takes a bullet in the back, from a direction he wasn’t counting on.

He tries to get away as best he can, but ends up running his car off the road, only to be found by a local policeman. He takes Robert to the local doctor, who insists to him that the man he found simply fell, as not to report the matter, and the policeman agrees.

The doctor ends up taking care of Robert in his home, until he manages to build up his strength. In no hurry to return, Robert wanders into town, and starts to appreciate the vibrant community that exists there.

But this is Italy, home of the mafia, and Robert witnesses with his own eyes how heavy handed the criminal element can be when picking up their ‘protection’ contributions.

With these friendly locals unable to defend themselves, Robert takes it upon himself to level out the playing field, by standing up for them, with the baddies completely unaware with whom they ‘re dealing with.

So if you haven’t gathered by now, the premise for this third entry is embarrassingly generic; It’s essentially The Magnificent One, with Washington’s McCall the big-hearted gunslinger who decides to save the village and its vulnerable locals from the baddies. If ever there was a sign of a franchise struggling to produce anything remotely original, this is it.

It’s made even more ironic by the fact that Fuqua himself directed the pointless 2016 The Magnificent Seven remake, that also starred Washington, although only in one of the seven main roles.

Fuqua does try to introduce another element, featuring none other than Dakota Fanning, who starred opposite Washington in Tony Scott’s Man on Fire in 2004, when she was only ten years old. She plays a CIA agent that McCall tips off about what going down, but it’s a minor strand to the story, adding nothing to proceedings in any major way.

That said, this is an improved step up from the last film, with Washington enigmatic as McCall abroad, and Fuqua’s action scenes pleasingly violent, playing out on a scenic Mediterranean background.

Is it enough for us to endure a fourth instalment? God no, but it is the most enjoyable entry in the franchise. That said, Washington is always worth watching, and since Training Day is a modern classic, where Fuqua and Washington struck cinematic gold together, there will always be an air of optimism that perhaps they could create something only half as good as it, and it would still be worth a watch. But for that to happen, we’re guessing it won’t have the word “Equalizer” in the title, as this franchise has unequivocally proven to date.