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Note to Russian mobsters: Should you aspire to eliminate an ex-covert government agency killer whose very particular skills make Liam Neeson seem about as lethal as Michael Cera, do not stage your assault inside a big-box home supply store where your target has ready use of barbed wire, blow torches and power drills.

It's precisely that environment fat loss jimpness beauty that enables Denzel Washington to visit full-on Jason Voorhees throughout the violent final act of "The Equalizer," an origin story of sorts for a just short-of-super hero of the type also embodied recently by Neeson ("Taken" and "Taken 2"), Matt Damon (the "Bourne" series) and Tom Cruise ("Jack Reacher").

Apparently, audiences benefit from the fantasy of identifying having a person so ultracompetent he can break any number of villainous necks having to break a sweat. Washington, however, is simply too conscious of his responsibility as a role model to play an entirely sadistic killer (this is a guy who probably has Oprah on speed-dial, in the end), so in "The Equalizer" he is as much life coach as deadly busybody, even if he's sticking a corkscrew up through a gangster's jaw so the metal spiral glints in the victim's open mouth like a particularly ornate tongue piercing.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua with a stylish mixture of grit and gloss, "The Equalizer" introduces Washington as Robert McCall, an obsessively tidy man who resides in a small Boston apartment, works in the aforementioned big-box store, and rather ostentatiously reads novels while sitting on his own at the local Edward Hopper diner. (The self-consciously literate screenplay by Richard Wenk underlines, as if with a college student's Magic Marker, the parallels between McCall and the heroes of the books he carries, namely "The Old Man and also the Sea" and "Don Quixote"; the latter is described as a story about "a man who would like to be a knight, despite the fact that he lives in a period when there aren't any knights.")

The shots from the obsessive-compulsive McCall neatly arranging his silverware and preparing his simple solo meals suggest he is a loner, except he's also actively involved in the lives of his co-workers, leading them to victory on the softball field and encouraging these to lose weight. Moreover, he's a sage of sorts towards the local teen prostitute (Chlo? Grace Moretz), who becomes Jodie Foster to his Robert De Niro after McCall witnesses her mistreatment as a result of some brutal Russian mobsters.

In "Taxi Driver," De Niro's Travis Bickle was, amongst other things, a monster, but moral ambiguity is so 1970s. The idea that vengeance and violence create as many or more problems compared to what they solve -- a truth we see affirmed every single day in both the neighborhood and international news -- is definitely an impediment to the cathartic satisfaction that is a Hollywood specialty, so "The Equalizer" eventually settles down to the bloody business of following McCall as he single-handedly dispenses so-called justice for an escalating hierarchy of corrupt cops (the wedding is David Harbour, also onscreen in "A Walk One of the Tombstones") and pitiless gangsters (hello, Martin Csokas, described as "a sociopath with a business card").

Inspired by the 1980s Tv show, "The Equalizer" is alternately impressive and ridiculous. On the plus side, Fuqua -- who directed Washington to some Best Actor Oscar in 2001's "Training Day," in which the actor played an uncommon villain -- takes his time; in fact, the movie is 35 atmospheric minutes old before its first (well-staged) violent set-piece. On the other hand, the film isn't just painstaking but overblown, as Fuqua 2 day diet reviews causes us to be aware as he finds room for thatof the hero walking nonchalantly toward your camera while a huge fireball explodes behind him.

"The Equalizer"

Rated R for strong violence and profanity throughout, including sexual references. 132 minutes.

Opens Friday in the CinePlanet 16, Collierville Towne 16, Cordova Cinema, DeSoto Cinema 16 (in 3-D), Forest Hill 8, Hollywood 20 Cinema, Majestic, Olive Branch Cinema, Palace Cinema, Paradiso, Stage Cinema, Studio on the Square and Summer Quartet Drive-In.