The Equalizer 3 | 2023 | R | – 1.7.5

Why is “The Equalizer 3” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody violence and some language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes nudity on statues, many scenes of one man attacking and dispatching numerous foes with bloody results shown, many threats of violence, a few scenes of intimidation tactics including beatings and a man thrown out a window and hanged, discussions of drug trafficking and terrorism, and nearly 10 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Recovering from an injury in Italy, a man (Denzel Washington) becomes acutely aware of the criminal influences that affect his new friends and decides to protect them by taking matters into his own hands. Also with Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea, David Denman, Gaia Scodellaro, Remo Girone and Andrea Scarduzio. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Many lines of dialogue are spoken in Italian with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:49]

The Equalizer 3 SEX/NUDITY 1

 – Several nude male and female statues are shown (their genital areas and breasts are visible). A woman wears a shirt and underwear and we see part of her bare buttocks and legs. A woman wears low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in several scenes.

The Equalizer 3 VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A man is held with a gun to his head while sitting in a chair and threatens the gunmen and two other men before grabbing the gunman’s arm and shooting one of the other men, slamming the gun barrel into the gunman’s eye (we see blood and matter) and shooting the third man; the third man crawls out of the room and the first man follows him, shoots him in the buttocks with a shotgun and then in the eye killing him (blood sprays and we see the bloody hole in his head). A flashback shows many men being killed by one man using a gun, knives, and broken bottles with a lot of blood spurting. A man with a knife threatens another man, they fight, one man breaks the other man’s arms (we see bloody bone snapped in his arm), the man is then stabbed multiple times (we see blood spill) and eventually stabbed through the chin into his head (we see him with the knife in his chin and covered with blood); two other men approach the remaining man and are killed with broken bottles, which are used to slash their throats. Two men argue and one man’s hand is held on a desk while the other stabs a knife into it; other men hold the stabbed man and one man cuts his hand off with a large blade (the man yells and struggles as we hear squishing sounds) and we later see the severed hand in an ice bucket and a very bloody stump. Several men in a house are shot from outside and then from inside the house; the power is cut and men are killed when they go to investigate — a man is stabbed through the back of the neck with a fireplace poker (we see the blood covered point sticking out through his throat), a man is strangled to death (he kicks and thrashes), blood drips on a man’s face while he sleeps in bed and a dead body breaks through a glass pane above him (the body dangles by his foot and we see his very bloody head and face); the man that was in the bed walks through broken glass shards and picks out pieces from his bloody foot before walking through the house and passing many dead bodies, he touches one body and the head rolls off the body and lands on the floor, the man panics and shoots all around the room before being punched hard in the face and knocked out. A man is held at gunpoint, he gets on his knees and the gunman shoots his ear; people gathered around them scream and the victim yells in pain (we see blood on his head and hand). A car alarm sounds and a guard investigates, lowers his gun to light a cigarette and is stabbed twice (we see blood spurt and hear gurgling and crunching sounds).
► A man yells in frustration outside a restaurant and threatens to execute another man as a van speeds toward him and slams into another man, pinning him against a wall (we see the man slumped over the hood with a very bloody head and face and blood is splattered on the wall he is pinned against); we see the driver slumped over a deployed airbag (seemingly dead). A man is shot in the back as he walks away from a young boy, the man spins around shooting (the boy runs away unharmed) before stumbling and he seems weak, he sits down, puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger (there are no bullets) and the scene ends. A man in a wheelchair is pushed through a window and hangs from a cord as people on the street below scream and panic (the glass shatters loudly and we see the man hanging). A car explodes in a crowded courtyard and many people are thrown; we see bloody wounds and charred flesh and a few bodies lie motionless. A man slams another man’s head into a bin filled with crushed ice, throws him to the floor and kicks him (we see blood on the victim’s face). A man gets a call that his daughter left school early and he panics running home to find his wife and young daughter being held by men with guns; the man is struck from behind and falls to the floor, he is kicked and punched on the floor and his young daughter is held with a gun to her head. Several men enter a restaurant and one threatens a man seated with his wife and child; the threatening man then approaches another man seated nearby and threatens him until the other man grabs him by the hand, twists his arm and squeezes him causing him a lot of pain (the man moans and yells for his men to leave the restaurant). Armed officers move into a building and through hallways, one man is shot (we see bloody bullet wounds and blood splatter on the wall behind him) and another is shot through a door (we see him blood-soaked and sitting on a toilet). A man with a gun threatens to shoot another man and many people gathered around them begin recording what is happening causing the gunman and several other men to speed away. A man is shown bound around the ankles and hands, and tied tightly around the throat; he dribbles foam and saliva from his mouth as he is told that he has a short time to live; the man is then cut loose and he stumbles down a flight of stairs, through a driveway, out of a gate, and he is struck by a car and thrown to the ground; he stumbles through a narrow alley while grasping his chest, gagging, spitting and seizing until he dies.
► A man drives a car with a young boy in the passenger seat and they arrive at a compound where several men are seen dead on the ground (bloody wounds and puddles of blood are seen); the man gets out of the car with a gun and enters a building where he finds many more dead bodies (bloody wounds are seen and a body with a cleaver in the head and face is seen). A man is shown slumped over in the driver’s seat of a car, he breathes rapidly and we see blood on his face and mucus coming from his nose; the scene shifts to the man being operated on and a lot of blood pours out of a wound on his back as a doctor removes a bullet. After an injury, a man struggles to walk up and down flights of stairs using a cane.
► A shop is shown in flames and the proprietor screams and yells trying to get inside as other people throw buckets of water on the flames; men on motorcycles watch from nearby. Smoke billows in the distance in a large city and we understand that there has been an explosion. Motorcycles speed loudly along narrow roads.
► A man and a woman argue with a man about throwing people out of their homes and we understand that a building is being forcibly emptied to develop into a hotel/casino. People discuss the suspicious importing of wine from Syria to Sicily in a few scenes. A man says that the Mafia is like cancer; there is no cure. We hear news reports of arrests in a drug trafficking ring and numerous deaths.

The Equalizer 3 LANGUAGE 5

 – About 9 F-words and its derivatives, 8 scatological terms, name-calling (terrorists, bastard, stupid, barbarian, cyber ghost), exclamations (stop), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. Lord knows, God, God is my witness). | profanity glossary |

The Equalizer 3 SUBSTANCE USE

 – A bottle with a false bottom is opened and we see a package of pills inside it (we are later told that they are methamphetamines), and a man is shown dying after being given many methamphetamine tablets. A man drinks from a bottle (likely beer), people drink wine in a café, and a man opens a bottle of wine. Men smoke cigarettes outside in a few scenes.

The Equalizer 3 DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Mafia, drug trafficking, CIA, arson, miracles, weakness, pain, terrorism.

The Equalizer 3 MESSAGE

 – Only a good man doesn’t know if he is truly good.