‘The action scenes are horribly ­entertaining’ – The Equalizer 3 review | Films | Entertainment

Tomorrow is national cinema day with cinemas across the UK offering tickets for a bargain price. If you spend your £3 on Denzel Washington’s third vigilante flick, that’s roughly 5p for each gloriously orchestrated killing.

Chuck in 109 minutes of tightly coiled suspense and gorgeous scenery and this could be the best-value Saturday night out of the year.

The TV spin-off moves from Boston to southern Italy, as Denzel’s Robert McCall contemplates retiring on the Amalfi coast.

And the coastal town of Altomonte offers gentle hilltop walks, smiling locals and outdoor movies in the town square. Unfortunately, its charms are completely lost on the local mafia, who want to flatten the place to build a gaudy casino.

So McCall will have to dispatch one more set of goons before he can settle into his dotage.

He lands in the picture postcard town after sustaining an injury during a thrilling opening mission in a mob-controlled Sicilian vineyard.

After being nursed back to help by a kindly local doctor, the brooding killer finds peace in their medieval streets.

But when a kindly local cop is threatened by a tattooed thug, McCall’s righteous anger begins to boil. As the bodies pile up, McCall forges an uneasy partnership with Dakota Fanning’s CIA agent as she investigates a link with the mafia and “jihadi” drug dealers.

If only there was a bit more to the villain.

Vincent Quaranta (Andrea Scarduzio) is pretty much a one-note baddie with a mildly quirky thing for religious iconography.

Is he a tortured Catholic or a fan of Marks & Sparks underwear? That stained-glass image of St Michael on his bedroom ceiling is never really explained.

Thankfully, Denzel’s avenging angel is far more compelling.

The action scenes are horribly ­entertaining, but McCall is just as deadly with a withering smile.

The Equalizer 3,  Cert 15, In cinemas now