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This is another gangster film where there isn't all the action of the traditional entry in the genre. If Goodfellas is Saving Private Ryan, then Black Souls is more in the vein of The Thin Red Line, not the same caliber as that film but you get my drift.

This is much more of a character study of the players involved. The eldest of a trio of brothers has spent decades tending to his farm and staying out of the family business, which is for the most part unnamed shady stuff. But when his son goes to visit his goon of a brother with intentions of joining the dark side, a sequence of events fall in place resulting in a finish that I don't think anyone can see coming.

Not a lot happens in the first 2/3s of Black Souls in an action sense, and if I was in the wrong mood I might not have liked this as much as I did. But I thought the conflict between the four chief characters (the dad, his two gangster brothers, and his son) was established very convincingly. Come with patience to this one and you will be well rewarded. One of the scenes near the finish is simply magnificent.

Headshot looked so golden off the trailer. I was a huge fan of The Raid and thus it's star Iko Uwais. Uwais also stars here as a stranger who awakens from a coma with a case of amnesia and a bullet hole in his forehead. Just who is he and how was he shot? And how is he connected to a brutal gang leader who has just escaped execution? These are the questions at the core of the plot of Headshot.

Headshot has some great fight scenes for sure. WhIle not nearly as polished in that department as The Raid, it still swings a big enough stick to showcase that Indonesia continues to be a force to be reckoned with in the action arena. There is also a key factor surrounding the background of the gang and how it recruits that adds a compelling aspect to the otherwise clichéd storyline.

But that factor and the good fight scenes are hindered by terrible dialogue and the aforementioned clichés. Uwais is fine here and shows he has the chops to be an A list international star. He also is helped by a terrific Sunny Pang as the vicious gang leader Lee. But they are not nearly enough to save Headshot. The Raid was top shelf stuff. Headshot is Monarch mixed with good juice.

The Equalizer is loosely based on the 80's TV show of the same name, but it might have more in common with the corny action movies of that era that featured one man armies against hordes of bad guys. Denzel Washington takes the title role as a mysterious ex government agent of some sort who is trying to live a life of normalcy. But when he befriends a prostitute played by Chloe Grace Moretz and she falls into trouble with her Russian mob pimps, he falls back to his old skill set to reap punishment on her accosters. And Washington's Equalizer ain't no punk b---h.

Like the Stallones and Schwarzneggers of the aforementioned 80's films, Denzel is a wrecking ball of ridiculous force and wrath. But while those old 80s flicks lacked style and creativity, director Antoine Fuqua breaks out the tricks and flash of his growing repertoire and holds nothing back in the manner in which Washington dispatches baddies. While I raised an eyebrow at the ease in which a 60 year old Washington worked his way through his adversaries here, I was still entertained by a decent script and well shot action scenes.