In contrast to these good post-apoc films, there's almost nothing good about Cirio Santiago's EQUALIZER 2000. In a post-nuclear future Richard Norton plays Slade, a soldier betrayed by his employers, the fascist "Ownership." To get back at them he joins a rebel group and manufactures a six-barreled rifle with multiple applications, the "Equalizer 2000" of the title. The script gives no reason as to where Slade gets the know-how to make a weapon that can blow away his former allies, who have nothing but commonplace firearms to fight with.
Norton entered the cinematic world on the strength of his martial arts skills, but unlike many other martial-mavens Norton eventually became a competent actor with some good screen charisma. None of that appears in EQUALIZER, which may not be Norton's fault. Director Cirio Santiago allows for minimal conversational scenes, focusing largely on scads and scads of high-powered machine-gunnings. Santiago has a good reputation with lovers of "trash cinema" for down-and-dirty action-films, but this material is out of his depth-- which may be why he relies almost exclusively on scenes of shooting and blowing things up.
Minor eighties cult-actress Corinne Wahl looks good, and Robert Patrick has a small part long before his rise to prominence.
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