There he befriends a young sex worker Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz) who is pimped out by a Russian mobster.
One day she ends up badly beaten and McCall goes to have words with him. Things escalate slightly.
CW: bloody violence
I never saw the original and when this was released was a bit underwhelmed by the idea of a reboot.
Another from the stable of "retired ultimate badass is reactivated by bad guys: mayhem ensues" movies this does distinguish itself by partly keeping McCall's antics offscreen and showing just the aftermath. Maybe Denzel wasn't up for lots of extended action scenes, maybe it was a clear choice but it works and you don't feel cheated.
I was still underwhelmed though. The bad guys are very generic Russian mobsters and muscle but McCall taking their operation to pieces with no obvious means of support or resources (except for a visit to old colleagues) just seems almost like a parody of "look how badass I am, I don't even break a sweat while conquering armies" action storytelling.
It's really only saved by Denzel being very likeable in the role, 6/10. How it got to a three movie franchise I'm not sure.