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Robert McCall Respect Thread
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Lestov16
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Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

Robert McCall Respect Thread

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ex-CIA black operative Robert McCall lived life in relative peace, enjoying a quiet life as a friendly and helpful home department store employee. But after Russian mob pimps brutalize a prostitute he befriends, he begins a quest of retribution to help the helpless and prey on those who prey on others. He becomes The Equalizer.

McCall is practically omnicompetent, partially due to a near-OCD level of attentiveness and calculation. His feats throughout the film include:

CQB: McCall is practically unstoppable in H2H/melee combat, due to a preternatural ability to instantly (represented as slo mo) see the variables in a situation that will provide a tactical advantage, namely zeroing in on objects that will help him most effectively overcome his opponents. His reflexes are lightning fast, snatching guns out of people's hands and killing roomfuls of people (armed with guns and knives) in 28 seconds. In pure H2H, he is extremely quick and rather strong, easily breaking bones and necks. He never uses a firearm in the film (except for one time when he turns an opponent's gun on another). He frequently disarms his opponents nigh-instantly a la Bourne.

He only struggles once during the film, and that is a climatic knife/melee fight with a giant opponent with superhuman durability who tanks multiple stab wounds with no effect. Robert overcomes and kills him despite the fact that moments earlier he had been hit by an assault rifle (and cauterized the wound using an improvised burning doorknob), showing he has amazing durability.

Electronics/Surveillance/Mechanical Engineering: Predicting that Russian hitmen are going to ambush him in his home in retaliation for killing multiple Russian drug lords in CQB, he relocates himself elsewhere while dismantling several objects in his home, placing cameras in them, and survielling the hitmen as the search his apartment.

Stealth/Evasion: When a hitman and his squad attempt to ambush him in a diner, he kills him, cuts the power to hide himself from the others, and stealthily sneaks away, and although he is hit by an assault rifle as they attempt to follow him, he still manages to attack one, and steal their phone for info, and escape. He sneaks up on/ambushes several opponents throughout the film, constantly lures enemies into traps, and at a few points offscreen teleports away like a slasher villain.

Strategic/Tactical Analysis: McCall takes down the entire Boston operation of Pushkin (the film's Big Bad, a Russian oligarch/international crime lord). He attacks the head corrupt cop of the city and predicts that the cop has critical information on Pushkin's operations in case he needed protection. He uses that information to raid a meat packing/money laundering factory, snatching the gun out of the hand of the leader and threatening to blow his pelvis off unless the other surrender, tying them all up, and stacking and counting to the exact amount the roomful of giant piles of hundreds of millions of dollars for the police to find, as well as emailing them all of the illegal transactions of the Boston operation

Interrogation/Coercion: Along with the aforementioned threatening of the meat packing plant gangster, he also interrogates the corrupt cop by trapping him in his car and using a hose to pump the exhaust fumes directly into it, threatening to suffocate him unless he cooperates.

Observation: McCall is extremely observant, which goes along with his OCD-level attentiveness. He is able to instantly tell a power station worker is a Russian hitman by deducing that his hands aren't rugged enough. He instantly remembers license plates and other relevant details.

Explosives: McCall also uses the info to attack Pushkin's main oil refinery in Boston, blowing up the entire tanker and refinery. This leads to a badass durability feat where he nonchalantly walks away in slow mo from a massive explosion, even though the entire refinery is exploding not even inches behind him.

Guerilla Warfare/Tactical Improvisation: When a Russian mercenary squad hold his co workers/friends hostage at the home department store where he works to draw him out, he covertly sneaks in, draws the bad guy to his location by playing "Midnight Train To Georgia" over the loud-speaker, snaps his neck, and goes on a Rambo-esque killing spree of the mercenaries. He implements such traps as:
a)pours sand on the ground so when a merc steps in, he will get killed by a barbed wire noose with a sandbag as the weight
b) stealthily sneaks behind a merc and drills a hole in the back on a guy's head
c) puts multiple explosive aerosol cans in a microwave as a trap, killing a merc in a massive explosion
amongst multiple other Rambo/MacGuyver-esque improvised traps

Aim: While as stated he never uses a gun in the film, he kills the main villain (Pushkin's henchman) by repeatedly and slowly hitting him with a nail gun in multiple precise spots.

Assassination: McCall goes to Moscow, stealthily infiltrates Pushkin's mansion and kills his guards without making a sound, and ambushes Pushkin in the shower after shutting the power off. After Pushkin begs for his life, McCall disappears. As Pushkin goes over to the sink to get his radio and signal for help, he hears the faucet running and the water overflowing from the sink. The power then turns back on, showing McCall placed a wire in the overflowing water on the floor (which Pushkin is standing in), electrocuting him to death.

McCall is undoubtedly one of the deadliest action heroes of the contemporary age, arguably second only to Bourne. With a sequel already announced, McCall has definitely supplanted himself among the top tier of action heroes.


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Last edited by Lestov16 on Sep 28th, 2014 at 08:00 PM

Old Post Sep 28th, 2014 07:46 PM
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Lestov16
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Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

Also forgot to add

Polyglot: Is shown speaking fluent English, Spanish, and Russian throughout the film.


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Old Post Sep 28th, 2014 08:03 PM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

To give backstory on McCall, he was a CIA black operative until he met his wife Vivian, whom he promised he would give up his violent ways. He faked his death in a car bomb, and lived with her, both reading a 100 books you must read before you die list (Vivian was at 97, Bob is at 91) so they would have something to conversate about, until she died of disease. Bob kept his promise of non-violence until several cases of injustice force him to act on behalf of the innocent and help the helpless as the Equalizer.

It begins when a hooker he befriends named Teri, a Russian American sex slave immigrated to the U.S. at an early age who visits the diner he frequents due to his insomnia on her 1:00 am break, is brutalized to the point of hospitalization by her pimps after hitting an abusive john who bruised her face.

Bob goes to the Russian restaurant/mob base of Slavi, Teri's pimp, whom gave him his business card believing Bob was a john when seeing he and Teri walking together one night, and attempts to buy her freedom with $9,800. After laughing off his attempt, insulting Teri and threatening to cut out her tongue, Bob instead kills Slavi and his four henchmen, armed with guns and knives, in 19 seconds. He then gives the $9,800 to Teri and a bus ticket out of the city

Unbeknownst to Bob, Slavi is a chief in an international criminal organization led by Vladimir Pushkin, a Russian oligarch. Pushkin sends his deadliest enforcer, Teddy (a wanted ex-Spetsnaz and Soviet secret police psychopath who murdered his adopted parents out of fear they would abandon him) to Boston to find out who hit his people.

Meanwhile, a co-worker/friend of Bob named Ralphie, whom he is altruistically helping lose weight so he can become a security guard, is forced to quit to help his mother after corrupt policemen burn her store as a threat for extortion money. Bob records one of their conversations, ambushes and brutalized them, and forced them to give back all of the extorted money or else he will release the recording.

Teddy has ensured that no other Boston gangs are responsible, and after reviewing traffic/security camera footage, figures out Bob's identity and visits him at his home, posing as a cop. Bob, immediately suspicious and inquisitive predicts the threat, and begins placing cameras in various objects in his home and staging it to look like he took a flight out of the country.

Teddy and a squad of his hitmen attempt to ambush Bob at a diner. One enters, disguised as a power electrician, but Bob immediately reduces his identity by observing his hands are not rugged enough. Bob kills the man and cuts the power to the diner, blinding the others outside. He stealthily escapes and runs as the hitmen pursue. Although he is hit in the leg by an assault rifle, he is still able to stealthily subdue one and steal his cell phone.

The hitmen then raid his apartment, while Bob watches from a distance while treating his wound his the improvised remedy of boiled honey. Teddy is able to reduce they are being tricked, and leave to get more information on the man.

Bob visits his retired CIA friends, who tell him about Pushkin and grant him permission to take him down.

Bob begins his rampage of equalization. He tracks down the head cop in the city, Masters, and forces him to give up a secret cache of information he knows Masters has for protection. He raids Pushkin's money laundry and blows up his oil tanker/refinery.

After ambushing Teddy at a restaurant and threatening him one to shut down Pushkin's operation or else Bob will dismantle it, Teddy attempts to draw Bob to his death by having a mercenary team hold Teddy's co workers hostage and ordering him to come in 30 minutes to the sight of the oil refinery he blew up where Teddy can kill him.

Bob however tricks Teddy by placing his cell phone (which Teddy is tracking) on a bus while he stealthily infiltrates the store. Bob attacks and kills the mercenaries in a variety of ways, including a barbed wire noose, stealth killing a man by drilling a hole in the back of his head, and and another by furtively stabbing him in the neck with a branch cutter. Although he gets shot by an assault rifle (cauterizing the wound with an improvised heated doorknob), he still manages the overcome the other mercenaries. After a brutal climatic battle with a giant Russian whom he defeats by stabbing in the head with glass, he kills Teddy by shooting him in the joints with a nail gun and a coup de grace shot straight through the heart.

3 days later, Bob then goes to Moscow, stealthily kills Pushkin's security detail, and murders Pushkin via electrocution.

After returning to Boston, Bob decides to help the helpless for a living and begins posting an online ad as The Equalizer.


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Last edited by Lestov16 on Sep 30th, 2014 at 02:44 AM

Old Post Sep 30th, 2014 02:31 AM
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Time Immemorial
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Good thread and great movie.

I'm wondering if the whole story of the movie and ending should be in spoiler tags.

Old Post Oct 1st, 2014 04:11 PM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

Fun Fact: Using some McCall style calculation, if it takes him 19.26 seconds to kill 5 armed people, it means he can kill a man in CQB in 3.8 seconds!

Also, to add a few more feats:

Psychoanalysis: Is able to deduce that a corrupt cop has a cache of information for protection, and also deduces the truth of Teddy/Nicolai's entire backstory after reading the coverup story

Tracking: When a robber steals from his dept. store, McCall, instantly remembering such important details as the robber's appearance, license plate, etc., tracks him down and gets back the stolen property


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Last edited by Lestov16 on Oct 20th, 2014 at 11:42 AM

Old Post Oct 20th, 2014 11:37 AM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

EDIT: In the CQB section, I note that McCall took out that room in 28 seconds, but it was actually 19, as he wastes several seconds slowly stabbing a goon to death with a corkscrew. McCall accounts for this time gap and recalculates, leading him to conclude an actual time of 19 seconds.

Also

Emergency First Aid: McCall tanks two gunshots in the film, the first when escaping the diner, as he is grazed in the leg, and the second in the climax of the film, when he is shot in the shoulder by an assault rifle. He cleans the first wound with boiling honey,and cauterizes the second wound with a heated doorknob.


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Last edited by Lestov16 on Oct 20th, 2014 at 12:07 PM

Old Post Oct 20th, 2014 11:55 AM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

Fun Fact: While not officially canon, Denzel Washington's use of Navy SEAL tactics to train for the role could suggest in-universe that McCall is a former Navy SEAL and/or DEVGRU operator.


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Old Post Oct 20th, 2014 12:11 PM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

High Pain Tolerance: Tanks both gunshot wounds in the film and his own improvised cauterizations with only minimal discomfort


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Old Post Oct 21st, 2014 10:33 AM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

McCall in action


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Old Post Oct 24th, 2014 11:08 AM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

McCall kicking ass (note he suffered an assault rifle wound which he cauterized with an improvised heated doorknob just prior to this):


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Last edited by Lestov16 on Feb 13th, 2015 at 05:04 PM

Old Post Feb 13th, 2015 05:01 PM
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Time Immemorial
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Good thread, keep it up.

Old Post Feb 13th, 2015 05:01 PM
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Lestov16
CTU Field Agent

Gender: Male
Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan

Full killcount:



quote: (post)
Originally posted by Time Immemorial
Good thread, keep it up.


Thanks! McCall is one of my all-time favorite action heroes.


__________________


"Tell him that you've got credible intelligence about a threat to his life"-
Jack Bauer

Old Post Feb 13th, 2015 05:04 PM
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