Best movies & docs on Showmax this March

 The Equalizer 3, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Retribution, Icahn: The Restless Billionaire & Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches

THE EQUALIZER | First on Showmax | Stream now

Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington reunites with his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua and his Man on Fire co-star Dakota Fanning to bring us the third and final chapter of The Equalizer.

Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past, finding a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy until events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his new friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.

A #1 box office hit in the US last year, The Equalizer 3 was nominated for Best Action/Adventure Film by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and is up for NAACP Image Awards for both Washington and Fuqua this March. 

Independent (UK) says the film “neatly counterbalances Fuqua’s baroque, blood-and-guts action with Washington’s ability to command attention while sitting perfectly still.”

     

You can also binge the first three seasons of The Equalizer’s spinoff series, starring Queen Latifah, on Showmax. 

PAW PATROL: THE MIGHTY MOVIE | Stream from 31 March

A #1 box office hit in the US last year, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie takes our favourite pups to a whole new level, on a whole new adventure.

When a magical meteor crash lands in Adventure City, it gives the PAW Patrol pups superpowers, transforming them into The Mighty Pups! But things take a turn for the worse when the pups' arch-rival Humdinger and a mad scientist plot to steal the superpowers. For Skye, the smallest member of the team, her new powers are a dream come true, but with the fate of Adventure City hanging in the balance, she will have to learn that even the smallest pup can make the biggest difference.

The sequel to 2021’s blockbuster PAW Patrol: The Movie features the voices kids know and love from the TV series, along with Emmy nominee Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) as Skye and multi-award-winning Sweet Tooth star Christian Convery as Chase. Parents can listen out for the voices of Taraji P. Henson, Marsai Martin, Chris Rock, Lil Rel Howery, Serena Williams, James Marsden, and Kristen Bell, as well as Kim Kardashian and her children North and Saint West. 

In their 4/5-star review, Common Sense Media recommends the movie for kids aged 5+ (there’s a little more peril than in the previous movie), saying it’s, “another winning instalment in the PAW Patrol universe… the adorable rescue pups continue to charm little kids and their parents, and this sweet sequel reminds all viewers that even the tiny can be mighty.”

RETRIBUTION | Stream from 25 March

Oscar nominee Liam Neeson (Taken) stars in Retribution as a father whose normal commute becomes a twisted game of life or death, with kids strapped in the backseat, a bomb under his seat, and a mysterious caller giving him increasingly dangerous instructions. 

Eswatini-born Tony nominee Noma Dumezweni (The Undoing, Only Murders in the Building, The Little Mermaid) co-stars, along with South African actress Embeth Davidtz (who made her Hollywood debut opposite Neeson in Schindler's List). Also look out for the likes of Emmy nominee Matthew Modine (Stranger Things) and Jack Champion (Avatar: The Way of Water, Scream VI).

Variety says Retribution is “Speed in a Mercedes Family SUV,” adding that, “At 71, Neeson has lost none of his sullen machismo, and this booby-trapped-car movie whizzes by…” 

ICAHN: THE RESTLESS BILLIONAIRE | Stream from 13 March

Nominated for Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary at the 2023 News & Documentary Emmy Awards, Icahn: The Restless Billionaire explores the fascinating contradictions at the heart of the famed financier, Carl Icahn, who amassed close to $20 billion dollars over the last half century and was at the forefront of some of the most legendary business deals of our times.

In the HBO documentary, Oliver Stone reveals that Icahn was the inspiration for the character of Gordon Gecko in his classic film Wall Street - and for Gecko's now iconic 'greed is good' speech. The role won Michael Douglas the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

The New York Times calls the documentary "right on the money."

FREDERICK DOUGLASS: IN FIVE SPEECHES | Stream from 20 March

Revolution starts with a voice. The HBO documentary Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches brings to life five legendary speeches from the most famous American anti-slavery activist in history to further understand his story and the story of America.

After his escape from slavery at age 20, Frederick Douglass went on to become arguably the most famous Black man in the nineteenth century, known for the power of his words. Entirely self-taught, Douglass was a powerful writer and master orator, crafting speeches that called out American hypocrisy and challenged the nation to live up to its founding principles. 

Inspired by David Blight’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, the Emmy-nominated documentary is narrated by Black Reel Award nominee André Holland (Moonlight, Selma), with Oscar nominees Colman Domingo (Rustin, The Color Purple, Euphoria, Fear the Walking Dead) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction, Rustin, Westworld) among the actors giving voice to Douglass’ speeches.  

Classics on the couch

Showmax is also bringing back a host of classic movies this March, including:

• The box office smash hits Fast and Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (all 7 March)

• Queen & Slim, named Best Movie at the BET Awards, starring Daniel Kaluuya (11 March)

• The Oscar-winning war film Zero Dark Thirty, starring Jessica Chastain (18 March)

• The Oscar-nominated animations How To Train Your Dragon 2 and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (both 18 March)

• The People’s Choice Award winners for Best Comedy: Knocked Up, starring Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl, (4 March) and Liar Liar, starring Jim Carrey (28 March)

• The 40-Year-Old Virgin, winner of the Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy, starring Steve Carrell (4 March)

• Teen Choice Chick Flick winner The Holiday, starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black (21 March)

• #1 box office hits like Kindergarten Cop, starring Arnold Schwartzenegger (25 March); The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, starring Brendan Fraser (all 14 March); and the hit animation Kung Fu Panda 3 (28 March).