Equilibrium
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/
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the unemployed critic
Date: 3 December 2002
Summary: A well made, visionary action thriller...
Equilibrium
In the years following World War III, which devastated the world, mankind has decided to eradicate all of the emotions that lead to the conflict. The answer comes in the form of Prozium, a serum that is injected into the bloodstream and instantaneously numbs the user from all feelings, hopes, and dreams normally associated with being human. This new order of humanity is splintered, with a group of outsiders retreating to the fringes of the major cities and drinking in forbidden items such as paintings, music, and color. An order called the Grammaton Clerics is the law, and they practice a martial art known as `Gun-Kata' to keep the peace. Their number one agent is Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale). Even though Preston witnessed his own wife's execution for `sense crimes' years before, he has never allowed the loss to affect him. Instead, he has used the time since then to become the most feared and respected Cleric in the land. But when a passionate young woman (Emily Watson) is taken in for execution the very same day Cleric Preston accidentally misses a dose of Prozium, the combination opens Preston's eyes to the madness of the new world, and he sets out to make changes.
Writer/director Kurt Wimmer's `Equilibrium' is a b-movie update of `Fahrenheit 451' and `1984,' with a hint of `The Matrix' thrown in for good measure. It's a visionary, cerebral action film in a time where both rarely seem to coexist anymore. If Stanley Kubrick were still alive, and was dying to make a science-fiction action blockbuster, this would be the end result.
Though packed with guns and bloodshed, `Equilibrium' is actually a sort of cautionary tale for our times. As the world becomes gradually more obsessed with violence, how can we combat the tide of daily atrocities except by removing the desire to commit them? What Wimmer wants to investigate is whether are actually better off this way, without the beauty in our lives, or the unpredictability of it all. These are fascinating themes carried in a vessel that features standard cinematic violence to deliver the message to the masses, and it works, due to Wimmer's singular vision, and Christian Bale's wholly unswerving lead performance. `Equilibrium' performs equally as an academic film, a back-of-the-video-store treat, and as a rousing actioner for the bottom feeders. A unusual feat for any film.
One place `Equilibrium' tends to trip over itself is in its miniscule budget. Attempting to sell a futuristic world where the entire planet's order, architecture, and fashion have changed, Wimmer's vision is far too big for the coin spent onscreen. The vistas presented have a straight-to-video look that dampens the power of Wimmer's script. He gets a lot out of his budget, but often it just isn't enough. The costumes suffer as well, looking very Albert Pyun in a film that aspires to be Stanley Kubrick. One cannot fault Wimmer entirely, as he's doing the best he can, but some visual choices should've been rethought.
The main draw of `Equilibrium' will be the Gun-Kata sequences. Gun-Kata is a form of martial arts that uses handguns as extensions of the arms. It's the Joffrey Ballet meets `Natural Born Killers.' In the film, it is meant as a way the Clerics can optimize their kill ratio by moving their bodies so that they make direct hits with every shot, yet remain impossible to return fire on. In a film that uses familiar resources to build a story together, this touch makes the film memorable. The Gun-Kata scenes are hypnotic to watch, with Wimmer finding new ways to present their power, including the opening sequence, which is lit only with the fire from Preston's repeatedly discharging gun. Its similarity to `The Matrix' is only in tone and resourcefulness, as there is, thankfully, no `wire-fu' in the film. But one cannot help getting that fanboy rush when a filmmaker (like The Wachowski Brothers) takes the time to carefully rework something that's been done to death (gunfights), and, in the process, create sequences and visuals that will outlast the rest of the picture.
It's only too bad Wimmer chose (or was forced to) score his action scenes as if it were a WWE match. The rest of `Equilibrium' has a soft, classically minded orchestral score for it, but once the guns are brought out, the heavy metal guitar kicks in, and cheeses up the proceedings. I can't imagine Wimmer wanted to do this, but whoever made this decision has taken the power out of some deliciously complex action sequences in a well made film.