Equilibrium

Equilibrium
by Kurt Wimmer

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Movie Reviews of Equilibrium

Movie Review: Hey You!Get off the 'Prozium' WAKE UP and watch this Movie!!
Summary: 5 Stars

Not that ALL emotions are eradicated , as director Kurt Wimmer shares, rather prozium eliminates mankind's tempestous highs and lows. And those emotions, ambition, jealousy, that might further Libria's cause of promoting "Non-feeling" are allowed such as Taye Diggs character's motivation to bring John Preston (Christian Bale) down. It's also interesting to note that the director meant this as a parable, a cautionary tale of socio-politcal ideology gone wrong, rather than a literal story.
The Grammaton Clerics similarity to the sandmen in "Logan's Run" ("Minority Report" has similarities to "LR" as well) was interesting--two partner cops hunting down "offenders" whether they be "runners", "Pre-criminals", or in this case "sense offenders". One has to pursue and kill a partner then have his conscience / soul pricked to have an epiphany and find they are questioned or pursued themselves.
I can't say enough about the performances other than agreeing with the director he batted a thousand with his casting. Everybody was superb, Christian Bale is a delight to watch grow with each new performance (Damn why can't Hollywood wise up to this proven action star with acting chops to boot-- like the late Brandon Lee, Christian Bale packs a deadly combo of ripped physicallity with a deep emotional wellspring to draw on). Sean Bean continues to blow me away with performances of his "flawed= REAL" characters, whether in "Goldeneye", "Patriot Games", "Ronin", or "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Bean wrenches a very soulful, human performance out of what little screen time he's given.
The action of this movie is a much needed shot in the arm for HARD CORE ACTION JUNKIES. The impressive "Gun Kata" invented by the director is a fresh, inventive next-step in the evolution of the cinematic gun battle. Hong Kong innovators such as John Woo / Chow Yun Fat ushered in the Balletic "Gun Fu" (as coined by writer Ric Meyers). This film unlike "The Matrix" and it's sequels does not rely on "wire-fu" stunts-- (the flip by Cleric Preston was accomplished by a diving champion stunt double) --refreshing after being bombarded by the likes of the 2 "Charlie's Angels" entries, augmentation of recent Jackie Chan (The Tuxedo), Jet Li (Pick one), and Chow Yun Fat (Bullet-proof Monk) movies. Don't get me wrong wire work is a great tool in use of projects involving super-human ability (such as Jet Li's multiverse titan in "The One") any number of recent Superhero movies (Blade 2, Daredevil, Spiderman, X-men), or the Swordplay classic "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
The action sequences resonate with the speed and beauty of the best of Jet Li's Hong Kong work, married with the swordplay scenes with Preston's use of the "Zatoichi" underhand swordhold style. The opening introduction to the prowess of the Grammaton Cleric's "Gun-Kata", the numerous confrontations between Preston and the many "sweepers", the Kendo bokken match between Preston and Brandt, and the climactic Hallway "weeble wobble-clip" gun battle, Preston and Brandt's "Face-off", and the final confrontation between Dupont (Angus MacFadyen / Braveheart) which innovatively uses the hand locking styles reminiscent of Wing Chun's 'chi sau'/'lok sau', or Tai Chi Chuan's 'toi sau' only with guns!
In the Director's commentary Kurt Wimmer hints at a fighting technique not used in this movie that he's saving for a future project...I can't wait!
I find as with the umpteen reviewers before me the "Matrix" comparison on the box a bit of a misnomer and rather tedious. As for the swipes at Preston's clothes copying Neo, other than they are sleek tight fitting and black I don't see the comparison (I mean Neo was wearing a trenchcoat!) I also remind all that "Equilibrium" predates "Matrix re-loaded" in which the tables are turned Neo's "uber-mensch/superman" persona has on the "GOD Smock". I find that I, as a political cartoonist in a daily competition with other artists to put a humorous spin on current events notice on occasion that 2 or more creative people will come up with the same idea independently from one another. So I agree with director Kurt Wimmer that the bros. Wachowski were giving Neo religious garb to outwardly represent his 'deity' which coincidently took on the 19th century deacon smock motif.
In the interest of observation, viewers may find Jim Jarmusch's "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" (2000) interesting in that the Hit-man character played by Forest Whitacker adheres to Modern Bushido as he swings his pistols around like swords...something to check out-you just might LIKE it!

Summary of Equilibrium