Equilibrium
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.79 You Save: $9.20 (61%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.38 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Equilibrium
Movie Review: This film blew The Matrix away!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Equlibrium is set in a futuristic society, where a strict regime has eiliminated war by suppresing emotion and destroying everything that causes it - books, art, music, animals, etc.. To keep everyone in line, the government administers a mind altering drug that hinders emotion called Prozium. A form of police called the Clerics, have been created to enfore the law, and anyone who breaks it by feeling or showing emotion is put to death. John Preston ( Christian Bale), is the highest ranking Cleric who is responsible for destroying anyone who breaks the rules. But John is soon effected by a prisoner ( Emily Watson), who claims that you cannot truly live life unless you are able to feel, and experience emotion. To test her theory, he skips his next dose of Prozium. Right away, John sees that the society that he helped create, has been wrong all along. John has been trained to enforce the laws of the new regime at all costs, but he is now the only person capable of overthrowing it. His partner (Taye Diggs)sets his eyes on John's position, and becomes determined to stop him... I was literally blown away by this film. Director Kurt Wimmer did a great job creating the future society, with the outstanding visuals. While the story is similar to "Fahrenhiet 451" in some aspects, the story still manages to keep your interest and seem original for the most part. "Equilibrium", is also the best action film I have seen in recent memory. Even "The Matrix" pales in comparison. When I first saw this film at the theater, everyone in the audience was literally gasping and making comments about how original and amazing the action was. A totally original form of martial art was introduced in this film called " The Gun Kata". It mixes martial arts together with gun play to create a more effective shooting technique. Watching this new type of self defense unfold on the screen was mind blowing. The ending to this film is great and features one of the best sword fights I have ever seen.
Christian Bale puts in another good performance. He plays both sides of John Preston so well. The first is the Cleric who feels nothing, and kills anyone who breaks the law. He looks down right menacing! The second, is the man that comes to believe what he is doing is wrong. Watching him feel for the first time will amaze you, because he gave such an accurate portrayal of what it would really be like. Taye Diggs did an outstanding job as his partner. He is dispicable and a truly great villan. Emily Watson, Angus MacFadyen and Sean Bean were also fantastic in their roles.
"Equlibrium" raised the bar of action films to a whole new level. The gun play, martial arts action, and overall violence will blow your mind. It is fast paced, realistic, and extremely gory!! The visuals are stunning as well, and the performances are great. Once this film becomes more well known, it will have people talking for a long time to come!
Movie Review: A brilliant, dystopian science fiction movie
Summary: 5 Stars
At the dawn of the 21st century, society was faced with a great Third World War, and knowing that something had to be done to prevent further problems, humanity was faced with the dilemma of solving all of man's troublels. As a result, they created a new enforcer of the law, the Grammaton Clerics, a collection of warriors who practice gun kata to improve their lethality while executing their sole task of eradicating any instance of feeling within humanity.
To control the general public, daily dosage of Prozium are self-administered, similar to the daily dosages of Soma in Brave New World, except this opiate of the masses elimites melancholy, rage, hate, and jealousy, as well as the suppressing positive feelings of pathos, joy, and love. Similarly, destruction of all that creates feeling, literature, art, all that gives us emotion, just like the firemen in Fahrenheit 451. Large-scale indoctrination is accomplished through the visualized, Apple commerical-esque, Big Brother screens of 1984 (used later in V for Vendetta). The combination of the three classic dystopian tales is flawless, each blending into the other, and the collective producing realism and fear for what could easily be a not-so-distant future.
Two Grammaton Clerics, John Preston (Christian Bale) and Errol Partridge (Sean Bean), have worked together to "protect" society. However, Errol has been confiscating sense offender material. Eventually, John catches Errol because he had been sneaking outside of the city to commit sense crimes. When he is eventually uncovered face-to-face, John must bring his partner in for justice. His partner would rather die than be captured or give up feeling, and in a final act of defiance he quotes a passage from his book and raises his book to cover his eyes.
Partridge's final words would later haunt John in a dream, as they serve as the catalyst for his finaly memory of his wife, the moment of her sense crime incarceration and eventual incineration, and he remembers with horror his still, emotionless inaction.
The following morning John drops his dosage of Prozium. His sone recommends a trip to Equilibrium for a replacement dosage. Only, John doesn't go, and he begins to feel, to sense and perceive all the wonderful feelings previously unknown. Soon, he enjoys the touch of an intricately designed vase, cries at the sound of Beethoven, and risks everything by protecting a puppy from extermination.
The gun battles are equisitely designed and choreographed, a little Matrix crossed with a little Jet Li action. Christian Bale delivers an impressive performance as a man who is initially wooden, and later severely troubled by his actions.
Eventually John must face the battle between his logic and his emotions, his allegiance and his freedom, as he comes to terms with what he has done, what he has become, and what he wishes for the future.
Movie Review: Mindblowing Action but mediocre plot
Summary: 5 Stars
equilibrium is about a dystopian earth that lingers on ideas of social systems. this movie kicks the ... out of many action sequences done today, comparing it to the matrix seems inevitable because its a dark film with scifi with great visuals but comparing it is not good.
the premise is After World War III (a war caused by man's "emotional" unbalance), a new society arises from the ashes. It is a world where emotion (or "sense violations") are outlawed and punishable by immediate execution.
To keep everything in check, residents within the walled city are given five daily doses(interesting paralell to Moslem's 5 prayers a day in Mecca, a walled city ), or intervals, of an emotion-blocking drug called Prozium.
Sense violations, which occur primarily outside the city walls, are enforced by Clerics of the Tetragrammatron, aka "Fathers." these clerics are a new policing religious order that are judge jury and executioner to whoever commits the crime of having feelings. when they are fighting and holed in somewhere,They've figured out the mathematical possibility of combat, and they put themselves in the least statistically possible place to be hit at each moment of a fight,. and boy do they fight
Christian Bale plays John Preston, the highest-ranking Cleric who is both a brutal executioner and practitioner of Gun Kata (more on that below). Preston misses a dose one morning and his chemically-muted reality starts to crumble.
As more and more of his manufactured reality comes apart, Preston eventually finds the "underground" where he is recruited to help bring down the system. As his partner Brandt (Taye Diggs) becomes more and more suspicious, Preston must deal with his flood of emotions, the death of his wife, and the imminent execution of a sense offender named Mary (Emily Watson) whom he arrested before.
if the following below does not sound cool to action fans then action movies should not be made
Gun Kata : a form of martial arts created by filmmaker Kurt Wimmer. (first time i think a martial arts has been created for a film) In Gun Kata, the practitioner of the art uses guns as an extension of controlled bursts of acrobatics. The theory being that each gun-battle only has limited outcomes and by applying a series of angles and probability factors to potential foes, one can win any shootout. The sequences are excellently conceived and very exciting to watch. now doesnt this alone sound cool enough?
the movie's budget was 20 mil, and it shows in some sequences but they make the best of wht they have... good production design, unoriginal philosophical concepts borrowed from 1984, ray bradbury's fahrenheit 51,looks like a "B" film at times.. etc
this movie oozes style and christian bale is a damn good action hero who has acting chops and coolness to boot
The director of this film Kurt Wimmer is worth keeping an eye on for the future.
Movie Review: I told you I'd make my career with you
Summary: 5 Stars
EQUILIBRIUM (2002) is one of my most favorite Deeply Personals, thus it merits a Deeply Personal film critique. Firstly, look at this list:
a/k/a "Cubic" - Europe
a/k/a "Rebellion" - Japan
a/k/a "Equilibrium - Killer of Emotions" - Germany
You will not find another film quite so well-viewed and beloved. For good reason, mon famille....
In the sprawling fascist city-state of Libria, the Tetragrammaton is like the commie party. Ruled by the "Father" (think Mao, Pot Pol and Saddam Hussein all rolled into one) and with the iron hand of the body of clerics, Libria is a drug-addled place. Not for fun: this drug is meant to turn them all into Vulcans. It eradicates emotional extremes (it does not eradicate emotions completely as has been wrongly stated).
I will say I was offended by the use of the word Tetragrammaton, which in my tradition is the word representing the 72 Names of God, but oh well, it's THE MOVIES! Not theology school!
Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale in his first and only impressive role) is forced to execute his partner, Cleric Partridge, for "sense offense"--Cleric Partridge has been reading Keats (or was it Yeats?--they read the same thing in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD). Partridge has stopped his drug intake, and he's feeling.
Bad!
Cleric Preston finds his world and acceptance of all things Libria is crumbling. He meets with the resistance, and the results are SLAM! BANG! Better than the comics. And that is the smooth beauty of this action-packed, philosophically charged film that to a degree influenced everything that was to follow.
It had few predecessors, and practically no inspiration or idea-stealing. The closest thing I could ultimately find to compare to EQUILIBRIUM was GATTACA (1997) and LOGAN'S RUN (1976). Both these films are also major genre-establishers.
I got hooked on this because of the fashion. Seriously. But also due to the fact that I also carry the title "cleric", and because we also try to eradicate strong emotions. EQUILIBRIUM explains how that is not possible, unhealthy and at the end of the day, unnatural. From the beautifully slick habit-uniforms worn by the clerics to the "gun katas", a T'ai Ch'i-like martial art of the two-handed gun (all inspiring the dreary SPIRIT a couple years ago), EQUILIBRIUM has it all.
Taye Diggs and Angus MacFadyen are most impressive in their villainous roles, sneering and scene-chewing with the best of the chewers. The martial arts, while quite sparse, are spectacular (MacFadyen is most surprisingly gifted) and the moral-emotional tension never quits until the end.
Well past the end, you will be thinking about this unique, thought-provoking masterpiece--and you'll wonder why they don't usually make them this good.
Movie Review: Deepest meaning for a flick offered on Amazon in any category
Summary: 5 Stars
2002's release of "Equilibrium" stars Dominic Purcell, Christian Bale, Sean Pertwee, and the lovely Emily Watson. It is about a future existence where the sense of feeling has been not only outlawed and banned, there is a drug to sedate and subdue it that is required by law at a daily dose level to maintain the sanctity of having no feelings about anything whatsoever for any reason.
What makes this movie powerful is the onslaught of political correctness in society, and the forced adherence to "diversity" being a coerced requirement for continued employment at most workplaces, as well as getting right down to harassment policies where even an overly stern or "mean" stare is considered grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal; because no one should have to endure a hostile work environment or feel emotionally uncomfortable by peers and especially not by superiors. The boot camp experience for military inductees for the first time in history now equips the raw buck private rank newcomer with "timeout" cards so they can get distance between themselves and a drill sergeant they perceive is being too aggressive. These are happening NOW here in America, not in some fantasy film about the future.
So getting back to the movie, we see an enforcer (called a Priest) who exacts his duties with weapons and martial arts skills. There are no penalties for deadly force when arresting those who have chosen not to take the government's required drug to avoid having feelings. Any item of sentimental value or object causing feelings or arousal of the senses in any definition, are to be destroyed immediately or turned into the repository back at headquarters for evidence so the guilty parties of human beings can be cremated alive.
This film flat out rocks. If you have any concept at all about government censure of the true nature of human experience beyond the more obvious stuff like strong indications the perpetrator has lost their moral compass, then you realize the magnitude and relevance of this film. If you exercise self-restraint far, far beyond what you want to so you can keep your job, or your fellowship elsewhere, then this movie "Equilibrium" resounds into the marrow of your bones.
The John Preston character portrayed by Christian Bale is one of the best Sci-Fi / Fantasy roles ever brought to the screen. There is no way Keanu Reeves could have pulled this role off as well. No way.
This movie is said to be a primer for the "Matrix" series of films. I just call it one of my top five favorite movies of all time. If this movie was on the floor I'd roll all around on it like a dog trying to get the scent of a fresh kill on themselves. This movie knocks all the others like it stone cold dead.
Favorite scenes? The last 20 minutes of this film. Oh yeah. 5 stars.