Equilibrium
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Movie Reviews of Equilibrium
Movie Review: Furious force of action and suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
When action leaped up in mid air and dance like fighting sequences splattered on my screen, the first question I asked myself was "How come I have never heard of this movie before?" It came and went into the movie theaters like a hushed shadow, yet hundreds of outstanding five star reviews prove it was well received and it did not slip by silently.
One can easily assume that Equilibrium is just another action movie, but this hybrid of marital art styles, refined weaponry and stunning fight scenes reached deeper than many movies I've seen of serious topics and non frills entertainment. This movie reminded me of movies such as Kill Bill, V for Vendetta, Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet, yet the story and theme touched on the rawest foundations of humanity.
In the future as wars threatened mankind , drugs replaced all feeling and emotions. There was no art, no books, no fancy clothes, only sterile solemn looking houses and no individuality whatsoever, people looked like they stepped out of an assembly line at a factory. A totalitarian society ruled by a man called Father and his high officials distributed a drug which upon injection sustained the feeling of nothingness. Amongst that society there were real people, those who hid or ran away and tired to keep some of their possessions with them, but they were at risk of an instant and brutal death if found by the Grammaton Clerics, a breed of super cops who sniff out the fugitives. It is amazing what they did in the name of peace, how many people they killed and murdered, makes on think about what is right and what is wrong but carries a good name.
One day John Preston (Christian Bale) skips a dose and notices undesirable to him effects taking place. He uses his excellent combat skills to trace reasons of why he should not take it and of what the truth really holds. The story as far fetches as it was, was fun and witty and did not take a trilogy to portray it's message. It was a scary glimpse into the world where all feeling and emotions were suppressed, and when I left my boyfriends house after watching it I thought that the air never smelled so good and the world never looked so fresh before. It made me value the kind of freedom I complain about daily, as non perfect as it is, it sure is better than the life Preston had.
There were many twists and turns to the story, secret traitors and hidden agendas and I loved solving it with Preston. The icing on the cake was the fighting, especially when he used his guns as swords, I real treat to watch! This is a must have movie in anyone's library, especially for action buffs!
- Kasia S.
Movie Review: Thank you Sir, May I please have another?
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok people listen up, I know this movie didn't debut across the country, I know it didn't have big name backers flooding daytime TV shows with celebrity interviews and non-stop TV spots. I also know this movie was not a large budget undertaking. But it should have had all three. This movie is definately in the top five movies of all time as far as I am concerned. While lacking the budget for special effects and expensive location shots, this flick manages to score actors of the highest caliber making for an incredible performance even by Hollywood standards, there is not a single second of unbelievable acting that throws your trust in the story. The shooting locations, (Berlin, Rome) lend an impressive aura of authority to the movie's setting that only compliments the amazing character interaction. Christian Bale's performance as a Grammaton Cleric named Preston is without flaw. You can feel his rage at the machine that crushes all opposition to the Law. You can see his inner turmoil, and you can sense his fear when he mounts the Resistance. Not to mention the absolutely mind-blowingaction scenes the man can produce (you have never seen anything like it, and no, this film does not use hong kong wire acting.)
Angus MacFadyen portrays a head operative in the all controlling Big Brother society of the future with authority and magnificent presence; and Taye Diggs plays the role of devoted statesman and dangerous enemy to the hilt. (Literally!). The film has a well thought out premise and doesn't engage in gratuitous violence for the sake of shock value, making the action sequences in which Preston (Christian Bale) annhilates the bad guys (think black storm troopers in Matrix leather coats)are enough to cause you to jump on your coffee table and throw your drink through the wall and scream "HELL YEA" loud enough to scare your neighbors...or maybe that's just me. (If you have a high powered surround sound system, invite your friends over for this one). The director (Kurt Wimmer) did an absolutely amazing job splicing this one together, and the musical overtones and backgrounds will have you biting your tongue off in anticipation, and crying at the cruelty of man to his peers.
I could talk about this movie forever, but I will simply say, when the sequel is made I will buy a copy sight unseen...although I hope they get rid of the white cadillac of the future. Oh yeah, and you guys who say Matrix is better...The Matrix WAS my favorite movie. Equilibrium crushes Matrix, and Matrix Reloaded underfoot with a giant steel-toed spiked leather standard issue grammaton cleric boot. Sorry Neo :(
Movie Review: What Would It Be Like to Live In a World With No Feelings?
Summary: 5 Stars
Equilibrium (2002)is an underrated film that thankfully is getting more recognition on DVD. Written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, the premise is deceptively simple: after World War Four, society has had enough. Human emotions are blamed for all violence, and the name of this new totalitarian society is Libria, run by the faceless Tetragrammaton. Citizens dutifully inject themselves twice a day with a drug that supresses all feelings, even senses of touch and taste. The movie is a fantastic futuristic action thriller that also touched my heart and provoked endless thought. The reasoning behind eliminating human feelings makes some sense. The other side of love is hate, and passion is often responsible for murder. Why do people numb themselves with alcohol and drugs, even committ suicide? Because feeling is sometimes too painful to bear. We have all been let down, hurt by someone we love. But that is a sacrifice we make, to feel love and friendship.
Christian Bale is the center of the story. A magnetic and mesmerizing actor who moves with the athletic grace of a tiger, he plays Cleric John Preston. As a top enforcer against "sense offenders," Preston even executes another cleric (Sean Bean - Boromir in the Lord of the Rings) who has succumbed to Yeat's poetry. "Tread lightly on my dreams." Bean gives quite a touching performance. Preston has two young children, but his wife was incinerated for sense offenses. Of course, Preston feels nothing. There is a resistance, of course, underground people who are not injecting and "feeling." They cling to cheesy knick-knacks and tacky art, anything to evoke emotion. These scenes of confiscated snow-globes and faded paintings are very sad. Even sadder is a scene where companion animals are exterminated because they serve no purpose except love. I cried at this scene.
The sets and acting are very good. Taye Diggs plays a villian here - how odd to see that engaging, bright smile become sinister! He is also very good in combat scenes. Angus MacFayden (Robert the Bruce in Braveheart) plays Preston's supervisor. Emily Watson (Punch-Drunk Love) plays Mary O'Brien, a woman arrested for sense offense and sentenced to incineration. The movie is very violent, with lots of bloody executions and tons of gunfire. But the hand-to-hand martial arts combat scenes are breathtaking. The DVD contains a nice featurette entitled "Finding Equilibrium." The featurette contains interviews with Bale, Diggs, Wimmer, and Watson, although Watson is so soft-spoken you really can't hear what she is saying!
Movie Review: Matrix? What Matrix? Great Libertarian Action Flick!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Silly, predictable, seriously flawed, with moments that are outright laughable, Equilibrium nonetheless transcends all of these and through its compelling performances and fun pseudo-comic book settings delivers a powerful emotional punch that should resonate strongly for anyone who loves stark, stylistic Orwellian drama.
In a future dominated by Father (with a not so subtle nod to "Big Brother"), emotions have been eliminated and feeling is a crime, punished by immediate incineration - along with things like art, music, literature, friendship, love and everything else that makes life worth living. Wisely, there is an underground rebellion contingency who continue to "live." Among them, Emily Watson's saintly, emotional Mary O'Brien. These folk are, naturally, hunted down by the Grammaton Clerics, that physically fit bastion of unfeeling purity out to uphold and enforce the law.
Christian Bale as Cleric John Preston gives a performance that is simply terrific offering a fascinating character study. One witnesses in anticipation as, throughout the slow process Preston's emotion free automaton - the pride of the Tetragrammaton - evolves into freedomfighter and ultimately liberator. Watch as, for the first time, Preston listens to music (the opening measures of Beethoven's 9th Symphony) and through his face captures and reveals the range of awe and wonderment as though awakening from a lifelong coma. Bale is more than up to the task as we watch his Cleric struggle with his newfound duplicity and makes route for him, but still believe the man may very well fail his mission.
Director, Kurt Wimmer, in what appears to be his first big screen directorial job, has created an entire new, faux martial arts: "Gun-Kata." Gun-Kata is a highly stylized combination of two handed gun fighting and classic tai-chi/martial arts movement based on "a scientific analysis of bullet trajectory and range" combined with mathematics, etc. At first, it is almost painfully hilarious to watch, but give in and it achieves a type of anime, hyper realistic that can only be described as "wicked cool!"
Bale's Preston is THE master of Gun-Kata and as he inevitably goes after "Father" his penultimate fight with former partner Taye Diggs' will leave you cheering.
Like a great conductor, Wimmer brings together all of the disparate elements of his symphony with its wordless, choral based soundtrack, jumps every hurdle and flaw, delivering a terrific movie full of action, meaning and emotion.
Movie Review: an intelligent sci-fi movie for action lovers
Summary: 5 Stars
Amazon recommended this movie to me and I spent a month trying to track it down at Blockbuster before I was finally able to get my hands on it. It was certainly worth the wait! I watched it three times before I returned it to Blockbuster, and I bought it soon after. It quickly became one of my favorite sci-fi movies.
This movie is beautifully made. It's dark and largely lacks color, but the setting fits the tone and subject of the movie well. The filming also serves to distinguish the lack of emotion expressed by a majority of the characters and the colorful world of the "sense offenders." Although it's nigh impossible for any actor to pull off a complete and total lack of emotion (though if anyone can do it well, it's Christian Bale), I was thoroughly impressed by the skill of the actors. Being the type of person I am, I watched the movie the first time looking for slips in character where the actors betrayed an emotion, and was disappointed to find some. I was thrilled at the end to discover that they weren't slips at all, but clues to the complex personalities of the characters and all furthered the story. Bale and Diggs make an excellent pair, and Watson and the child playing Bale's son were very effective characters. The casting of this movie is quite good.
I also loved the story. The subject matter is appealing to me in general, but I was particularly impressed by the specific plot of this movie. I loved the idea that people chose to suppress emotions, have propaganda spewed at them incessently, and kill their family members and neighbors when they didn't conform. It's much like what's happened in the US recently or in the USSR 50 years ago - people giving up their freedoms for the illusion that they are safe and protected from harm. The fall of Bale's character, the elite member of the policing agency enforcing the emotionless state, is particularly moving. The scene where Bale discovers the basement full of sentimental objects and breaks down upon hearing Beethoven will stick with me forever. I was so blown away by the display of emotion Bale managed in that scene.
Aside from the great visuals and deep story, this movie is entertaining as an action movie. The mix of gun fights and martial arts is fun, the special effects wonderful, and the story moves right along. All in all, this is a great movie, and one I would recommend to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies or is interested in seeing and intelligent action movie. You won't be disappointed.