Movies: Equilibrium

Farenheit 451 meets the Matrix.

Equilibrium
Featuring: Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson.
Genre: Sci-Fi

I've known my friend Nels for about five years. We graduated from high school together, we were on the speech and debate team together and we've got a lot in common. Hell, he's the webmaster for my band's website, and he does it for free. Nels recommended this movie to me about a year ago, and regardless of the fact that we share a lot of the same tastes, I was skeptical about what he told me. His opinion of the movie was that he honestly considered it to be parallel to the Matrix in terms of action sequences and overall style. Now, granted, while those aspects of this movie are not by any means as over-the-top as the parallel aspects of the Matrix (i.e. you won't be seeing John Preston flying, stopping bullets or slowing time), the intensity and impressiveness of those scenes are just as good. I have to honestly admit that while I was skeptical about what Nels had to tell me, after seeing it, I agree with him completely.

Story

Near the beginning of the 21st century, the world endures a third World War. The cost is catastrophic. An unfathomable percentage of the world's population dies, and after the smoke clears, and nearly all known systems of civilization have been eradicated, the survivors rise and begin the slow process of rebuilding. It is decided that something drastic must be done to prevent this from ever happening again, because should a fourth World War erupt, mankind will not survive.

It is determined that man's volatile nature is no longer acceptable. The hatred, prejudice and violence inherent in the hearts of men is too dangerous to remain tolerable. So, the new leaders of the world's small surviving population decide that measures must be taken to eliminate those aspects of the human consciousness. The core of those negative traits must be destroyed: the ability to feel. Emotion must be eradicated.

Some unknown amount of time later, the world has recovered to some extent. The only civilization left in the world is the city of Libria, a futuristic utopia governed by the mysterious Father. The entire city is sterlie, devoid of unnecessary flourishes like decoration and alternating color. The people of Libria are all required to regularly consume their daily allotment of a drug named Prozium, an emotion-inhibiting medication that keeps the populace in check. People go about their daily routine and do not deviate. All is peaceful, yet all is sterile.

There are those, however, that resist. Sense Offenders. These are the people that cease their consumption of Prozium and allow themselves to feel again. Most Sense Offenders flee the city into the destroyed world outside of the city walls. A post-apocalyptic warzone known as the Nether. In the Nether, Sense Offenders run rampant, living in squalid shelters, hiding from the law enforcement agencies of Libria.

In Libria, there is only one voice of law: the Tetra-Grammaton. The Tetra-Grammaton enforces all law, but focuses on sense offense, hunting and executing all offenders. Their job is to eliminate any and all opposers to the Librian system of law and to eradicate all physical manifestations of emotion: art, music, literature, etc. They kill all Sense Offenders and burn all "contraband" to ashes. The highest order of the Tetra-Grammaton is the order of the Grammaton Clerics. The Clerics are ruthless, physically unmatched by any normal man. They specialize in a fine-tuned form of martial arts called the Gun Kata. The Gun Kata treats handguns as an extension of the individual's body, using systematic and calculable processes to determine where a target will move before even the target knows where he will move. The Clerics are nearly unbeatable, possessing inhuman skill and accuracy.

John Preston is the highest ranked Cleric in the Tetra-Grammaton. He is unfaltering in his resolve and colder than the most frigid of ice. However, since his wife was submitted to summary execution a few years prior for charges of sense offense, he has been struggling internally, subconsciously losing faith in himself. One night, John fails to take his evening dose of Prozium, and this sets into motion a chain of events that will lead him into full-blown sense offense. Having now experienced, for the first time since his birth, the sensation of unhindered emotion, he is unwilling to return to his former life and begins a personal rebellion against the system he has spent his entire life working under.

Acting

I was a bit skeptical about how this one was going to turn out. A movie based on the idea of smothering the emotions of the populace spelled "boring acting" in bright bold letters to me. After having seen the movie, though, I can honestly say I was floored. There are a couple of scenes in which Preston is faced with an overwhelming sense of despair, and watching him struggle to keep himself composed (so nobody finds out he's violating sense laws) during these sequences is a genuinely heartbreaking thing to watch. VAGUE SPOILER. There's a particular scene involving a kennel of dogs that will absolutely wrench your insides.

Bale puts on a fantastic performance as Preston, very convincingly portraying a man who at halfway through his life is just now learning to emote. He plays a dramatic character extremely well, while at the same time kicking an unholy amount of ass. He puts so much style and flair on his Gun Kata techniques that it's honestly impossible to keep from smiling with vicious glee during the action sequences.

Beyond Bale, Taye Diggs, playing the more active villainous role, puts on a great performance as well. He just radiates this sense of collected brutality, but at certain key moments he just oozes with vile contempt. In addition, Emily Watson plays a very good role as well, as the Sense Offender Mary. She plays a very tragic character, a woman who has lost everything that truly matters to her yet she continues to struggle against her oppressors. While she obviously fears the execution that she knows is planned for her, her resolve refuses to fail in face of death.

Action

Like I said before, John Preston isn't dodging bullets or leaping from car to car on the freeway in this movie, but the fight sequences are extremely impressive nonetheless. The style and flair of the Gun Kata is too awesome to put into words. You just simply have to see Preston plugging entire squads of enemies in order to truly understand how fucking kickass it is. All of the fight sequences are very well choreographed and each one is equally memorable. You'll be watching these fight scenes over and over again for days. That's how badass they are.

Effects

For the most part, they're very impressive. There are a number of shots of the city of Libria that show a large portion of the settlement, and they all had to be done in CG. Those shots look fantastic, painting a picture of a clean, futuristic cityscape. Closer shots of the city's innerworkings (like shots on a street or in front of a few ket buldings) were all done on set and are very convincing as well. The combat effects are the ones that are the more mixed of the bunch. Any of the effects that use props and physical pieces look fantastic. There's one particular sequence with Preston surrounded by Grammaton Guards in the Nether that is so badass you'll scream. The CG combat effects are more iffy. Thankfully, the combat CG is only used extremely sparingly, while the physical effects are used almost solely. All in all, the effects are very good. The only flaws are the CG effects used in combat, and they're not terrible, just not amazing either.

Overall

Aside from the aforementioned CG combat effects (which again, aren't bad, they're just the least impressive part of the film), this movie is a complete winner. The acting is top-notch, the action is furious and overflowing with style and the plot is incredible, even if it does borrow from Farenheit 451 and Brave New World a bit. I've actually found that most people that have read those books (and liked them) have ended up loving the plot of this movie as well. Anything you could possibly be looking for is in this movie. Great plot, great drama, great action, unparalleled style. Pick it up today. You can thank me later.

Score: 9.6

Never read the books you mentioned, but I did enjoy this movie a lot. 9.5 out of 10 from me

I really liked the movie. The fluid fight scenes were great. And to be honest, it didn't remind me of the Matrix very much at all. More like George Orwell's 1984.

Eh, to be quite honest, I really didn't like the movie all that much. The action was pretty good, and there were definitely parts that made up for the rest of the movie. Overall though, it just wasn't a good movie. I don't know what it was, but something was missing.

I'd give it an 8 out of 10, and I don't really even feel too comfortable about that one..

Un capped, my comparison to the Matrix was meant as a comparison between the combat sequences, not the plot. In terms of story, it was a mixture of Farenheit 451, Brave New World and 1984.

The story was a little odd though. Just how this Clergy came about, how they are so badass, why they thought emotion was the cause of the world war, and how they concocted (Sp?) that little syrum (Sp?) of theirs is too outlandish for me. If they can get rid of all emotion and feelings, why not just rid of the power hungry one and let the world be normal.

That, and the ending was too easy in my opinion (The very ending, as in the last two guys)..

The story seemed just fine to me. The fact is, it's not just one power-hungry individual that causes wars, it's the collapse of entire societies because of the corrosive effects of greed and corruption within the governmental system. By suppressing the emotions of all people, that automatically cuts out any possiblity of corruption within the government and cuts out the possibility of rebellion in the lower-class. It creates harmony amongst those willing to succumb. How many times have you witnessed a herd of elk suddenly erupt in hate-based violence and kill one another one by one? Never. That's what the purpose of Prozium was, to make us no better than animals. Because without emotion, we aren't any better than animals.

The Gun Kata was badass. The theory behind it is that the movement and actions involved in a gun battle are statistically predictable in every situation. Where the target will move, where he'll shoot, etc. The Gun Kata teaches the Clerics to inherently learn (through decades of rigorous training) to just habitually know exactly where his opponent will move and what his next action will be because it's all based on statistical information. It's all 100% predictable if your senses are insanely fine-tuned enough to grasp it, which is what the Grammaton Clerics strive for.

As for how they created Prozium, how did we create Viagra? 50 years ago, a pill that could sustain an erection would have been considered ludicrous, complete fantasy. Hell, there are medications today that have similar effects to Prozium. Ever heard of an anti-psychotic? They are prescription drugs that inhibit the furthest extreme aspects of a human being's emotional spectrum. Prozium does the same thing, only to a much greater extent. The director actually mentions in the commentary that prozium does not eliminate all emotion. It just cuts out things like love, hate, jealousy, wrath, depression and elation. It cuts out the most extreme emotions. Things like disappointment, contentment and pleasure are still there. Nobody ever started a war because they were disappointed about something.

The fact is, the story in this movie is fantastic. Granted, it takes a lot from Farenheit 451 and Orwell's books, but all that does is provide a solid base for the plot. If you want to truly appreciate this movie, read Farenheit 451, Brave New World or George Orwell's 1984.

And as for the final battle, I thought it was great. I loved seeing Brandt (Daye Tiggs) get his fucking come-uppance for being such a snotty ass the entire movie. He got fucking owned. The final gun battle was badass too. It really showed you how precisely and accurately a master of the Gun Kata can predict his opponent's attacks, because until Preston capped Dupont, they didn't hit each other even so much as once. It was awesome. I loved every last second of this movie.

This movie is really cool. I watched it like a month ago and was fairly surprised at how good it was because i had never heard of it. I didnt think too many people knew about it but the gun scenes are sweet and i dont think that the gun fighting style copied off the matrix at all like my brother says it does. It has a pretty cool form of fighting in there that i haven't really ever scene in another movie. I think the movie does really resemble F-451 quite a bit. This movie is one of those that was good but never got much recognition. Oh and another thing it has some cool music too. I dunno i just like movie themes and shit but this has some cool sounding music.

Whoever the black snotty guy was, yeah, he got his fucking face removed. It was tight as fuck.

Tai Digs, isn't it? That is another reason I didn't like the movie. He is a shitty actor, gets roles in shitty movies, and I have no respect for him.

I thought Taye Diggs did well in this movie. He was also good in Chicago.

I thought that was really freakin surprising when Preston fucked up Diggs in three slices of the sword.

It's "Taye Diggs", and I thought he did just fine in Equilibrium. Granted, his whole "this is the cancer" rant was obnoxious and seriously out of character, but I thought he portrayed Brandt very well otherwise. I genuinely hated the fucker, and for all the right reasons. He was an opportunistic, lying, arrogant asshole and because of that, I hated his guts. I thought he did a fine job.

Yeah he sure did a good job of making you hate his guts and making you hope preston was gonna kick his ass in the end.

Yeah, I got the proper spelling of that atrocious actor in the very next post, and the reason I hated him was not because of his "acting", it was because he sucks at life, and doesn't deserve another acting role.