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Equilibrium
By
Troy Pittenger
Equilibrium
is a movie that most theatergoers missed because of its lack
of distribution (only shown on 301 screens nationwide) and promotion.
Miramax released the film last December between its two blockbusters
Chicago and Gangs of New York. The film completely
tanked at the box office, making a little over a million dollars
domestically in its 3-week theatrical run. The movie is not
without its flaws and won't be mistaken for a box-office classic
anytime soon. One of the main complaints about this movie is
its lack of originality (I'll save you the usual "but every
movie steals from other movies" comment). The film does
borrow its plot heavily from some of the most famous science-fiction
books of the last half-century (Fahrenheit 451, 1984,
and Brave New World are the most conspicuous). All of
this being said, the film does contain some of the most enjoyable
and well-
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shot
action sequences put on film in the last few years.
Equilibrium
is set after World War III in a bleak, dystopian future where
the general population is emotionally controlled by daily doses
of Prozium (think soma tablets). A Big Brother character, "Father,"
is projected on large screens and on zeppelins endlessly spewing
forth his anti-emotion propaganda to the general populace. The
cityscapes in the film are poor computer-generated models but
play a very insignificant role in the movie. The movie stars Christian
Bale as John Preston, the most prestigious of the Grammaton Cleric.
The Grammaton Clerics are the group in charge of dealing with
sense offenders, those who choose to not take their Prozium and
"feel". The Clerics are trained in the art of Gun-Kata,
a fictional type of martial arts from the mind of first-time director
Kurt Wimmer. It is based on mathematical probability and positioning.
A better explanation can be found below:
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Through
analysis of thousands of recorded gun fights, the Cleric has
determined that the geometric distribution of antagonists in
any gun battle is a statistically predictable element.
The
Gun-Kata treats the gun as a total weapon. Each new position
representing a maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage
on the maximum number of opponents, while keeping the defendant
clear of the statistically traditional trajectories of return
fire.
(http://www.grammatoncleric.com/area_gunkata.html)
The Gun-Kata fight scenes in the movie seem highly
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derivative
of the bullet-time sequences in The Matrix, but also
have their own distinct feel (the bullet-time effect was not
entirely the Wachowskis creation, it first used in Blade,
but I digress). These gun fight sequences look, for the lack
of a better word, cool. The Taxi Driver-esque holsters
also add to the mystique of the Clerics. I recommend watching
this film for the fight scenes if you don't find merit in the
story, which I will not spoil further in this review.
The
acting in Equilibrium could be better but most of the
main characters were passable and believable (well, as believable
as sci-fi movies allow). Sean Bean delivered a good performance
with his small amount of screen time. When is somebody going
to give this guy a decent role (other than the nice folks at
Acuvue)? Emily Watson and Taye Diggs do an adequate job in their
script-limited roles. Matthew Harbour, who plays Preston's son,
does a fine job as a creepy child without emotion. Angus MacFadyen
is great in his role and is another talented actor who has not
gotten to prove himself.
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Christian
Bale delivers the best performance in the film, doing a good job
of balancing his character's external struggle against the system
with his internal struggle dealing with his newly discovered emotions
(if this was a spoiler to you, you really should have read the
back of the video box). He can go from stone-faced killer at one
moment to a frightened man fearing the system he was sworn to
uphold. His performance is quite wooden but I find it acceptable
because Preston is not supposed to be able to feel and would not
readily know how if he was able. For the ladies, there is an obligatory
"Christian Bale: look how ripped I am" shirt-less shot
included in the film.
In conclusion, Equilibrium is definitely worth at least
a rental for science fiction and action movie fans. The basic
philosophical message of the film is "that to feel is to
be human." Critics of the film claim that there is nothing
new in the film. I beg to differ claiming that the Gun-Kata style
of fighting is a fresh look at how action movies will be shot
in the future. Something else that this film introduces |
us
to is director Kurt Wimmer. If Mr. Wimmer was given a respectable
budget, a good script, and some promotion, I feel that he could
truly make a film that could be a solid, if not groundbreaking,
action film that could make a load of money and turn more than
a few heads in the process.
Any movie questions, comments, or concerns can be emailed to t_pittenger@hotmail.com.
I'd love to hear from all eight people who are bound to read this…
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