*** Official "EQUILIBRIUM" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Mayer]

Good to see some attention.
Josh, the film finished shooting around the time Minority Report started It sat on the shelf awhile before Miramax dumped it.
No, the film certainly is not perfect. I have bemoaned the unsubtle opening many times. But it remains one of the better films I saw last year, and one of the few that stuck with me on the way out.
As for folks showing emotion...Brandt (Taye) and Father (Angus) were both OFF the drugs, as was Mary (Emily). So there is that
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Alex Spindler]

I was going to post a similar note.

 

[Ted Lee]

The fight Preston has with his partner at the end is pretty much how a real katana battle goes.

blah! does it really matter? this is a movie that was supposed to be loaded with stylistic moves, etc. a bunch of guys just waving their arms around did look cool, but it wasn't enough to push me over the edge.
and all the scenes of soldiers running around shooting everything in sight...

 

[EricW]

this movie wasn't supposed to be realistic. you could say the fight scenes were as surreal as the plot. they complemented eachother. i like how they actually EXPLAINED why Bale could shoot everything and "dodge" all the bullets, as opposed to Woo movies and others where the good guy is just simply doing it on instinct; here, Bale's perfection is appropriate.
the one thing i have trouble with is the endfight with the Father guy. i love the actual choreography, and its originality, but i didn't like the fact that it took Bale such a long fight to take out the 'pampered beaurocrat' bad guy. unless Father is a retired Cleric who keeps up with his training, he shouldn't have put up as much of a fight; i'd have rather one of his henchmen (or even Diggs) have been subsitituted (though it was fun to see Diggs get taken care of so quickly as he did). or how about when Father picks up the gun, Bale runs right at him without a gun and does the same handtrapping thing barehanded? then during the fight he steals the gun away from Father shoots him.
another thing, they should have splurged for some different cars even some concept cars would have been nice.

 

[Andy Sheets]

i love the actual choreography, and its originality, but i didn't like the fact that it took Bale such a long fight to take out the 'pampered beaurocrat' bad guy. unless Father is a retired Cleric who keeps up with his training, he shouldn't have put up as much of a fight

I think you see him teaching the gun-kaka students at one or two points in the movie. He's only lecturing them, but one might assume that he knows how to do it too.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Father IS an ex-Cleric. They never said that, but he was
Take that as you will,
Chuck

 

[Hunter P]

The last battle was the only time that Bale actually had difficulty killing someone. I enjoyed it more because of it. Of course a lot of other fights looked better (e.g. the overhead shot where he kills the 6 officers after they find his puppy.) But I never got the feeling that he was in any danger of getting hurt. Looks cool but doesn't allow the audience to empathize.
I knew that most of the main characters were not on drugs as it turned out. However, other characters in the movie did not necessarily know that. Their behaviors around those people were perfectly acceptable by society's standards. Hence I still scrutinized their behavior when in public or with another person.
I was too distracted in seeing someone smirk or glare or whatever. Emotion is so ingrained in a person's being that I could not help looking for signs of it. Sure there were not overt displays of emotion in those scenes but I couldn't get past it.
Besides, why are people married with children? In an emotionless society aren't marriage and parents unnecessary? Sex requires a lot of, um, emotion to perform.:b Sure you can use Viagra but why bother? Just make a bunch of test-tube babies and raise them up in mass. Marriage and child bearing just leads to potential lapses in emotion. Why leave a T-bone steak in front of a hungry dog?
And finally, I was really dissapointed that the Gunkata sensei was not Kurt Thomas. WTF!

 

[andrew markworthy]

**Warning - contains spoilers.**

Thank you to all those who recommended Equlilibrium - I watched it last night, and loved it.

Yes, there are obvious debts to Farenheit 451, Brave New World, 1984, but this can be said of *any* dystopian story. No-one said to George Orwell 'you're ripping off Aldous Huxley' when he wrote 1984, for goodness' sake. All have the same basic premise - an over-controlled society in which an individual rebels, usually with ambiguous results - either they die (Brave New World), are assimilated back (1984) or they initiate a revolt that may or may not succeed (Farenheit 451). Equilibrium is in the final category.

The point is not the story or even the scientific premises, but is a morality tale in which a potential threat to the society in which the author is based is extrapolated forward so the possible consequences of living our lives in a particular way can be examined. Thus, George Orwell was concerned about totalitarian socialism (a very real worry in 1948 when he wrote the book), Huxley about the use of psychoactive drugs and psychological classical conditioning (the latter in particular was heavily in vogue for raising children in the 1920s and 30s), and so on. This movie, as the director states in the commentary, is about the dangers of letting the current vogue of telling people how they should behave and conform could escalate into a world where the control freak is king (or queen). Its nearest spiritual cousin is arguably Pleasantville, which also showed up the evils of trying too hard to live in complete unity. The sci-fi aspects, the gun fights, etc, are the sugar coating on the pill. I personally would have liked a bit more of the philosophy and a little less of the action sequences, but I guess if you want to get any bottoms on seats, you've got to appeal to the hypothetical dumb teenager (I just wish once in a while Hollywood would credit its audience with a little more intelligence).

The other thing I liked about this movie was its refusal to pander to romantic cliches - good people died, the girl isn't rescued, and there's no guarantee that the revolt will succeed (it's even implied that the resistance leaders will be 'successfully' executed, though they at least are aware that the revolt has been initiated).

I would say that this is a definite must-see movie. Just don't go into it expecting non-stop action sequences or a typical 'leave your brain at the door' action movie. Approaching it as a Matrix substitute is utterly missing the point.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

As for the final battle... (spoilers ahead obviously)

Well, the Father was dead, but the guy who has usurped the position that Preston was fighting in the end was seen earlier in the film training Clerics who were learning the Gun Katas. He was also Prestons superior, ie a Cleric.

Which by extrapolation leads me at least to think he was a master at Gun Katas, why else would he be teaching it?

Great movie. Sure, plot holes and some questionable details, but all in all great fun, great look and very enjoyable.

 

[EricW]

not only did Dupont not take the drugs, but he had a very big wall painting in his round office (scene of the final fights)

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Wow. Here's a perfect example of why one should always give 'pretty good' movies a second look. One of my editors asked me to review this disc, and that gave me a great reason to finally tear the wrapper off of this one.
To say I liked it more this time around would be a rather large understatement. First time I saw it, I was entertained but felt consistently bombarded by the film's various "inspirations".
This time I unwittingly ignored all of that and just focused on the movie as a cohesive whole. I'm not about to rehash all the stuff mentioned earlier, but Equilibrium seems to have a real driving force throughout its entire running time, a focused intensity that makes the final 20 minutes absolutely hypnotic.
I absolutely LOVE the scenes involving the death of Watson's character, as they shake the viewers' emotions into a fever pitch...which helps to make the Act III ass-kickings all the more effective. Bale does great work late in this movie.
One minor gripe I had is how they had TWO separate scenes in which Preston is called in for (we think) big trouble, only to be quickly sent away to find the resistance. If I recall correctly, these two scenes come fairly close together and the effect is a little schizophrenic.
And yeah, there's some other minor stuff here and there but overall I'm fully on board with this movie. I think Dimension is selling it short (what else is new) by calling it an action movie. Except for the last 30 minutes there's really not all that much action at all.
Just call it what it is: damn good sci-fi...which is a helluva lot more uncommon than are servivceable action flicks.
Any suggestions on which of the two commentaries I should start with?
And oh yeah: No trailer = Stupid and irritating omission.

 

[Luis S]

Ah the love for this movie just keeps on growing. Showed this to my father last night, he LOVED it. Found it equally entertaining and interesting as the Matrix (one of his favorite films no less) which was quite a surprise to say the least.
I can only begin to imagine how far this movie could have gone with a bigger budget and better promotion. Its simply amazing what they pulled off with the limitations they had.
I was mighty pissed the trailer wasn't there also I must say. Maybe one day well have a Special edition? Heck if Evil Dead (which I cant stand,sorry...) can have what? 5 editions? Surely this movie really deserves it. I hope it sells well enough so the powers that be recognize the gem they have and give it the treatment it deserves.
Today I even went out and bought a cd with Beethoven's 9th Symphony because of this movie, and Im listening to it as I type Great movie and Im enjoying seeing more and more people discover this movie!
Back to Beethoven!
Luis S

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Ahhhh Weinberg, I knew you'd come around. Bale is rather excellent in the film.
I have not watched the commentaries yet, but I look forward to them. I like the director :b He's a smart bloke
Glad you risked a second viewing, Scott. I thought this might be up your alley.
Take care,
Chuck

 

[TheLongshot]

Besides, why are people married with children? In an emotionless society aren't marriage and parents unnecessary? Sex requires a lot of, um, emotion to perform.

Not really. It is a physical function and one that can be done without emotions. It has been done throught history.

Course, you kinda answered this yourself: sex could be banned, since you can derive pleasure from it. We don't know how kids are made in this universe, and it doesn't really matter.

As for the issue if the need for parents, I do think they are probably still needed. Someone needs to raise the child, take care of their needs. It leads me to think that maybe marriges might be arranged in this society, to match up those who will further on this society.

Jason

 

[Phil Carter]

I am delighted to see this film getting more attention now that it's out on DVD. Like Chuck, I damn near fell out of my seat when I saw the advertisement for it before Matrix Reloaded. I got to see this once only in theaters and was hampered in my viewing by a bad ground in one of the speakers so much of the quiet dialogue was overlaid by an annoying loud hum.
I spent the afternoon of May 13th crisscrossing town looking for a store which had ANY copies of it in stock. I guess that's a good sign, that it was sold out everywhere. I did finally manage to find a copy on the 19th or so and am very happy to own my own copy. Now I just wish I were watching it on a decent TV with a decent sound system.
I still don't get the "Matrix" comparisons. The two films are entirely different in my opinion. They're only similar in that they're both well-choreographed.
I do wish that Equilibrium had been given a decent DVD treatment with plenty of extras and neat stuff. This is about as bare-bones as you can get. No screen printing on the disc and not even a chapter insert in the case. Good grief. I suppose I should be happy with the nice transfer and the sound mix which is reported to be good (I can't really tell through my mono-speaker TV).
cheers,
Phil

 

[Darcy Hunter]

I finally saw EQUILIBRIUM a few days ago, and while I've heard a alot about this movie over the past few months (mostly from CHUD.com's site) I didn't really know what to expect. Some loved the film, praising the story and action scenes, and some have felt let down, or underwhelmed.

Well, I was blown away!! I really didn't expect to like it as much as I did. The Gun Kata scenes to me were truly outstanding, even after coming off the Matrix: Reloaded high I've been on for the last two weeks. I'm not really comparing them, other then, like the first Matrix, it showed me something truly different and exciting. The performances were great as well, especially Bale and Watson. I agree that the sequence leading up to her death was just wrenching.

My favorite part though is Bale's conversation with his son just before the climactic battle. He finally learns that both his son and daughter are off the drug, and says, "then you know what I'm going to do..." When his son smiled back at him I wanted to jump out of my seat and yell "HELL YA!!".

Great movie!

 

[Dalton]

Went to my local Hollywood Video last night to rent this film. The clerk at the counter knew of the film when i asked him but said they didn't get any and have no plans to. WTF? They have direct to video releases that no one has ever heard of and they won't carry this film? I'm not saying Equilibrium is a super well known film but you would think they would get 1 copy. I think it's getting high time i tried Netflix.

 

[Hunter P]

Same thing here at my Hollywood when I first tried to rent it. I had to go to Blockbuster. I guess the extra space on their New Releases shelves are taken up by movies with one or more of the following words:

"Naked"
"Desire"
"Erotic"
"Obsession"
"Deadly"
"Heat"
...you get the picture.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Well, I hadn't heard a THING about this flick. Bad me.
A friend told my wife about it, and we rented it a couple of nights ago.
It blew my mind! What a fantastic flick! Far too under-rated, and unfairly compared to Matrix/1984/etc.
Bale rocked, the gunkata/action scenes were awesome, and the story was excellent.
This is a must-buy for my collection!!!!

 

[Matt Stone]

Just finished watching it for the first time, and I really, really enjoyed it. After reading some reviews, I was expecting a Matrix rip-off, but while I can see stylistic similarities...these are definitely two different films.

Christian Bale is a god among insects (thanks for that one, Magneto!). I've tried to catch all his stuff since American Psycho...and his performance her is top notch. While Watson didn't get that much material to work with, her scenes were the emotional hook to me. Same can be said for Bean.

Also, it's good to see the good guys "win" at the end. I get so used to odd plot twists that make for melancholy endings (which I usually like)...that it made the happy ending all the better. Powerful stuff!