Review: Equilibrium

Set in a cold-hearted, gloomy 21^st century (2072 to be exact) where people are drugged daily to suppress emotion, and a law enforcement agency of ‘Clerics’ has been formed to ban and destroy all works of art and books that might inspire feelings or emotion. The ‘Clerics’ are also trained in a highly-specialised combat style called ‘Gun Kata’, which through highly-attuned statistical analysis, ‘Clerics’ can maximise the effectiveness of their attack, whilst also dodging return fire with amazing aversion precision. One such top ‘Cleric’ is played by Christian Bale, who discovers that his partner (Sean Bean, in everything that inevitably entails) has been reading poetry on the sly. After this traumatic event (or at least, it would be if he were allowed to feel), Bale accidentally misses a daily dose and this causes him to feel for the first time. It changes his entire outlook on things, even developing feelings for a woman he arrests (Emily Watson). It also causes him to seek out an underground movement of rebels who have a plan to uprise against this emotion-free society. William Fichtner plays the leader of the underground movement, Taye Diggs plays Bale’s suspicious, smug new partner, and Angus McFadyen plays the second-in-command to Sean Pertwee’s governing political figurehead known as ‘Father’. Dominic Purcell plays a resistance fighter in the opening scene.

 

Well here’s a fun little Dystopian future-set action/sci-fi flick that somehow slipped through the cracks. I guess Christian Bale wasn’t quite at the heights of acclaim that he is now. Written and directed by Kurt Wimmer (writer of the rock-solid action movie “Salt”, and terrible films like “Street Kings”, “Law Abiding Citizen”, “Sphere” and the remake of “Total Recall”), it certainly wasn’t handled very well at the time in terms of marketing and its actual theatrical release. This 2002 blend of “Fahrenheit 451” and “The Matrix” is not as good as either of those films, but it’s certainly far from the worst sci-fi flick of the 00s. I think it’s time for this one to be re-discovered, it doesn’t re-invent the wheel but it does provide some kick-arse action and tells a pretty good yarn based on classic sci-fi themes.

 

It’s got an interesting central concept and the title itself is pretty clever when you think about it. Some people have complained that the film contains too many emotional outbursts/displays from characters supposedly suppressed of all emotion, but I think that’s a bit inaccurate and unfair, actually. One character’s sudden displays of emotion are fully explained by the plot, and there’s only one brief outburst by Taye Diggs where his displaying of emotion is wrong-headed. He’s charging someone with ‘sense crimes’, so it’s probably not a good idea for Mr. Diggs to be displaying any overt emotion while doing so. Otherwise, I didn’t mind the occasional display of emotion because while they were given drugs to suppress emotions, they are still human beings, not robots. So obviously, if the drugs are starting to fade or if the circumstances are extreme, I think it’s plausible that some cracks would appear. I mean, the drugs are meant to suppress emotion, but would they truly kill any possibility of emotion? Doubtful. Besides, if the actors didn’t display any emotion, you’d be watching a film entirely populated with characters that resemble Harrison Ford in “Blade Runner”, and the audience would commit suicide en masse. Honestly, it’s such a petty, insipid criticism.

 

As I said earlier, “Fahrenheit 451” is the main inspiration here, as both stories focus on a future society where books are banned as they are believed to create unwanted and unhelpful outbursts of emotion in the reader. The difference between the two stories, however, is that in the earlier one it was a loss of culture and learning being feared by the protagonists. In this one, the loss of feeling and emotion is more the driving factor for our hero. That’s what helps turn this into a film influenced by “Fahrenheit 451” rather than simply ripping it off.

 

The film also works as a kick-arse action movie with style. It’s incredibly cool, perhaps a touch too much so, but not so much that it becomes pretentious John Woo/Luc Besson nonsense. The action is occasionally incredibly brutal and with plenty of wrist-snapping that suggests that its ‘gun-kata’ fighting technique was designed by Steven Seagal. Christian Bale plays such a bad arse mofo in this with his incredibly fast take-downs that almost appear subliminal. In one absolutely hilarious moment, Bale proves himself to be such a bad arse that he dispatches a bad guy before he even gets to have a swing! Yes, it’s problematic I suppose to have an unbeatable hero, but it’s cool and very, very funny. Seriously, how was this not inspired by Steven Seagal? The fights play like every Seagal fight you’ve ever seen, where the bad guys don’t connect even once. It’s as if Wimmer is saying: ‘You want a drawn-out boss fight? Fuck you, I’m not giving you one!’. Well played, Mr. Wimmer. Well-played. In fact, Bale comes off as so cool and unflappable that when he (and, it must be said, I too) gets completely blindsided by a major plot twist, instead of registering much of that devastating shock, he simply goes back into implacable ‘saviour of the world’ mode. Not a lot of films could get away with something like that, but somehow this one does. You got duped, Mr. Bale and so did I. It’s just that you’re a lot cooler about it than me. It’s a really slick, impressive-looking film, too, as shot by Aussie Dion Beebe (“Chicago”, “Collateral”, “Miami Vice”, “Edge of Tomorrow”). The seriously cool action-packed opener (somewhere between “The Matrix” and “Assault on Precinct 13”) in particular features some terrific use of darkness, shadow, and light. He also thankfully eschews the shaky-cam shit in action sequences. Amen to that! The vision Wimmer, Beebe, and the production designer Wolf Kroeger (“Last of the Mohicans”, “The 13^th Warrior”, “Reign of Fire”) have for the future is interestingly grey, drab, and somewhat industrial-looking.

 

If the film has any flaw, it might be in the casting department, though Christian Bale is perfectly cast as a stoic, pensive guy just cold enough to pass for someone not meant to be showing a whole lot of overt emotion, but not completely bland, either. I’m not a fan, but at least he’s not hammy and going all wannabe-Method on us for a change. Taye Diggs, meanwhile is punchably (a new word I just invented to piss off Spellcheck) smug, you’ll seriously hate the guy in this. Playing a jerk suits him well. I suppose Angus McFadyen is well-utilised too, as when he is called upon in films to display overt emotion, he can be an overacting disaster. Here he’s playing someone meant to be entirely devoid of emotion. He hasn’t been this good in “Braveheart”. He hasn’t been any good since “Braveheart”. Emily Watson, however, is surprisingly dull, perhaps taking the ‘emotionless’ idea a tad too far. William Fichtner finally gets to play a good guy here, and it’s clear why he doesn’t get the chance very often: He’s much, much better playing oily bad guys. He and the rock-solid Sean Pertwee, however, don’t get very much screen time. In fact, the long stretches of film that Fichtner’s character is absent for are a definite flaw. The film is full of familiar names and faces, and there’s just not enough for all of them to do here. Sure, we all know what Sean Bean is going to do the moment he pops up (insert your own ‘red shirt’ Sean Bean meme here), but why does Aussie TV and film actor Dominic Purcell completely disappear after the first scene? Was it his first Hollywood gig or something? More scenes for the Pertwee and Fichtner (no matter what I think of his casting) characters would’ve made for a stronger film. I mean, the late David Hemmings even pops up for a cameo to make it hard for anyone who knows him from his 60s work to explain to younger generations that yes, he used to be a sex symbol.

 

An emotion-based spin on “Fahrenheit 451” that plays as if it were directed by The Wachowskis (“The Matrix”, “Bound”). Actually, that’s a little unfair, as this was clearly made by a real visual stylist and so Kurt Wimmer (whose screenwriting credits are extremely dubious if you ask me) deserves the credit, wholeheartedly. It won’t be a mixture for everyone, but I reckon this one’s extremely underrated and wholly entertaining. Give it a go if you missed it on original release (which probably factors in just about everyone!). I have absolutely no idea why it was so appallingly mis-marketed and barely released, but it appears to be slowly gaining a deserved cult following.

 

Rating: B-