Equilibrium DVD > Reviews > Equlibrium (Movie only)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Bale  * drools * , Gun - kata
Disadvantages:	No huge explosions or time travelling

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Personal Background:
After hearing great things about the fight scenes in this movie I finally decided to actually you know, buy the damn thing rather than get told it was like a better version of the Matrix (which if truth be told, I loathed almost as much as I hate having water in my shoes whilst walking around the permanantley wet town of Paisley). Finally seeing this for 99p (bargain or what?) I thought right, I'll shut Andrew up and tell him I saw it and it was complete ghash, the kinda gash that at the time that West Ham United had been playing (both being huge football fans, that would have managed to make sense). However seeing the always sexy brooding and scarily handsome Christian Bale on the cover not only made me think "Hey this could well be one of those amazing films" but also made me question my sexuality...but lets stay away from that.

The Story:
The movie is set in a post WWIII era where to stop any more mass destruction and fighting, the ruling organisation the Tetragrammaton forces a society lead by lack of thought. A Hitler like figure "The Father" is seen as it's public leader but is never seen in public due to the risk of having him assasinated by the resistance. To keep the citizens in check so to speak, a drug "Proziam" is administered, which stops a person from feeling making an almost drone like society, void of art and music, poetry and video's (barring the Tetragrammaton's propaganda videos). For having the contraband artifacts imprisonment or even death is often the punishment for these "sense offenders", which helps to give the movie a really dark undertone. Those that carry out the ruling of the rules are the soldiers and the highly trained Clerics, used similar to the Nazi's SA.

Now maybe you feel I'm being a little bit high and mighty having already referenced Hitler and the Nazi's, but no, it's this dictatorship style idea that keeps the movie going, not only do we have visual images of Joseph Stalin and Saddam Hussien at the very start of the movie, we also see a picture of Adolf Hitler in the first 10 minutes. As well as a symbol that is almost like a deformed Swastika as the Tetragrammaton's own symbol, and the rallies are almost identical to many early Nazi ones that Hitler did. This all helps you to feel that the government isn't only corrupt but it totally evil, and the prozium is possibly only the start of a much bigger picture.

The roles:
We first cut to a scene very early on where we see the sexiest man on earth do what he does best (yes he can do a lot more other than looking like a complete hunk that would turn straight guys gay), acting. As the Cleric John Preston, one of the most highly feared of all the Clerics, breaking into a building which is though to house illegal material, and resistance members. Bales acting here (and through out) is what holds the movie watcher into sitting and watching, as he emotionlessly slays the civillians and burns the art (inc. The Mona Lisa).

Sean Beans character, despite not being in the movie for a particularly long time plays Errol Partridge, Preston's partner who misses a does of prozium and starts to think, the role here is what can only be described as a seed role. Reading from a book ("He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats), that later leads to Preston questioning the regime he's been trained by.

Taye Diggs plays another leading Cleric, Brandt, who's seen as like Preston, as one of the best, if not the best, and after Patridge's early death becomes the partner of Preston. As highly trained as Preston but without the seeds of doubt that Preston has in the regime you often see an unusual chemistry between them, in a rather hateful manner a brooding and somewhat paranoid manner.

Emily Watson plays the female love interest Mary O'Brien, although her role in the movie never really made 100% sense to me, and seems to act more like a mirror to Preston's wife's death (that Preston himself watched without emotion even coming over his face).

Angus Macfadyen plays Vice councillor DuPont, the public figure head of the regime, and the almost militarial leader of it. Macfayden's role as almost an evil underlord could possibly be compared in a way to that of a military dictator, who's job it is to make sure his generals (the Clerics) are doing their jobs correctly.

The actors:
As you've already noticed, mr C. Bale makes me feel warm and gooey down below, but for those who may not know who he is, he played the role of Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho" (2000) and Trevor Reznik in the 2004 movie "The Machinist" before finally getting his mainstream hit role as the caped Crusader in "Batman begins" (2005) a role he is set to reprise in "The Dark Knight" (2008). For those that have seen American Pyscho, you'll know just how intense this guys acting really is and how some are refering to him one of the Best British actors, and one of the best young actors in the world today. The guy has looks that surpass the likes of Tom Cruise, an ability to act rather than pretend to be a cardboard cut out (hey Mr Cruise have some acting lessons you annoying short arse) and a dedication to every role he's in which has included losing 63 pounds for the role of Reznik. Many seem to think, that had it not been for Batman, Bale would have been given the Bond role ahead of Daniel Craig for Casino Royale, although this was never the official line, I personally would have loved the Double-O agent to have been a role that Bale portrayed.

Sean Bean, another great british talent and whilst on the subject of Bond, Bean's key role in my mind has been as 006/Alec Trevelyan/Janus in the 1995 Bond movie "Goldeneye" where he plays a sinister, 2 faced turncoat. Other key roles for the man from Sheffield have included Patriot Games (1992) where he played the role of Sean Miller opposite Harrison Ford in the screenplay of the Tom Clancy novel. As well as the role of Spence in the film Ronin (1998) which had a cast which included Jean Reno and the greatest actor of the last 30 years, Robert De Niro. As well as Boromir in the hugely successful Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Taye Diggs was a guy I'd never actually heard off before this movie, however it seems he was in more TV shows than movies, with roles in Ally Mcbeal, Will and Grace, Day break, Grays anatomy and the title role in Kevin Hill. So this may well have been his biggest role. Diggs does do the moody brooding angry undertones really well as Brandt but his role is hugely overshaddowed by the much more talented Bale, however they work brilliantly together.

Angus Macfadyen is another brilliant british actor, and one who will fully comprehend how bad Paisley weather is himself, having been born in the Scottish Sunshine city of Glasgow (yeah the sarcastic description didn't really work). Angus may have been seen in Braveheart (1995) as Robert the Bruce or the TV movie The Rat Pack (1998)as Peter Lawford and Cradle Will Rock (1999) as Orson Welles and the latest installment of the "Saw" franchise (Saw IV-2007) where he played Jeff.

Genre:
The movie is a futuristic Sc-fi movie though don't go into it expecting time machines, or flying space craft, or even massive nuclear missiles and things like that as you'll be hugely disappointed. There are plenty of out and out action sequences, a fair few gun fights and a deep running thriller undertone, of whether someone will get found out, or whether they can bring down the influential regime from the inside (sorry for the vagueness, not trying to ruin the movie).

Highlights:
The movie was the first to showcase the Gun Kata battle style that Kurt Wimmer imvented for both this and Ultraviolet (2006) which is an artistic mixture of more orthodox malee weapon fights (such as swords and kendo sticks) and a gun battle. The fights often using the guns at both mid distance and very close distance. This combat form leads to many of the movies highlights which feature some martial arts style fights that the likes of Bruce Lee would have been proud of, with Bale's character and Digg's characters being so proficient at it, the movies fight scenes are really a wonderful thing to see in themselves.

This added to Bales acting in general is more than enough reasons to at least give it a try as the movie really should make you realise the Matrix was over-hyped doo-doo compared to this gem of a movie.

Summary: Bales Brilliance makes a decent movie great.