Originally published in Cinema Knife Fight, May 5, 2014
I was pleasantly surprised to discover this little-known science fiction film starring Christian Bale (the DARK KNIGHT trilogy of films, 2005 – 2012, TERMINATOR SALVATION, 2009) on Amazon Prime’s streaming service recently. EQUILIBRIUM (2002) takes place in a dystopian future where all emotions are outlawed in order to remove crime and violence from society. This is done with the help of a drug called Prozium, which every citizen must take on a daily basis. The laws are enforced by heavily-armed military personnel led by priest-like “clerics” who have been trained all their lives in a sort of hyper-martial arts. Their weapon of choice is usually a pair of automatic revolvers, and the occasional katana sword.
EQUILIBRIUM doesn’t try to hide its blending of two popular science fiction stories: THE MATRIX (1999) which had come out only three years before, and the 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (I mention the novel since, though the movie was fine, the novel still is far superior and one of my all-time favorites). Like the Bradbury book, there is an underground rebellion which hides itself on the outskirts of the city hoarding books and artwork, abstaining from the required daily dose of Prozium to live freely and emotionally. THE MATRIX’s influence is soon obvious in the way the clerics fight. There may not be slow-motion bullets flying, but the laws of physics are pretty much tossed to the wind. Regardless, it’s a visual treat. Like the grandfather of these styles of fight scenes, Asian martial arts films, they are a treat to watch, almost ballet-like. Ballet with bullets. And lots of blood.
Swan Lake danced amid a plethora of spent shell casings.
The films opens with Cleric Preston (Bale) and his partner Cleric Partridge (Sean Bean, FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, 2001, GAME OF THRONES, 2011) wiping out a rebel hidey-hole, slaughtering everyone and burning their stash of books and art. Except this time, Bean’s Partridge pockets a book of poems (Yeats, I think), and Preston quickly realizes his partner has succumbed to his emotions and reluctantly does his duty, executing the man for the offense. Preston and Partridge were close friends—as close as one could get in a world without emotion, and this act starts the man on the path of questioning his duty, and the law. That, and the constant memory of how he earlier turned in his own wife to the authorities. He stops taking his drug, and soon discovers what experiencing true emotions feel like, embracing remorse for what he’s done to the two closest people in his life besides his children. Yes, he has two children, and it’s a clever bit of the plot I’ll leave for your own viewing.
Back to Sean Bean for a moment. I like to think of him as the 21st Century’s Charlton Heston (PLANET OF THE APES, 1968, OMEGA MAN, 1971), since he seems to always take roles in which he dies at the end. Here, he dies only seven minutes into the film. Even so, his intense, somber persona dominates the screen while he’s on it. I always look forward to his next film, curious how his character will next get bumped off.
I won’t get much more into the plot. If you’ve read Fahrenheit 451, where our hero Montag begins to question the law after burning a librarian alive with her books, you’ve got the gist of this film. Not that it’s a complete rehash, if anything it’s a loose remake, and it’s honestly a very enjoyable film. Everyone is somber and emotionless, which makes for a lot of mumbling and softly-spoken lines. Like I do (as you know if you’ve read my past reviews) with many British films, I ended up turning on the subtitles just to follow what people were saying. They’re not intrusive, and come in handy to understand the story as it unfolds.
The emotionless angle could also make for a slow movie, but there is quite a lot of action, murder and MATRIX-style fight scenes to keep those ADD viewers awake.
Writer/Director Kurt Wimmer (SALT, 2010, TOTAL RECALL, 2012) crafts some clever bits into the film and is not afraid to be subtle about them. For example, as Bale’s character begins to experience emotions for the first time, he is entranced by the textures under his fingertips (the escalator railing, table tops). This action, if you are watching carefully, is repeated by others who are supposedly mired in the drug’s emotionless effects themselves. These can act as background clues to later plot developments, a la Philip Kaufman’s INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) where many of the creepiest scenes take place in the background.
There is a subplot with Preston’s wife which I thought was a bit confusing, since a female character is introduced early in the film, then we never see her again, but we see his wife in prison later. I thought they were the same characters. But no. Once I realized it was his wife, things made more sense. Maybe I should have turned subtitles on earlier.
Some aspects of EQUILIBRIUM is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel FAHRENHEIT 451.
The supporting cast do well in their roles, from the requisite megalomaniac bad guy DuPont (Angus MacFayden, BRAVEHEART, 1995, WE BOUGHT A ZOO, 2011) and Preston’s new partner, the upwardly-mobile Brandt (Taye Diggs, PRIVATE PRACTICE TV Series, 2007-2013) whose weapon of choice is the above-mentioned katana sword. Cleric Preston tries to keep his growing emotional life secret, but it’s obvious from the start that Brandt isn’t buying it.
The climax is littered with bodies and some over-the-top battles, but by the time you reach this point you shouldn’t care about the laws of physics. Like THE MATRIX, the enjoyment is in the visual, not the realistic, experience. In the end, what you’ve seen is a modern, stylish take on some old, classic themes, which won’t leave you with any more insight into the human condition than you might have come into the film with, but you’ll have been entertained for an hour and a half with some controlled performances, clever directing and entertaining (if not a tad implausible) fight scenes.
I give EQUILIBRIUM three and a half burning librarians out of five.