"Equilibrium" [Spoilers]

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-11-24 10:04am

Saw this last night. [Neo]Woah![/Neo]

The movie portrays a dystopian society in the future after a global war (a globe appears during the movie, showing the new face of Earth) where emotion (the cause of all evils of Mankind) is brutally quelched under the boots of repression, and where everyone has to take daily doses of a drug called "Prozium" in order not to feel any kind of emotion. Those that violate this rule are called sense offenders, and are properlly "processed", usually with a great amount of lead in their bodies, but there is also high pressurized fuel.

So, suspension of disbelief is the order of the day, as usual in all depictions of utopian/dystopian societies. Everyone wears the same type of garment and colour tone, cars are only for official authorities (police on airport firefighting vehicles and bikes, Clerics (enforcers) in non-descript white cars), apartements monasthical, indoctrination is present everywhere. In fact, one of the requirements for "suspension of disbelief" in this movie is for the characters to forget about the use of coverage of grenades, it seems nobody uses either method for room clearing in the future.

The main character is a Gramaton (sp) Cleric, the enforcers of "sense control", which during the movie will understand the existence of emotions (due to a small accident, he doesn't take his daily dose of Prozium, and forfeits anymore dosages), and ends up kicking ass, liberating humanity from the clutches of drug addiction (sorta).

During this process there is a lot of lead flying through the air, the writer/director inventing an interesting way for gunfights in the form of the martial art known as Gun-Kata, that is, lots of fancy moves with the bad guys getting killed. The coreography is incredible, and a lot of thought was put into it, the final battle between the bad guy and the hero being the best example.

Overall, the movie is great, it isn't as heavy (read, thought provoking) as 1984 or Brasil, the fight scenes are cleverly thought out with an excellent coreography, the editing and photography is good, and the special effects are top-notch, helping to tell the story instead of making the story.

Oh, yes, one final thing: Gun-Kata!

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-11-24 10:06am

It rocks, doesn't it?

We've talked about it here on few occasions and it's really nice to see that more and more people see it. It received way too little attention when it came out, much less than it deserved. Thank God for the DVD.

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-11-24 10:57am

Yeah, I think it suffered from too many comparasions with the Matrix... When in fact, it has absolutely nothing similar to the Matrix, story-wise, or even FX-wise.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-24 11:14am

Christian Bale = 0wnage.

Pity Sean Bean carries on his tradition recently of dying very early on.

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-11-24 11:41am

Can you edit the title to put *SPOILER* in it?

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2003-11-24 12:01pm

@ Zoink: No problem!

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Christian Bale = 0wnage.

Pity Sean Bean carries on his tradition recently of dying very early on.

Yeah, what's up with that guy?

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-11-24 12:02pm

i love this film

i hope kurt wimmer makes more films with the gun kata

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-11-24 12:08pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Christian Bale = 0wnage.

Pity Sean Bean carries on his tradition recently of dying very early on.

He didn't seem to reference that anything was sharpe though.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-24 12:10pm

neoolong wrote:
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Christian Bale = 0wnage.

Pity Sean Bean carries on his tradition recently of dying very early on.
He didn't seem to reference that anything was sharpe though.

Bad pun.

ClaysGhost · Post by **ClaysGhost** » 2003-11-24 12:32pm

I'm probably alone in thinking that the "still sharp" line that Sean Bean has in LoTR is a comedy classic.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2003-11-24 12:58pm

I think it is in Sean Beans contract that he must have a cool death scene, in everyone of his movies.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-24 01:07pm

ClaysGhost wrote:I'm probably alone in thinking that the "still sharp" line that Sean Bean has in LoTR is a comedy classic.

It wasn't missed by me or my bro either.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-11-24 01:26pm

I never watched the whole movie. Thanks to my friend (DivX on his comp) I only saw the fight/action sequences - and thats why I never want to see this movie again. Never ever. Fight scenes were so stupid, so lame, so unbelievably idiotic that I can't find proper words to describe it.

1) Elite regime guards? Goddamn soldier wanna-be's, wearing motorcycle helmets, shooting their G36 from hip and only hitting something when the screenplay tells them so. And the rebel assault on the end of the film? Damn, my english vocabulary is way to small to describe how stupid it was.
2) And the main character? Wow, Neo wouldnt have stood a chance against that guy. C'mon, he killed 6 elite superkatana guys (this is one of those films - if someone has a katana sword he must be a super cool ninja character) in a matter of seconds, and they were standing all around them. 3) Fight with that black guy? Took him 15 seconds to cut his face clean off...and it looked like he used a laser gun rather than a sword made of steel.

About the screenplay and overall idea behind this movie - well, Orwellian society - depicted pretty nicely, but I think I saw better...in other movies, older movies. This could have been a great film if they would have employed a decent fight choreographer who wouldnt force the main character to end every fight with some idiotic poses, like he's a model for Benetton.

This film suffers from Matrix syndrome - and people think they can make cash by ripping off someone's philosophy (Baudrillard in case of Matrix) or ideas (Orwell) and making some cool fight scenes. In Matrix (only in the first and the second part tho) fights were really good looking and cool. Equilibrium made me laugh. If you want to praise the philosophy this movie presents, then better read the real thing - 1984 by Orwell.

For me, the best film that touched the subject of controlling human lives was 13th Floor.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-11-24 01:32pm

This could have been a great film if they would have employed a decent fight choreographer who wouldnt force the main character to end every fight with some idiotic poses, like he's a model for Benetton.

you should really actually watch the film... then you wouldn't jump to stupid ass conclusions and come off sounding really stupid

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-11-24 01:34pm

EmKay wrote:*SNIP*

So you're judging a movie you never saw? Ohhhkay...

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2003-11-24 01:43pm

EmKay wrote:I never watched the whole movie. Thanks to my friend (DivX on his comp) I only saw the fight/action sequences - and thats why I never want to see this movie again. Never ever. Fight scenes were so stupid, so lame, so unbelievably idiotic that I can't find proper words to describe it.

1) Elite regime guards? Goddamn soldier wanna-be's, wearing motorcycle helmets, shooting their G36 from hip and only hitting something when the screenplay tells them so. And the rebel assault on the end of the film? Damn, my english vocabulary is way to small to describe how stupid it was.
2) And the main character? Wow, Neo wouldnt have stood a chance against that guy. C'mon, he killed 6 elite superkatana guys (this is one of those films - if someone has a katana sword he must be a super cool ninja character) in a matter of seconds, and they were standing all around them. 3) Fight with that black guy? Took him 15 seconds to cut his face clean off...and it looked like he used a laser gun rather than a sword made of steel.

About the screenplay and overall idea behind this movie - well, Orwellian society - depicted pretty nicely, but I think I saw better...in other movies, older movies. This could have been a great film if they would have employed a decent fight choreographer who wouldnt force the main character to end every fight with some idiotic poses, like he's a model for Benetton.

This film suffers from Matrix syndrome - and people think they can make cash by ripping off someone's philosophy (Baudrillard in case of Matrix) or ideas (Orwell) and making some cool fight scenes. In Matrix (only in the first and the second part tho) fights were really good looking and cool. Equilibrium made me laugh. If you want to praise the philosophy this movie presents, then better read the real thing - 1984 by Orwell.

For me, the best film that touched the subject of controlling human lives was 13th Floor.

Watch the film as a whole first. then come back and talk.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2003-11-24 01:59pm

I did watch the entire movie. The premise and story arc were moderately well done (for people with no emotions, everybody displayed a lot of them, like greed, satisfaction, contempt, anger...i expected a plot twist at the end, where it would become apparent that no one really took Prozium anymore, and the system just kept sustaining itself. Too bad it never came.). I absolutely can't agree with the majority about the fight scenes, though.

They were drawn out, boring and repetitive. The main character was standing still sorta waving his guns around while all the bad guys died, repeat ad nauseum. All right, if I suspend disbelief then perhaps I can subscribe to this entire "Gun-Kata" crap - too bad that when a fucking ANGRY MOB attacked the supposedly elite guards at the end, while waving their rifles around frantically and spraying on full-auto, the ultra-elite guards simply died without doing anything. It looked like a scene from Hot Shots 2.

Other than the stupid fight scenes, I have no real beef with "Equilibrium". If all the shooting and clubbing and maiming was SHORTER, it would even be watchable!

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-11-24 02:01pm

They were drawn out, boring and repetitive.

um... the only long fight is the one at the end, the rest are less than 2 minutes long each...

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2003-11-24 02:12pm

Zac Naloen wrote:
They were drawn out, boring and repetitive.
um... the only long fight is the one at the end, the rest are less than 2 minutes long each...

Are they? I've had an impression most of them lasted longer. It seems to be directly corellated with the amount of repetetiveness in every action scene.

For example, fina fight at Father's palace was pretty balanced. The ones where the cleric was just standing between some elite guards, clubbing them with pistol grips over and over and over and over and over, from different angles and with different zooms, or when he was dealing with guards in the main lobby of the palace (again...the main hero waves his guns around...once...twice...different angles, different zooms...oh, he does it a third time, too!) were agonizing.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-11-24 02:14pm

-EDIT
I told you why I never watched the whole film. Action scenes threw me against the wall. And I was commenting about the things I have seen, in case you didnt notice. And I can pass judgements on that what I have seen. Note that Im not commenting on the other features of the movie, like screenplay, actors, music, scenes and special effects. Yes, I am commenting on something that I have seen partially. Anyone ever flew a real Mig29 fighter or took part in 1st World War? You can't really take opposite POV's well, don't you?

Actually I think I will watch the film - maybe Im wrong? I hardly think so. I'll post after I have seen it. Just for the sake of this thread and my own credibility.

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2003-11-24 02:38pm

EmKay wrote:*SNIP*
For me, the best film that touched the subject of controlling human lives was 13th Floor.

Man was that movie boring, great concept for the movie, but the movie was slow and not done near as well as it could have been.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-11-24 02:51pm

I disagree, it was a good example that a good movie can be made with 1/10 budget of the first Matrix. Too bad it never drew too much attention. No fancy fetish dresses, no fancy karate/kung fu fights made a nice difference after the first Matrix. Which one is better? I don't know, first matrix is also a great movie.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-11-24 02:57pm

Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups EmKay. Try watching the ENTIRE MOVIE before judging it. Sure you saw the action sequences but the movie explained why these things where happening. If you wanted mindless action get The Matrix Reloaded.

On another note Sean Bean has a very special agent. He either has lots of gratuitous sex (see Sharp) or he dies really nobely.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-11-24 03:21pm

Oh, but in Matrix Reloaded everything was explained too *grin*. But yeah, it was basically loads of mindless action. As I said, I'll try and watch the movie.

Sam Or I · Post by **Sam Or I** » 2003-11-24 03:31pm

IMHO the action was to brief. Yes it was over the top, but I found the action secondary to the story. The best part of the entire movie is John Prestons character development. For the plot and action I give it a B- , for being a charactor driven drama an A+.