"Better late than never" is where we review something that has been out for a while but we haven't taken a look yet and we think you might be interested in.
If we're looking at a story in some detail during the review will give you a spoiler warning in the title, generally this will be on something that is so old that if you've not seen it by now, you probably not going to, however we'll still try and keep specific spoilers to a minimum.
So without further ado...
Equilibrium
Equilibrium was written by Kurt Wimmers and was released in 2002, it stars Christian Bale, it's listed as also staring Emily Watson and Taye Diggs however their roles are quite small, the film is really set around Christian Bale's character John Preston.
Equilibrium is set in a dystopian future where mankind has almost wiped itself out in a third world war, to prevent a fourth society now take a drug called prozium which eliminates human emotions which are blamed for the many inhumanities humanity inflicts on itself.
The film divides the world into two parts, a futuristic city state of Libria and the nethers a ruined waste land outside Libria's walls. Inside Libria the population are kept under control by 1984 style propaganda with a figure head of "Father" playing the role of big brother, drugs that remind us of brave new world, and the burning of anything that might tempt people to feel again that has a Fahrenheit 451 vibe to it.
Oh and of course there are the grammaton clerics, the elite warriors of the government and their hired goons with motorcycle helmets that root out sense offenders on a daily basis.
Critics apparently didn't, but I really liked the references to 1984, brave new world and Fahrenheit 451, the television screens everywhere which fathers propaganda been played out constantly made for some interesting background for the scenes and listening to them helps you get an idea of how we got from how things were to how things are now.
I also like how John's relationship with his son and daughter is similar to that which the party is aiming for in 1984, broken of emotional attachment. The kids call him by his first name and there is no love loss between them with the son constantly been suspicious of John. If you've not read "1984", "Brave New World" or "Fahrenheit 451" I definitely recommend it as soon as possible. I like to think of all these references as a nod to these books from Wimmers rather than him trying to rip them off.
The films actions scenes revolve around the idea of the gun kata, a martial art that revolves around dodging and ducking while firing pistols back at people without looking. While this is very silly as an actual concept it is really fun to watch and the final fight scene duel between two masters of the gun kata is a very original and entertaining to watch, so you can suspend your disbelief about it never actually working for the cool factor.
The only thing that annoyed me about the action scenes are the fact that it seems to be one of those films like starship troopers were people, mainly the goons and resistance extras, uses their guns as water hoses, they seem to feel that they have to close the gap towards the enemy in order to actually shoot them. I do like the fact that everyone who gets shot appears to be full of dust instead of blood, I like that style, it looks kind of stylised, not to mention that it probably helped to keep the certificate down.
This is where the spoilers are going to start to kick in so if you haven't seen the film and want to, look away now!
The heart of the story is Preston's journey from oppressor of the resistance to it's champion, his arc from being a unfeeling killing machine, existing simply as the film puts it "to carry on his own existence" to been a feeling killing machine who is fighting for a better, if more unstable future for mankind, his family and himself.
Through an accident convenient to the plot John comes off the dose and begins to feel for the first time and finds that he can't go back, after going through a personal journey of discovering feeling for the first time he contacts the resistance and agrees to help take down father.
What I really love about this, and there is a major spoiler coming up now, but throughout the film John is so obviously feeling in front of people that you could not believe that he could possibly be getting away with it, despite his flimsy excuses and swapping out of guns to hide his crimes.
As a viewer you think that this is too much to suspend your disbelief over, but in the final scenes it's revealed that the Tetragrammaton council were using him all along as a unknowing stooge to bring down the resistance members.
It's kind of a moment were you realise everyone around him must have been told to ignore whatever he was doing, no matter how obvious.. "yes even if he starts crying in the middle of a public street! Just pretend you were looking at a particularly interesting propaganda screen!" You can kind of forgive John's character for been rubbish at hiding his emotions though, after all emotions make us do irrational things and since he's never had any he's no experience in keeping them under control.
In the end we find another nod to 1984, that father isn't a real person any more and he is just a public symbol, a puppet to the council, also we get to see what I think is a real cool mirror of the two sides in the fact that the head bad guy is off the dose and is feeling where as earlier in the film we find that the heads of the resistance take prozium and sacrifice feeling in order to carry on the resistance.
The fact that the head bad guy is feeling is hinted at throughout the film heavily by the angry outbursts that again everyone just ignores, when we get to his office in the final fight scene we also get to see quite a lot of sense offending objects hung up around the place.
The ending is kind of a little too Hollywood with everything going the good guys way, with the implication that everything is won just like that. However I do like the way that John wipes the blood off his hands onto one of the propaganda screens symbolising the bloody cost of the revolution and maybe hinting at things to come for the world with the return of emotion.
Overall despite a couple niggles, I really enjoy this film and I think it's got a lot of rewatchability.
The idea of sacrificing individual rights, in this case the right to feel, for the benefit of humanity as a whole is still very relevant and the action scenes are stylised and cool. If you've not seen this film give it a watch and if you have, maybe it's time to sit back, put it on again and try out a few gun katas with some nerf guns afterwards.
- Stray
No comments:
Post a Comment