The film is set in the aftermath of a devastating third world war. As humanity crawls from the ashes to rebuild its shattered civilization, it is agreed that the world will not survive a fourth such war. In order to prevent mankind's extinction, the new government attacks what they see as the root of "man's inhumanity toward man: his ability to feel." By governmental decree, the entire populace is medicated with an emotional suppressant called Prozium and anything that could elicit an emotional response (which ranges from the Mona Lisa to puppies) is strictly prohibited. Both failure to medicate and possession of banned materials are capital offenses.
John Preston (Christian Bale) is a Grammaton Cleric: a special operative that suppresses terrorists who have gone off of their state-mandated Prozium and incinerates any contraband that they might possess. After accidentally missing a dose of Prozium himself, Preston begins to feel for the first time: awe at the beautiful works of art that he destroys, remorse for killing his rogue partner and sympathy for the men and women who simply refuse to be medicated any longer. While he tries to make sense of these new emotions, he becomes a double agent for the terroristic resistant movement while attempting to dissuade his new partner's growing suspicions about his loyalty to the state.
Equilibrium is basically what would happen if the Wachowski brothers directed Fahrenheit 451: a slick, stylized action-thriller with some incredibly riveting fight sequences. As masters of Gun Kata, a combination of martial arts and markmanship, the Grammaton Clerics are this film's equivalent of The Matrix's Agents. In the very first scene, we see John Preston enter into a blackened room surrounded by armed terrorists. After they send off some panicked, scattered fire and a few whispers, Preston makes a series of precise shots to every man in the room.
While it's not exactly "the thinking man's action movie," it never-the-less is thoughtful. The treatment of the dystopic future is very intimately unsettling. Robbie Preston (John's son) is largely comes off as the second coming of The Omen's Damien: calm, composed, insightful - essentially nothing like what an actual child is like (owing to Prozium). The tragedy that befalls Preston's wife is genuinely heart-wrenching, both in John's inability to defend her and the nature of why it happened to her. Most memorable of all is the Clerics' inability to understand why the terrorists would keep adorable Bernese Mountain Dog puppies (one going so far as to ask if they ate them)
While the film is not without its faults - including a minor case of Reindeer Games' "One Twist Too Many" Syndrome - they are not so great as to detract from what is an admittedly exciting film that delivers everything that it promises. While essentially a poor man's Matrix, it is still a more thoughtful, measured and entertaining addition to its genre than most other action movies. Both Becky and I rate this film an 8, putting it on par with The Boondock Saints, Fearless and I Am Legend.
Equilibrium is basically what would happen if the Wachowski brothers directed Fahrenheit 451: a slick, stylized action-thriller with some incredibly riveting fight sequences. As masters of Gun Kata, a combination of martial arts and markmanship, the Grammaton Clerics are this film's equivalent of The Matrix's Agents. In the very first scene, we see John Preston enter into a blackened room surrounded by armed terrorists. After they send off some panicked, scattered fire and a few whispers, Preston makes a series of precise shots to every man in the room.
While it's not exactly "the thinking man's action movie," it never-the-less is thoughtful. The treatment of the dystopic future is very intimately unsettling. Robbie Preston (John's son) is largely comes off as the second coming of The Omen's Damien: calm, composed, insightful - essentially nothing like what an actual child is like (owing to Prozium). The tragedy that befalls Preston's wife is genuinely heart-wrenching, both in John's inability to defend her and the nature of why it happened to her. Most memorable of all is the Clerics' inability to understand why the terrorists would keep adorable Bernese Mountain Dog puppies (one going so far as to ask if they ate them)
While the film is not without its faults - including a minor case of Reindeer Games' "One Twist Too Many" Syndrome - they are not so great as to detract from what is an admittedly exciting film that delivers everything that it promises. While essentially a poor man's Matrix, it is still a more thoughtful, measured and entertaining addition to its genre than most other action movies. Both Becky and I rate this film an 8, putting it on par with The Boondock Saints, Fearless and I Am Legend.
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