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Equilibrium
Derivative piece of sci-fi starring Christian Bale as a lawman in a totalitarian future where emotion is illegal and artworks contraband
Sci-fans never go hungry, but they don't consistently eat well at the movies, a trend this release unfortunately continues. Preston (Bale) and Partridge (Bean) are "Grammaton Clerics", stern, high-ranking law enforcement officers. It's their job to uphold the strict rules of Libria, a post World War III society built on the tenet that "man's inhumanity to man" arose directly from emotion, so emotion must be banned ("Our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked"). But how can this work in a film - how can an actor act without emotion? It's a paradox that flummoxes Equilibrium from the offing. The film progresses from one violent gun-fight to another, by way of dramatic cityscapes, the meagre plot seemingly an afterthought. Preston kills Partridge because, leaving a crime scene, he pocketed a book of Yeats' poetry - and all artworks are contraband that must be locked away or destroyed (on finding the 'Mona Lisa', Preston states coldly "Burn it"). Not only had Patridge been reading poems ("Tread softly because you tread on my dreams") but he'd also been skipping his regular doses of emotion-suppressing drug Prozium, taken by all citizens. Subsequently, Preston decides to skip a dose. He also arrests one Mary O'Brien (Watson) for a "sense offense" (a crime of feeling). Before long, he's caught between government bigwig Dupont (MacFayden) and the resistance. Meanwhile, Mary hangs around on death row wearing a lot of make-up, dressed in a designer prison smock and looking alluring. What is a cleric to do? This is an utter mish-mash. Briton Bale does a US accent, American MacFayden does English - why? It's resoundingly illogical, most notably in the fact that Preston's foe, Cleric Brandt (Diggs) has a tendency to smirk, while various establishment figures shout and rant. Er, isn't that sort of thing all a bit emotional? Sci-fi is the genre that provides a forum for experimental thinking and musing about the direction of society. Minority Report proved modern sci-fi blockbusters can be imaginatively predictive, so it's a great shame that this totalitarian future is just so tired. There's a '1984' Big Brother figure called Father; drugged up citizens featured in 'Brave New World'; culture was outlawed in 'Fahrenheit 451'; emotionless police figures blew people away in Judge Dredd; and an austere social apartheid featured heavily in Gattaca. There's even a goodly dash of Philip K Dick paranoia in the mix. As for the action, it's also familiar - the most dynamic scene has Preston striding down a long hallway guns blazing and indulging in some slow-mo acrobatics. It's almost entirely ripped off The Matrix, but is fun. Pity it happens in the final five minutes. Verdict Screenwriter and first-time director Kurt Wimmers just takes it all too seriously. If you're going to be so derivative, at least crank up the action. |
