Search - Equilibrium [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

I told you I'd make my career with you

Rev. E. A. Hernandez | 06/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"EQUILIBRIUM (2002) is one of my most favorite Deeply Personals, thus it merits a Deeply Personal film critique. Firstly, look at this list:

a/k/a "Cubic" - Europe

a/k/a "Rebellion" - Japan

a/k/a "Equilibrium - Killer of Emotions" - Germany

You will not find another film quite so well-viewed and beloved. For good reason, mon famille....

In the sprawling fascist city-state of Libria, the Tetragrammaton is like the commie party. Ruled by the "Father" (think Mao, Pot Pol and Saddam Hussein all rolled into one) and with the iron hand of the body of clerics, Libria is a drug-addled place. Not for fun: this drug is meant to turn them all into Vulcans. It eradicates emotional extremes (it does not eradicate emotions completely as has been wrongly stated).

I will say I was offended by the use of the word Tetragrammaton, which in my tradition is the word representing the 72 Names of God, but oh well, it's THE MOVIES! Not theology school!

Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale in his first and only impressive role) is forced to execute his partner, Cleric Partridge, for "sense offense"--Cleric Partridge has been reading Keats (or was it Yeats?--they read the same thing in 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD). Partridge has stopped his drug intake, and he's feeling.

Bad!

Cleric Preston finds his world and acceptance of all things Libria is crumbling. He meets with the resistance, and the results are SLAM! BANG! Better than the comics. And that is the smooth beauty of this action-packed, philosophically charged film that to a degree influenced everything that was to follow.

It had few predecessors, and practically no inspiration or idea-stealing. The closest thing I could ultimately find to compare to EQUILIBRIUM was GATTACA (1997) and LOGAN'S RUN (1976). Both these films are also major genre-establishers.

I got hooked on this because of the fashion. Seriously. But also due to the fact that I also carry the title "cleric", and because we also try to eradicate strong emotions. EQUILIBRIUM explains how that is not possible, unhealthy and at the end of the day, unnatural. From the beautifully slick habit-uniforms worn by the clerics to the "gun katas", a T'ai Ch'i-like martial art of the two-handed gun (all inspiring the dreary SPIRIT a couple years ago), EQUILIBRIUM has it all.

Taye Diggs and Angus MacFadyen are most impressive in their villainous roles, sneering and scene-chewing with the best of the chewers. The martial arts, while quite sparse, are spectacular (MacFadyen is most surprisingly gifted) and the moral-emotional tension never quits until the end.

Well past the end, you will be thinking about this unique, thought-provoking masterpiece--and you'll wonder why they don't usually make them this good."