Equilibrium (2002)

[Coolhand]

Originally Posted by sanityassassin

I think the fight scene at the end of Equilibrium is one of the best sci-fi fight scenes I've ever watched and the moment when his readings die and the techs know what is about to happen I really enjoyed.

"No...Not without incident."
BLAM! BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!(Corscrew flip) BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM (Reload) BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM (Backflip) BLAM BLAM BLAM (Rifle-catch) BADA-BADA-BADA-BADA-BLAM!
All dead.

I think the Gun-kata stuff people either love or hate. I know it was utterly implauseable but it LOOKED SO FRICKIN' COOL!

[unclejack]

lol, I never really made the connection between the two movies as far as one being about a vulnerable man trying to become a great fighter and the other being about a great fighter trying becoming a vulnerable man but I like the paralell. And having said that the dramatic transition cleric John Preston goes through in the movie makes the whole movie, I have to say that I like the action in equilibrium better than in the matrix. There are some of the coolest fight scenes in that movie that I have ever seen.

[Nesacat]

The fight scenes were very well choreographed and they are a pleasure to watch especially the spray of blood on the white suit. And when his readings all go flat.

But the thing that did it for me was the small things. Him reaching out across the table to touch the woman's hand. Things like that.

[Coolhand]

Originally Posted by Nesacat

The fight scenes were very well choreographed and they are a pleasure to watch especially the spray of blood on the white suit. And when his readings all go flat.

But the thing that did it for me was the small things. Him reaching out across the table to touch the woman's hand. Things like that.

Totally agree. I loved the scene where he tears the paper from the window and sees the rain in the sunlight for the first time. That was really haunting, especially with the musical score and the acting from Bale.

[Tillane]

Originally Posted by Coolhand

Totally agree. I loved the scene where he tears the paper from the window and sees the rain in the sunlight for the first time. That was really haunting, especially with the musical score and the acting from Bale.

Yeah, loved that, too. That's what I meant before about Equilibrium being so much more nuanced than the Matrix; the little touches are just that, whereas so much of the Matrix seemed to be saying "look at me: aren't I pretty? Aren't I clever?"

I should clarify from my earlier post that I do actually like the fight scenes. Equilibrium's "corridor scene" is tons better than the Matrix's (which is pretty darn good in itself), and the close-quarters gunfight between Preston and DuPont at the end is excellent - and the "fight" before it between Preston and Brandt (which lasts all of about three moves) is just brilliantly underplayed, particularly as the audience is expecting something much more drawn-out.

[unclejack]

Yeah, I love the little things too. Even though the action in the movie is paramount, I think my favorite part of the movie is when he fails to save mary from combustion and walks outside and bursts into tears. That's pretty much the climax of his discovery of human emotion and is a very dramatic moment. And yes, the musical score helps to make the movie, it helps support all the things the storyline and the plot say themselves.

[Dave]

The first time that I've seen Equilibrium. I'd heard before that it was a poor Matrix rip-off, but I can't see the connection - apart from the obvious fight scenes.

Originally Posted by Coolhand

Funny really, as one story is about a vulnerable man learning to be a kick ass superhero, and the other is about a kick ass superhero learning to be a vulnerable man.

And that too!

The thing about the fight scenes for me, and I'm not big on Kung Fu/Jackie Chan type movies, was that in the Matrix there was a reason for the superhuman speed and abilities. It was integral to the whole plot. In Equilibrium he is just a Cleric who had learned an art of combat.

The plot in Equilibrium was very different to the Matrix. If it ripped off anything it would be 'Fahrenheit 451'.

Originally Posted by Nesacat

I would have liked the ideas in Equilibrium to have been explored further and the plot to not have been so focused on the fighting even if I love those action scenes. There were some good ideas and some very well done images all in all.

I agree, it would be a better film if it had developed those aspects further and ditched trying to be a better action movie than the Matrix.

[Gav]

People get too hung up on the gun kata.

This film is nothing like the Matrix. Not at all. It's a very superficial mistake to make if you think that the gun kata is the be all and end all of this movie.

I can see that the writer and director probably sold the move to the producers based on the success of the Matrix... however the director is on record as saying the he came up with the idea because it was so damn cool.

And it is.

moving on...

The movie itself has more nods to [the film versions of] 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 - not forgetting Metropolis - than it probably knows what to do with. There are several scenes which may as well well have been cut directly from these.

It's a very entertaining film but very flawed.

It nearly slips out of control in middle. That the director manages to rescue a movie that is rapidly descending into farce does him credit. He also forges some very effective emotional scenes which (to me) felt like they had been parachuted into from outside.

It would be interesting to find out exactly how much input the money-men were. Did they insist on the threatricality or was this something that the director slipped in under their noises?

It's this dichotomy which gives the film it's flaws and reduces it to entertaining rather than great. Lots of opportunities missed... Lots of opportunities [bizarrely] grasped.

[paranoid marvin]

Imho the film is closer to Fahrenheit 451 than The Matrix

A great film , and for once Bean plays a believeable character!

[biodroid]

I'm sorry but I don't think there was anything comparable to the Matrix. The only thing that comes close maybe is the "gun kata" (which rocks) but there are no machines and superhuman abilities and digital self images like in the Matrix. The other common thing they have is a dystopian society but other than that nothing more. To compare the two is like trying to compare Cutthroat Island to Pirates of the Carribean.

[malko]

Equilibrium was cool,
first you see the gun katas against soft troops
then at the end you see two masters fighting close up, very nice
I think it had a lot in common with THX 1138, the early Lucas movie.
About suppressing emotion with drugs, wasn't it?
and the title even contains the word 'librium'
a sedative that societies use to control the behaviour of people they have little use for.

also,
the matrix gave you the feeling that you were just about to break the laws of reality
and then when you watched it, and the animatrix, 6 more times,
and nothing happened.
Kinda like being sold a pill that doesn't do anything.
and that same pill being sold to all your friends.
Nobody got superpowers from watching the matrix, just kinda a ripoff.
Nobody got superpowers from watching equilibrium either,
but it never said that you would

[Dave]

I'm watching this at the moment. I think it is a fairly forgettable film; it must be because I'd forgotten that I'd seen it once before!

The people here who are saying "What has it got to do with the Matrix?" are correct (very little) but they need to remember that on it's release the producers went out of their way to sell it as a matrix-type film, and the 'gun kata' is filmed in a very similar way. I stand by my earlier comments that it might have worked better if they hadn't felt the need to make it such an action film.

More than 'Fahrenheit 451' I think this film has much more in common with the novel 'We' (which Orwell said was an influence on him for '1984'.)

Sean Bean didn't get much of a part though!

And was a Box Office flop, it seems to have improved with age.

[Harry Kilmer]

Was a good film, though I didn't get the whole emotionless thing - the characters clearly displayed emotions throughout the film - Bales new partner more then most.

I did like the watches though, think you can buy them over here.