Equilibrium (2002) Review

Captured from IMDB.com

Introduction:

There have been times when my personal biases have prevented me from giving a bad film a just review. I used to give terrible flicks more of a lukewarm response, solely based on my first impressions of them. Although I cannot passionately hate Equilibrium as I’ve hated Transformers 2, I will say this and mean it: Equilibrium is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in recent years (and I’ve seen Hobgoblins).

The reason why I cannot bring myself to hate Equilibrium is simply because it could’ve been a good movie. The film promised not only great action, (which according to the advertisement, would have made me “Forget The Matrix”), but also a thought provoking experience. Equilibrium is heavily influenced by ‘1984’ by Orwell and ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Bradbury. The movie is set in a dystopian world where emotion is prohibited by law and thus attempts to depict the drawbacks yet the necessity of human emotion. Despite these appealing aspects, Equilibrium lacks a driving force and fails to entertain or give food for thought.

Selling Point - Action:

Every copy of this movie (that I’ve seen) has the following tagline: “Forget The Matrix!” I ask myself “Why?” The Matrix was a fine blend of philosophical ideas and memorable action sequences. Even if Equilibrium was better than The Matrix, what reason is that for the audience to forget an initial masterpiece? Since I’ve started blogging again, I have completely abandoned the star rating system, simply because people don’t realize that film ratings aren’t supposed to be compared to each other. Each film is marked on its own criteria. Now, what really blows my mind is the very fact that Equilibrium can’t even hold a candle to The Matrix.

The action sequences are the very worst I’ve ever seen. I have no problem with suspending my beliefs when it comes to action sequences. I can accept the violation of laws of physics. What I cannot accept are the doofuses with guns who aim worse than the Stormtroopers from the Star Wars movies. These soldiers are so dimwitted that while Christian Bale throws karate chops at two of them, the other nine just stand there, holding their guns. Once again, I can accept the fact the protagonist can dodge bullets. What I cannot accept is the lack of suspense due to the sheer invincibility of the protagonist; everything’s just too easy for him. There was not a single moment when I felt like he was in trouble, not a moment of any imminent threat. This is what is supposedly greater than the action packed Matrix movies? The action is sloppy and silly, almost laughable. Many critics have said that Equilibrium is a failure in science fiction but an entertaining film regardless. I say it’s a failure in both, and it fails hard.

Plot:

If this movie had no plot, it would’ve been better. This movie has a very bad plot.  As much as I like Bale as an actor, his character SUCKS and therefore there is no driving force in the story. There is no journey, no development. Bale’s character, Preston starts out as an unyielding elite priest. The biggest turning point of this movie, the point where Preston’s cruel, cold personality changes is a mere accident. After killing his partner, Partridge for not suppressing his emotions, Preston almost immediately breaks his vial of drugs that’s supposed to suppress his own emotion. What follows is Preston’s experience of emotion and the softening of his heart. The problem with this is that...it could’ve happened to anyone at any time and it happens instantaneously. I’m not buying this! Preston was not a character; he was an empty shell who was suddenly given emotion. He learns what a typical protagonist would’ve learned throughout the course of a whole movie in less than ten seconds. There is no in-depth emotional exploration that was promised. What should’ve happened was in the process of killing Partridge, Preston should’ve dropped his vial and broken it. This is also an accident but what’s different is that 1) we’re not wasting a death of a character and 2) Preston’s life changing experience is not as stupid as dropping a vial in the bathroom. What would follow in this better plot would be Preston’s gradual realization of the feeling guilt and a moral dilemma.

Going back to the actual, stupid plot, let’s not forget the fact that Preston is also a plot convenient character. In his first fight with his new partner, Brandt (played by Taye Diggs), Preston struggles. This, I thought, foreshadowed a climactic battle between these two which would be a rival battle. Instead, in their second encounter, Preston slashes up Brandt in two seconds. I actually timed the fight once I got over my dejected laughter. This brings me back to my previous point: the action in this movie sucks and what’s more is that Preston can go from evenly matched to godlike whenever he wants. 

Conclusion:

Equilibrium is only 107 minutes long but I had to take frequent breaks because it was so damn boring. A movie can be slow paced but this one was all over the place with its uneven turning points and still managed to be dull. So kudos to the writing staff; not many people can do this. I wouldn’t condemn this movie so much for its boredom had it not been advertised for being superior to The Matrix. This movie is criticized for a lack of originality, which is the least of its problems. It lacks everything: action, insight and genuine emotion. This movie reaches an equilibrium of bad in every possible aspect.