Equilibrium (2002 film)
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| Equilibrium | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster for Equilibrium |
|
| Directed by | Kurt Wimmer |
| Produced by | Jan de Bont Lucas Foster |
| Written by | Kurt Wimmer |
| Starring | Christian Bale Emily Watson Taye Diggs Sean Bean Angus Macfadyen William Fichtner Christian Kahrmann |
| Music by | Klaus Badelt |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films |
| Release date(s) | December 6, 2002 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 US (est.) |
| IMDb profile | |
Equilibrium is a 2002 action/science fiction film written and directed by Kurt Wimmer. The movie draws from classic dystopian novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four (totalitarian state), Fahrenheit 451 (destruction of literature), We, Anthem, This Perfect Day and Brave New World (use of drugs to create uniform individuals), as well as from the Outlanders series of novels, and films such as Logan's Run and THX-1138. Christian Bale has the lead role in the film and is supported by Taye Diggs, Christian Kahrmann, Emily Watson and Sean Bean.
The movie performed poorly at the box office. Although it was received well by test audiences, the film was given only a limited release and little promotion [1]. It was also received very poorly by critics [2]. On MetaCritic the average rating is a mere 33%. However, it has scored 7.7 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database, voted for by viewers.
The film was originally released as Cubic in Scandinavian countries [3] and as Rebellion in Japan.
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[edit] Synopsis
Following an apocalyptic Third World War, the strict government of the dystopian city-state Libria has eliminated war by suppressing all human emotion. In the monochromatic and sedated society, artifacts from the old world (works of art and music that may evoke some emotion) are destroyed and the population is required to take sedatives. Grammaton Cleric Preston, a man trained to locate and arrest those guilty of feeling emotions, finds himself abandoning the drug and experiencing outlawed feelings. As he struggles to conceal his feelings from his superiors, colleagues, and family, Preston finds himself drawn into a sinister world of double-crossings and lies, and becomes an unwitting pawn in a sophisticated plot which ultimately changes the repressed society forever.
[edit] Plot
Equilibrium is set some time in the future, in the dystopian city-state of Libria. The film explains how, in the early years of the twenty-first century, a devastating Third World War breaks out, the impact of which brings civilizations across the planet to their knees. After the war ends, world leaders fear that the human race cannot possibly survive a Fourth World War, and so set about building a new society which is free of conflict.
Believing that human emotion is responsible for man's inhumanity to man, the new leaders ban all materials deemed likely to stimulate strong emotions, including art, music, and literature. These materials are rated "EC-10" for "emotional content" (a reference to the MPAA film rating system[4]), and are typically destroyed by immediate incineration. Furthermore, all citizens of Libria are required to take regular injections, called "intervals," of a liquid drug called Prozium, collected at the distribution centers known as "Equilibrium". Prozium suppresses strong emotions, creating a sedate and conformist society. The loss of emotions is a heavy price, but it is considered to be one paid gladly in exchange for the elimination of war and crime.
[edit] Libria
Governed by the Tetragrammaton Council, which is led by a reclusive figurehead known as "Father". Father never interacts with anyone outside the ruling council, but his image is omnipresent throughout the city in a strong cult of personality. The Tetragrammaton Council strives to create identical lives for all Librians, and uses its police state apparatus to enforce unity and conformity. The procedure for dealing with criminals is well-established in Libria - "processing" and trial pursued via the Palace of Justice, prior to terminating enemies of the state in furnaces. At the pinnacle of Librian law-enforcement are the Grammaton Clerics, a special order of police trained in the deadly martial art of Gun Kata, an art which teaches users to predict the actions of opponents during firearm combat. The Clerics exist for the purpose of locating and destroying EC-10 materials, and for pursuing, apprehending, and, if necessary, terminating "sense-offenders" - people guilty of feeling emotions.
Despite the efforts of the police and Clerics, a resistance movement exists in Libria, known as "The Underground". Members of this movement are responsible for terrorist activity against Libria, targeted specifically against the Prozium factories. The leaders of the Underground believe that if they can disrupt the production and distribution of Prozium for a short period of time - even a single day - then the Librians will rise up and destroy the Tetragrammaton Council. The Underground operates within Libria itself, but also has contact with resistance groups residing in "The Nethers" - the ruins of cities destroyed during World War III. These outsiders hoard objects and artifacts from the old society before World War III, including art and literature. Subsequently, they are the targets of Librian death squads composed of police and Clerics.
[edit] Characters
The film's protagonist, Grammaton Cleric First Class John Preston, is Libria's highest ranking cleric, whose success stems from his intuitive ability to identify sense-offenders. He is a widower with two children, whose wife was executed after being revealed to be a sense offender. After a raid on a group of resistance members in The Nethers (which ends with the destruction of the Mona Lisa), Preston notices that his partner, Grammaton Cleric First Class Errol Partridge, has personally taken a copy of the poems of Yeats under false pretenses. Preston discovers that Partridge has not turned the book over for destruction, so follows him to a ruined cathedral in the Nethers, where Partridge talks of the loss of everything that makes them human, most notably the right to experience emotions. When Preston argues that emotions lead to jealousy, hatred, and destruction, Partridge admits that it is a heavy price to pay, but one worth paying. Partridge then reaches for his gun, forcing Preston to shoot him. Shortly afterwards, Preston accidentally breaks the vial of his morning dose of Prozium, and begins to experience emotions.
Preston is assigned a new partner, the career-conscious Brandt, who claims to have similarly perceptive abilities in identifying sense offenders. Following a standard police raid on Mary O'Brien, a Librian woman who has stopped taking Prozium, his emotional confusion is exacerbated during her interrogation. Subsequent attacks and raids into the Nethers expose Preston to illegal objects salvaged from the ruined cities. His fledgling emotions are further stimulated by seeing the sunrise over the skyscrapers of Libria, and hearing the music of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (first movement). He first acts out of emotion when he makes an excuse not to execute a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy in the Nethers. Preston has by now ceased taking Prozium, and is forced to try and maintain his monotone and emotionless facade in front of his son and the increasingly suspicious Brandt. Over the course of the film, Preston's behavior increasingly mirrors that of Partridge in the beginning, even to the point of repeated dialogue.
[edit] Descent
Soon, Preston is involved in increasingly illegal activities, including regular visits to the Nethers. During one such visit to return the puppy he rescued, he is forced to kill several Librian policemen. Because of the deaths of these policemen, the Tetragrammaton Council steps up its war against the Underground, mounting more raids and ordering that unidentified persons found in the Nethers are "subject to summary destruction". Brandt, having seen Preston re-arranging his desk (signalling a dislike of conformity) and attempting to save resistance members during a raid in the Nethers, becomes suspicious, and before long, Preston is summoned before Vice-Counsel DuPont, a high-ranking member of the Tetragrammaton Council. Preston explains that he is attempting to infiltrate the Resistance in order to destroy it. DuPont tells him that he has heard rumors of a cleric attempting to join the Resistance (a reference to Preston's own unreported activities), and Preston promises to find this traitor. Preston unwittingly makes contact with the Underground, who inform him that they have been watching his progress for some time. He agrees to assassinate Father, an act which will create enough confusion for the Underground to detonate bombs in Libria's Prozium factories and hopefully bring down the Tetragrammaton Council. However, after watching the execution of Mary O'Brien in Libria's furnaces, along with remembering his wife's, Preston weeps uncontrollably, and, during this clear demonstration of strong emotion, he is arrested for sense-offense by Brandt.
Brandt brings Preston before DuPont, claiming that he has captured the traitor and accusing Preston of not taking Prozium, killing a police patrol in the Nethers, and conspiring with the Underground to assassinate Father and destroy the Council. Preston, however, turns the tables on Brandt. During a previous raid in the Nethers, Preston secretly swapped guns with Brandt, and so informs the Council that the policemen were killed with the weapon currently in Brandt's possession. Brandt realizes that he has been set up and tries to inform DuPont, but is taken away for trial and execution on the orders of DuPont. Apparently cleared, Preston is released. He returns home to destroy his stashed Prozium before a police patrol finds it, and is confronted by his young son. Preston fears that his son will betray him to the police for not taking Prozium, but he in fact reveals to Preston that he and his sister have not taken Prozium for some time, and has already hidden his cache of Prozium. Relieved, Preston goes ahead with his plan. As part of an elaborate plot formed with the Underground, the leaders of the Resistance turn themselves in to Preston, who persuades DuPont to grant him an audience with Father, during which he intends to assassinate Father and spark off a general uprising against the Librian government.
[edit] Finale
Preston arrives at the seat of the Librian government for his audience with Father, and is advised that as a security measure, he is to have no weapons in Father's presence and is required to take a lie detector test, which he had first encountered with the Underground. His emotions are picked up by the lie detector, and it is soon revealed that Preston has been tricked. Via a telescreen, Father speaks to Preston, revealing that he has been aware of Preston's sense-offense, and has staged Brandt's arrest in order to lull Preston into a false sense of security and allow him to think that his assassination scheme can go ahead. Thus, Preston has been tricked into handing over Libria's enemies whilst simultaneously walking right into Brandt's trap. Preston, defeated, asks Father how he was aware of the plot. The face on the telescreen changes, revealing the face of Vice-Council DuPont, who explains that the real Father died years ago, and that the Tetragrammaton Council elected DuPont as the new Head of State. He has simply used the image of Father as a political figurehead.
Preston, however, immediately regains control of his spiralling emotions and, using pistols that he has sneaked in beneath his ceremonial uniform, kills the guards surrounding him. He makes his way through the corridors of the Tetragrammaton Headquarters, killing several dozen guards, until he encounters DuPont and Brandt at DuPont's office, a richly decorated room which reveals that Libria's ruling elite are sense offenders themselves. A swordfight ensues in which Preston quickly dispatches DuPont's elite bodyguards and finally Brandt himself. Preston and DuPont engage in a final hand-to-hand gun-kata duel with pistols, and Preston eventually manages to disarm DuPont. Weaponless, DuPont tries to bargain for his life with Preston, arguing that Preston, a human being with emotions, cannot kill him, another human being with emotions. He asks if it is a price worth paying. Remembering Mary's execution, Preston replies that it is, and shoots DuPont. Preston then destroys the telescreen propaganda machines which broadcast across Libria, and the device which projects stunningly realistic holographic images of Father. Realizing that the Tetragrammaton Council is faced with a crisis, the Underground detonates bombs in Libria's Prozium factories.
The film ends from different views - Preston's son smiling from his school desk as the Prozium factories explode, Preston's daughter playing at home with the rescued puppy while the telescreens shut down, the leaders of the Underground cheering at their execution as they hear the bombs explode across Libria, and Preston permits himself a rare smile, watching through the windows of DuPont's office as the citizens of Libria riot in the streets, slaughtering police and clerics, signalling the collapse of the Tetragrammaton Council.
[edit] Gun Kata
Gun Kata is a fictional gun-fighting martial art discipline that is a significant part of the film. It is based upon the premise that, given the positions of the participants in a gun battle, the trajectories of fire are statistically predictable. By pure memorization of the positions, one can fire at the most likely location of an enemy without aiming at him/her in the traditional sense of pointing a gun at a specific target. By the same token, the trajectories of incoming fire are also statistically predictable, so by assuming the appropriate stance, one can keep one's body clear of the most likely path of enemy bullets.
The Gun Kata shown in Equilibrium is a hybrid mix of Kurt Wimmer's own style of Gun Kata (which he invented in his backyard) and the martial arts style of the choreographer. They disagreed on the appropriate form of Gun Kata, with Kurt Wimmer advocating a more smooth, flowing style and the choreographer supporting a more rigid style. Much of the Gun Kata seen in the movie is based on the choreographer's style (movements are rigid and rapid). Kurt Wimmer's Gun Kata is dispersed sparsely throughout the movie, most notably in the intro scene with the silhouetted man (played by Wimmer himself) practicing with dual pistols. Wimmer's intended form of Gun Kata can be better seen in UltraViolet.
[edit] Fictional references
Equilibrium contains many references to similar works of dystopian fiction, most notably George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Ira Levin's This Perfect Day, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and George Lucas' THX 1138. However, unlike unsuccessful protagonists such as Winston Smith of Nineteen Eighty-Four, John Preston emerges triumphant, overthrowing Father and bringing Tetragrammaton rule to an end.
[edit] Similarities to other Dystopian Fiction
Like Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Matrix, and Brave New World, Equilibrium takes place in the near future following a catastrophic war. Nineteen Eighty-Four imagines worldwide revolutions and civil wars in the aftermath of the Second World War, which ultimately lead to the creation of three equally powerful hyperstates and the nightmare society of the novel. The Matrix takes place after a devastating war with the machine state of Zero One. The society of Brave New World is closest to that of Equilibrium - both imagine devastating wars in the near future, the apocalyptic results of which oblige world leaders to sweep away the past and create a new society in which people live. In Brave New World, the World Controllers eliminate war by uniting the planet as one country - The World State. In Equilibrium, the Tetragrammaton Council eliminates war by forcibly suppressing emotions. The existence of other states in Equilibrium is a matter of debate. In the world of the Matrix, the entire world is in darkness (see Operation Dark Storm) and ruins after the war, except for the machine city, where humans are kept in pods to be used as a power source. The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is divided into the three hyperstates of Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia, along with a disputed zone used as a battlefield. Apart from the divide between the city of Libria and The Nethers, Equilibrium never reveals whether there are other states in the world. A globe (with distorted tectonic plates) in Vice Council DuPont's office suggests that Libria encompasses the entire planet, but this suspicion is neither confirmed nor denied.
The four works also share similarities in their portrayal of the past. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Ingsoc government teaches a severely distorted version of history, and keeps changing this version to fit in with ongoing events, so that the government can never be wrong. However, some members of the government are aware of actual historical events, but it can never be established just how distorted their version of events is. In The Matrix, humans are told the world is in the year 1999 instead of the real time (which is some time after 2199). In Brave New World, museums and monuments to the past are destroyed, and the World Controllers deliberately condition people to not ask about the past. The only people with any real knowledge of history are the ten World Controllers, who keep their knowledge from others.
In terms of the protagonists, the Equilibrium's cleric John Preston is most similar to Fahrenheit 451's fireman Guy Montag who both seek out and destroy works of art and literature through incineration. Also, the name of the character of Mary O'Brien may be a reference to the O'Brien in Nineteen Eighty-Four, as both characters provide guidance for the main character, although in different ways.
[edit] Drug use
The use of sedatives to keep society calm and placated is a central theme in Equilibrium, Brave New World, This Perfect Day and THX 1138. In Brave New World, citizens take regular doses of the drug soma, taken in tablet form, which makes users sedate and mindlessly happy. Similarly, in This Perfect Day, the members of society undergo regular injected "treatments" which keep them docile, obedient, and emotionally sedated. Soma was the inspiration for both THX 1138's emotion-suppressing pills and Equilibrium's "Prozium" (a portmanteau of Prozac and Valium), an injected drug which serves the same purpose. The 2005 film Serenity revolved around a failed government attempt to "improve" people's lives using a drug called "Pax".
[edit] Living standard
The standard of living is relatively similar in Brave New World, This Perfect Day and Equilibrium. Whilst the characters of Nineteen Eighty-Four live squalid, diseased and materially deprived lives, the citizens of Brave New World, This Perfect Day and Equilibrium enjoy clean, comfortable lives with plenty of everything. However, those citizens living outside of the city, in the ruined cities of "The Nethers", seem to live much harsher lives than the inhabitants of Libria. A distinction is drawn in psychological terms - those living in Libria indeed have plenty of everything, but their homes, clothes, possessions and lifestyles are inevitably monotone and dull. Those living in The Nethers live harsher lives, but have access to a wide range of artifacts from the old society. This also parallels Brave New World, as the reservations that the American Indians live on are also much harsher, but more spiritually rich, as well as This Perfect Day, as the islands that the incurables live on are culturally rich and diverse in other important ways. There are however some similarities between the population of "The Nethers" and the "Proles" of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Citizens of Equilibrium seem to be allowed to marry and raise children, although this would contradict the notion of a society without feelings. (John Preston has a wife, dead at the time the film begins, and two children who apparently live with him full time.) Kurt Wimmer's stance is that Libria, as seen in the film, is undergoing a transition period to a completely emotionless society, and thus many elements of the pre-apocalyptic society, such as marriage and families, still remain.
[edit] Surveillance
The surveillance society of Nineteen Eighty-Four is replicated in the film. The two-way telescreens of Nineteen Eighty-Four are a feature of Libria (although it is not known whether every telescreen is two-way, or only the screen used to ensnare Preston in the government headquarters; furthermore, it's possible that none of the screens are two-way. DuPont could simply have pre-recorded the dialogue shown to Preston, comfortable in the knowledge that the former Cleric would be captured). In both stories, the telescreens serve to broadcast propaganda, but those of Nineteen Eighty-Four also allow the thought-police to watch people at leisure. Another difference is in the content of the telescreen broadcasts: the screens of Nineteen Eighty-Four broadcast news reports on the endless war, lists of condemned criminals, and falsified historical information, while those of Equilibrium display genuine historical information and explanations of Tetragrammaton doctrine read by Father.
Surveillance is also carried out by the numerous stormtroopers spread throughout the city. During the scene where Father first introduces Prozium, a crowd of Librians can be seen passing by several stationed stormtroopers on the street. Some stormtroopers are accompanied by a young cleric-trainee, who occasionally notifies them of potential sense-offenders walking amongst the crowd.
Librians can also report any acts of sense-offense they have seen, as shown by Preston's son's decision to report his classmate. This effectively forms a city-wide Neighborhood Watch-like surveillance system that can be cruelly effective.
Curiously, however, there seems to be no system in place to monitor whether or not people take their Prozium, as the protagonist and his son have no trouble when they decide not to do so. This might just be true of Grammaton Clerics and their families, who are perhaps considered above suspiscion -- but judging by the way John Preston's wife is incinerated for "Sense Crimes" this is not, perhaps, a logical conclusion.
[edit] Class system
Equilibrium appears to borrow Brave New World's theme of a strict class structure. In Brave New World, citizens of different classes are distinguished by the color of their clothes, a theme which appears in Equilibrium. A scene of Librian citizens watching Father on a telescreen clearly shows the watchers divided into rows according to the color and quality of their clothes.
[edit] Father
Contrary to popular belief, the figure of Father was not intended as a direct reference to Nineteen Eighty-Four's Big Brother. Director Kurt Wimmer disputes this notion in the DVD commentary of Equilibrium, stating that the character of Father is a reference to religious themes that resonate throughout the film. [5] A closer match to the intent of Equilibrium is the manner in which the founders of Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei are foci of worship-like activity in Levin's This Perfect Day.
[edit] Fighting Style
The film's fight sequences have been described as very similar to The Matrix series although Equilibrium uses no wire work, virtually no slow motion, and does not use the bullet time effect from The Matrix. However, there are strong stylistic similarities between, for example, the lobby scene in The Matrix and the third-last of the battles in Equilibrium.
It is also interesting to note the quick movement, martial arts similarities between the fight style of Equilibrium and One Tough Bastard (1995), a movie that Wimmer filmed about half of.
[edit] See also
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Christian Bale | John Preston |
| Sean Bean | Errol Partridge |
| Emily Watson | Mary O'Brien |
| Taye Diggs | Brandt |
| Angus Macfadyen | Vice-Counsel DuPont |
| Sean Pertwee | Father |
| William Fichtner | Jurgen |
| Emily Siewert | Lisa Preston |
| Matthew Harbour | Robbie Preston |
| Alexa Summer | Viviana Preston |
| Maria Pia Calzone | Preston's Wife |
| Dominic Purcell | Seamus |
[edit] References
- ^ Interview: Kurt Wimmer (HTML). SciFi Dimensions (May 2003). Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
- ^ Equilibrium (HTML). Rotten Tomatoes (n.d.). Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Equilibrium DVD: Cubic (HTML). JDF. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.
- ^ Equilibrium Not 451 Redux (HTML). SciFi.com (2002-11-27). Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
- ^ Transcription by ChronosX (n.d.). Equilibrium Commentary: 9. Doubting Father? (HTML). JDF. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.
[edit] External links
[edit] Fansites
[edit] Official sites
| Films using Gun Kata |
|---|
| Director: Kurt Wimmer |
| 2002: Equilibrium |
| 2006: UltraViolet |
| Characters: John Preston | Violet Song jat Shariff |
