{"id":8581,"date":"2012-08-20T18:43:53","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T16:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/?p=8581"},"modified":"2017-09-25T20:05:27","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T18:05:27","slug":"equilibrium-starring-christian-bale-powerful-action-filled-spot-on-observation-of-human-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/equilibrium-starring-christian-bale-powerful-action-filled-spot-on-observation-of-human-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Equilibrium<\/a>
Equilibrium (2002) starring Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs, Angus Macfadyen & Sean Bean.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a post-WW3 world, Libria has been founded on peace. In Libria, there are no wars because citizens are devoid of feelings and urges of aggression, violence, greed, anger or jealousy. This is managed by the obligatory daily dose of the drug Prozium which prevents Librians from feeling any emotion, including passion, lust, love, joy…<\/p>\n

In this war-free world, the only crime committed is \u201csense offense\u201d as some of the citizens rebel against the regime and don\u2019t take the drug. People aren\u2019t allowed to keep anything colorful, personal, different-including art, books and furniture. Anything that can urge feelings\u2026<\/p>\n

Offenders are caught and killed. Their stuff is confiscated by the sweepers, armed forces enforcing the Father\u2019s law, all in the name of \u201cpeace.\u201d Outranking Sweepers are Clerics, men dedicated to further enforce the law. Clerics have been exceptionally trained in combat, whether it is with or without weapons.<\/p>\n

And the best is John Preston Christian Bale), who despite the lack of feelings, has the ability to think like the criminals, making them all easy prey and the master of fighting skills. While he is a favorite because of these, he is also monitored very closely as he has failed to spot one sense offender, his wife.<\/p>\n

However when an incident hits too close to home and coincidences end up Preston missing a dose, he gets a taste of what the offenders are fighting for. \u00a0This confuses him, but he can\u2019t help but continue feeling. But as Preston tries to cope with all of these new sensations and keep his feelings for a inprisoned offender (Emily Watson), he will have to pretend that he\u2019s still the same Preston, hide the changes from his kids, his partner (Taye Diggs), Father\u2019s representative (Angus Mcfadyen.) But how the hell can he do his job, which involves killing many people who are just guilty of wanting to feel?<\/p>\n

Will he be able to rebel against a system he so loyally believed in? Will he be able, or have the guts to, try and demolish the system- especially when his latest official mission is to destroy the rebels completely?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Why Equilibrium Is a Must-See<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sorry for the long plot summary, but I needed you to envision the world of Libria, to fully engage you in the dilemma of John Preston. I purposefully didn\u2019t include the trailer as it is misleading (as in the event(s) that lead him to rebel) and shows a bit too much, without covering an example of change in Preston\u2019s attitude.<\/p>\n

Christian Bale\u2019s portrayal of John Preston is one of the things that make this movie.<\/p>\n

While there are practically no twists (probably nothing you won\u2019t see coming anyway) that the movie will use to entice its audience, it really doesn\u2019t need to. Equilibrium gets its strength from how well the artificiality of the manufactured state is shown, how impressively the fight scenes were choreographed, Christian Bale\u2019s character\u2019s transition, the sufficient action scenes and how it is easy to identify with the rebels, and picture how hard it would be to adapt to a world like that, had we known what feeling was like before Libria…<\/p>\n

It\u2019s regime draws parallel to a regime we still see in a lot of countries, and it is a wonderful display of irony, hypocrisy of those in power, and the irony of using extreme violence to \u201cprotect\u201d \u201cthe peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s in a movie viewer\u2019s nature to look for plot holes, or at least to naturally \u201cdetect\u201d them when he\/she is not captivated by the movie. I can\u2019t help doing the same with movies that bore, annoy or fail to entertain me. However, when it comes to Equilibrium, I urge you to pay attention to the dialogue and the clues thrown around. The \u201cpopular plot holes\u201d suggested by some viewers are actually incidents whose reasons are explained or implied.<\/p>\n

Oh and if you need an addition to the cast, Sean Bean is in it.<\/p>\n

This is the movie that made me a Christian Bale fan. Because it actually shows that he is not just into the projects that are considered indie and\/or artsy, and\/or including characters that are hard to (or impossible to) relate to. Equilibrium is a lot more mainstream than most of his films, shot before the Batman trilogy.<\/p>\n

It is fast, emotional and relevant to our world. Written and directed by Kurt Wimmer (who I also became a fan of with this movie) in 2002. Currently rated at 7.6 on Imdb.com, I\u2019d rate it higher.<\/p>\n

Notes on the Director and Cast:<\/strong><\/p>\n