I have owned the movie Equilibrium for awhile. Tonight I watched it and it did not disappoint.
Science fiction
movies rarely accomplish something that this movie did. It was a flick that actually gave you a glimpse into what the future might be like and made you think about various social issues...then at the same time it had plenty of great action and special effects. In short, it was a film with a bit of a message and still hit hard in the bang bang, slash slash department. Not a bad thing or easily done.
I'm not a huge Christian Bale fan but it appears that
science fiction is his bag. Recently I also watched him in Reign of Fire and he was pretty effective in that film as well. He seemed perfectly restrained in this role which is what the part called for. Bale definitely can hold his own as an action hero. He has that I'm about to go totally nuclear despite the fact I look so cool thing working overtime. Nice.
The film is tight and the plot pulls you in. It also plays well on our emotions with stuff like people being burned alive like Salem's witches and bad guys who slaughter puppies. There is also the creepy element of brain washed drones constantly ejecting some powerful numbing drug into their necks in order to more easily ignore the fact they have absolutely no lives. All at strict orders of Big Brother of course.
Most of the themes in Equilibrium are borrowed from stuff by
Ray Bradbury and others. Still, it is put together in a reasonably original way. The production values are absolutely stunning with the drab world of suppressed humanity brought into focus in a major way. There is one scene where the Bale character stops taking his drug and rips off the opaque shield that blocks people from looking out their windows. That was pretty nice touch there. There are other things that owe a debt to Hitler's Nazi Germany...including a sorta weird looking swastika that the anti-humanity government uses as its symbol.
In some respects this is the age old tale of people being forced to conform by society and a government that sees its best interest as controlling society. I doubt it was an accident that citizens are required to dress pretty much like the unfortunate folks who suffered in Mao's communist China...scary stuff for real.
There is a tremendous showdown at the end of this movie that certainly satisfies any action fan. There are also some amazing effects...and some profound moments that seem important out of context. Like a little girl petting her new puppy. Good stuff.
This is a very good movie and one of the very few that I would gladly watch a second time. Go for it!!!