This, I came across on Netflix last night. It’s a sci fi
thriller/ action film directed and written by Kurt Wimmer. So a couple of
seconds in, we’re told that, in this dystopian future, it is against the law to
feel emotion. I roll my eyes at this point. Then there’s the explanation. Quite
often in sci fi films set in a world differing from ours, there has to be some
kind of explanation of what has happened to make it that way, usually with the
assistance of a voice over or subtitles where one paragraph fades to make way
for the next. However in Equilibrium we have both subtitles and
voiceover, only the subtitles didn’t display all of what was said in the
voiceover, but select highlights. It was like watching an advert. A really
boring advert.
But stick with it. I’m so glad I did. Because after the back
story is fed numbly to us, Christian Bale walks in with his squad of
emotionless beings and the action begins.
Here’s the plot. Bale’s character, John, is a high-ranking
officer of a team of law enforcers. The world in which these people live has
been created separate from the old world in which there are too many relics
which may inspire emotion (art, literature, etc.) Emotion is forbidden in this
new world because hate is what caused a 3rd world war. The
inhabitants of this totalitarian society have to administer an emotion
repressing serum to themselves using this strange injection which also looks
like a gun (into their neck, no less). Yum. Bale’s character drops his daily
dosage one evening. Eventually he grows addicted to emotion cue all the crazy
sh*t that’s about to go down.
There were some weird visual effects. One scene had Bale
shooting at people in complete darkness and so the only light emitted was that
from the gun as he shot it creating lightening type visuals. It was pretty
exciting. I like Wimmer’s style.
This is probably the only situation in which describing dialogue
as being devoid of emotion be a complement. And that is exactly what it was for
the most part. And, to be honest, I think that is probably a hard thing to do!
Another difficult task was actually playing the role of an
emotionless human being. The cast were brilliant. Bale, after stopping his
dosage, had to play a man who had feelings but had to act as someone who didn't It was acting within acting. Inception acting.
Ironically, through trying to prevent a war by eradicating
emotion, they were actually at war with emotion which, in turn, lead to
the uprise of a resistance. Bottom line? Humans love war? I must say, this film
did not leave me with a positive outlook on life or on human nature. I do,
however, think that it was an amazing film.
Brilliance, pure brilliance.
And to all of you who are familiar with Blake Snyder: I
thought it was pretty funny that Bale’s character’s “save the cat moment” was
actually a “save the dog moment”. Lol.
Also, if you want to see Christian Bale in another emotionless role, watch American Psycho. He really nails it.
