Gabe Toro's Review of Equilibrium the Movie

     In the future, we are a totalitarian society, believing that free will only leads to chaos. All forms of artistic expression, especially paintings and books, are outlawed. One man, dedicated towards eradicating all expressions of free will, suddenly begins to ignore his sensory deprivation drugs after he is forced to bring to justice his partner, guilty of smuggling a book from a fellow offender. Soon enough, he must ask himself whether he should be following orders or defying the natural order of an expressionless world, with a massive array of kung fu moves and weaponry.

     If you guessed either "1984," "The Matrix," Fahrenheit 451" or any number of futuristic tales dealing with repression of ideas, you’re right. I’ll leave you, the reader, to figure out whether I actually wrote the above paragraph or merely cut and pasted it from the various synopsis of other films. Perhaps I should have referenced "replicants" or something.

     Christian Bale, so convincing in "American Psycho," is John Preston, the sense officer, questioning his role in society. We learn that his wife actually was a sense offender herself and was sentenced to death, leaving him and his frightening, one-step-from-Damien child alone to serve society. Bale, usually a very effective actor, struggles mightily here, obviously trying to grasp the concept of a man who has never felt anything in his life, but now weeps at the sound of classical music. We never get the idea that he feels emotion at any point, and the script is no help either. At one point, a puppy about to be executed is used as a plot device to give Preston someone to save other than himself. Please. Never mind the fact that the idea of murdering all animals in this particular society is illogical, but the usage of a sad eyed puppy in the service of character development? Seriously, what is this shit?

      "Equilibrium’s" one calling card, the sole original idea in this entire film, is a doozy, though. Gunkata. Yes, like gymkata, but with guns. Apparently, according to this film’s logic, if you stretch out your arms, hands and occasionally your back when using a firearm, you can achieve maximum accuracy and even remain unharmed. Nowhere in the logic of gunkata is it stated the obvious: you also have to be freaking Spider-Man for this to work. Martial art gunfighting… really, who thought this shit up?

     The answer of course, is writer director Kurt Wimmer. Working on a super tight budget, Wimmer makes us aware very quickly that he is making a capital SERIOUS picture when booming orchestral music, sounding like a soundcheck on the set of "Mutant X," looms over gratuitous slow motion sequences. Because of gunkata being his own creation, Wimmer also takes the fighting style ridiculously seriously. Indeed, there are many sad scenes like when Preston disables a team of law officials in heavy armor by slapping them repeatedly with the side of a gun. If anybody’s a sense offender, it’s Wimmer, because he’s not making any here.

     And indeed, many will be drawn to "Equilibrium" because of the fighting. Well, be warned: for anybody who knows anything about real combat, they can tell that as entertaining as Keanu Reeves is in the "Matrix" films, his combat moves, like much of the cast of the Wachowski brothers’ three films, look lovely, balletic and, as a result, highly rehearsed. Do you get the idea that Keanu is THE ONE? Yeah, he seems like he has effortless skill. But can he really fight well enough to go twelve rounds with, say, Clubber Lang or Wolverine? Probably not. Using that frame of reference, Christian Bale makes Keanu look like Donnie fucking Yen. Not once are his gawky, poorly centered kung fu moves remotely believable. And as for Taye Diggs, his moves are as fluid as Optimus Prime when rigor mortis sets in.

     "Equilibrium" is a regurgitation of a film. It’s poorly edited (one character is played by two different people), incoherent (underground movement? How?) and unintentionally humorous (again, gunkata?). Bottom line: there’s no reason to see "Equilibrium" when all of its far better inspirations are available for your perusal.