A dystopian future is one of Science Fiction Cinema’s most important staples. An oppressive government, looking to make their world as uniform as possible has crushed the spirits of those who live under them. Cinema’s first great Science Fiction work, Metropolis is a wonderful look at this type of society, featuring an upper class that lived in luxury as the workers below toiled in a futuristic urban hell.
Many of these films have been adapted from literary works such as Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 or A Clockwork Orange. Ridley Scott’s 1982 film, Blade Runner where society creates artificial intelligence, only to want it destroyed, was taken from Phillip K. Dick’s 1968 novel and is perhaps still the best visual template for what this type of society would look like. Population control by the government is a problem at the center Make Room! Make Room!, the 1966 novel by Harry Harrison that became the Charlton Heston vehicle Soylent Green. Also dealing with the problems of overpopulation was the 1967 novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson and that became the 1976 film by Michael Anderson, Logan’s Run.
Although neither book has ever produced a great film adaptation, George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World are probably the two most important texts in the history of science fiction cinema. Together they are both the prototypical novels involving an oppressive government that seeks to build their own version of utopia by taking away our freedoms. In both novels, people’s fates are controlled by a dystopian government by eliminating our basic desires of sex, religion and art. The government is ruthless in its treatment of citizens looking to find their own happiness by these means and implements their own Gestapo tactics to keep control.
These basic templates have inspired many of the best Science Fiction films. This list would include Brazil, Terry Gilliam’s odd, yet fascinating look at the future, where the government regulates everything from air condition repair to your own execution. They even send you the bill for the cost of capturing and torturing you. Gattaca took a much more conservative and serious approach to this type of material, where your future is decided by selective breeding.
George Lucas’ THX 1138 is an amazing look at the Brave New World/1984 model where love itself is forbidden and everyone is regulated with medication. Lucas was also able to give the government the proper amount of menace by having everyone constantly under surveillance and having cybernetic police officers to enforce their laws. THX remains Lucas’ most personal film to this day.
In 2002, one of the most accessible films of this genre was introduced to a public that really never got a chance to see it. Kurt Wimme’s Equilibrium was a film with a modest budget of $20 million and with overseas sales had already gained a hefty profit. The film’s distributor, Miramax, decided to not have a wide release domestically, fearing the film would end up losing money. This was very unfortunate, as audiences missed out on a great Science Fiction film that may not actually be based on any particular book, but does many of the great Sci-Fi works of the past very proud.
Equilibrium Starring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson, and Angus Macfadyen. Directed by Kurt Wimmer.
From its outset, Wimmer gives you the world of Libria, the directo’s futuristic society that is a hodgepodge of nearly all of the great works that have gone before it. Libria has done away with war, famine, and inequality, but to do so the government had to take away one of the most important characteristics that makes us human, our emotions. Libria has done away with many things in our daily lives that would cause us to feel; art, books, and film. Anything that is not utilitarian is forbidden. All of the vehicles of this world are nearly all white or black. People dress is all white or black suits. Many of the images harkens back to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 where books have been abolished so they will not influence people’s beliefs.
Of course, the references to standards 1984 and Brave New World are very recognizable. Huge images of Father (Sean Pertwee) propagate the news throughout the society that the government is going in the right direction, giving homage to Orwell’s Big Brother. One of the linchpins of the society is a drug called Prozium, which is a sedative designed to control everyone’s emotions. Chemically tampering with the people’s will is one of the hallmarks of Aldous Huxley’s novel.
In Wimme’s universe, the job of ridding the world of art falls to the Grammaton Cleric. The Cleric is the Fireman from Fahrenheit 451 and the Thought Police storm trooper from 1984 all rolled into one. With the Cleric, Wimmer also gives his officer an order similar to the Jedi Knights of Star Wars, only they work for the Empire, instead of against it. The Clerics are the perfection of human combat, a super warrior used to keep order and bring down “sense offenders”.
When John Woo was at the peak of directorial abilities on films such as Hard Boiled and The Killer, his films contained little Martial Arts, but often were shot as if they were Kung Fu flicks. They were referred to as “Gun Fu” movies. Wimmer apparently followed Woo’s lead and took the next step with the Grammaton Clerics of Equilibrium. The Clerics use a technique known as the Gun Kata, a martial art that has quantified the statistical probabilities of gun battles. This makes the Grammaton Cleric an “adversary not to be taken lightly. “
It is these action scenes where the techniques of Gun Kata are employed that help make the film so enjoyable. Most films of this nature get so weighed down in politics and messages that the films become too depressing to be watchable. Terry Gilliam used humor to try and get his points across in Brazil. Wimmer uses shootouts and Kung Fu battles, and he uses a lot of them.
Now many will say that the style of bullet ballets and martial arts is ripping off The Matrix, which in and of itself was ripping off tons of Asian Action films, but closer observation will give it more credit. The martial arts of The Matrix and especially its sequels, is more about spectacle than it is about violence. The sequences seem almost more like a dance than they do a fight. The action in Equilibrium is much more violent and staccato. The action is much more visceral as the Clerics break arms and faces as opposed to CGI opponents throwing down with a style closer to video games.
Of course in a story such as this, there is always a rebel who realizes how oppressive his society really is. As with Brazil’s Sam Lowery and THX-1138, Grammaton Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) falls from his society’s graces to find a true emotional freedom. It begins with his execution of a colleague, but intrigued, he becomes a sense offender when he falls for Emily Watson’s Mary O’Brien.
Bale is fantastic here, showing the same versatility he does in American Psycho and Batman Begins. Preston’s transformation from officer to rebel is gradual, with his emotional journey never feeling forced. Bale is especially good in scenes where his outer shell of a good soldier breaks down. Wimmer sets up simple sequences for Bale, such as noticing the beauty of the sun or stealing a touch of Watson’s hand, which the actor knocks out of the park.
Many scenes require him to be a man struggling not to show emotion, when he can’t help himself. For instance, a scene where Preston uncovers a cache of art, music, and paintings is particularly striking. While investigating Preston powers on a turn table, not knowing what it will do. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony rings out, staggering the man. The inclusion of the piece is also a little nod to A Clockwork Orange. The scene is quietly powerful, as a man who has never heard music experiences it for the first time. Another scene, an homage to Metropolis, has Preston breaking ranks as a mass group of workers goes to their designated jobs. Again the imagery is simple, but haunting.
Bale is equally adept in the action sequences. Cleric Preston is an unstoppable killing machine, equally adept at his Gun Kata as he is with any other weapon. Watching him move here actually fills me with regret that Batman Begins director, Christopher Nolan, did not take full advantage of showing Bale’s action abilities by cutting too often during that film’s fight scenes. Here Bale is shown in all his fighting glory, breaking bones and cutting off people’s faces.
A common element in most of these works is the desire to love and the freedom to pursue it. Equilibrium is no different. Emily Watson gives a tremendous performance here as Mary O’Brien. Her innocence permeates every scene she’s in, making it easy to see why Preston would make her the focus of his desires. Admittedly, the relationship is a bit weird and not necessarily one of the strongest portions of the film, but the performances here are good enough that it doesn’t bring down the rest of the piece.
Helping also are background scenes showing Preston having a wife who had previously been executed for sense offense. Oddly, two different women play the Cleric’s dead wife as one actress (Alexa Summer) was used early in the production, but when the rest of the characte’s scenes were to be filmed, the actress was unavailable. According to IMDB.com, another actress, Maria Pia Calzone, had to play the character for the rest of the film.
Wimmer is able to get across the menace of his society with great villains. Angus Macfadyen plays Dupont, Fathe’s right hand man. Macfadyen is a horribly underrated actor who has been wonderful in most things he’s in from Braveheart to Titus. Here he’s able to be a powerful figurehead for Libria, letting his body language do any threatening that can be left unspoken.
Giving one of his best performances is Taye Diggs as Brandt, Preston’s new partner. Brandt is a power hungry “yes man,” desperate for advancement. His conniving nature seems to always be a thorn in Preston’s side. Diggs is able to be a successful physical villain, as his fight scenes are quite convincing. One scene, in which Preston and Brandt are supposed to be in a kendo style sparring match, is quite vigorous. This was apparently due to the actors actually going at it at full speed, not holding back at all.
Other smaller roles are filled with top notch character actors. Sean Bean has some nice moments on screen as Grammaton Cleric Earl Partridge. He’s not on screen a lot, but he is important to the film’s proceedings. Also very good is William Fichtner as the resistance leader Jürgen. The role is small, but he makes the most of it.
Almost like Kill Bill was to various Grindhouse films, so Equilibrium is to Science Fiction films where the government oppresses its citizens. Borrowing from many masterpieces of the past, Equilibrium is a Sci-Fi film with big ideas that are presented in a way that is far from the tedium that often comes with making a film like this. By giving audiences tons of action, they don’t realize they’re watching a film with the same ideas Orwell had decades before.
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