Review of Equilibrium (2002) by Gabriel Arthur P — 03 Apr 2016

This was found several years ago in the Wal-Mart bargain bin, part of a collection of films. If this is B-grade, then it's one of those A-grade, A-list films that's been pigeonholed for some odd reason.

There are some real gems, here. I don't know well enough to say whether the invention first appears here or in Hong Kong gangster cinema (the most likely earlier source) but the concept of a formalized martial art discipline called "Gun Kata" is pretty remarkable.

That said, the movie's full of astounding fight work, nearly always mixed up with gun fighting (and involving swords when not.) The story is really intriguing and the world created to tell it is very convincing -- mostly by virtue of being very dull, with a palette of grey, black, blue-grey, white and metal, interrupted by washes of Van-Gogh yellows and outrages of red.

The story involves a population sedated into perfect subordination by two factors: the mandatory daily injection of an emotion-suppressing pharmaceutical (in beautiful little yellow ampules), and the wholesale destruction of all works of art of every kind (wait til you see what they do to the Mona Lisa.

) There are some damn fine digital effects, top quality costumes and props, amazing interiors (counterpart to perfectly dull sets), great camera and sound work, some amazing bits of dialogue with all-around stellar performances, and truly, truly poignant moments intensified by the emotionlessness of the world they occur in.

I'm really not sure why this film ended up in a bargain-bin collection, as it really deserves to be a much more valuable property. Though I might be crucified for saying it, this is truly a post-modern classic.

5/5 stars.