For today’s film, I picked one from one of my favorite actors of the 21ST Century in Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, The Machinist). The film I chose for today is Equilibrium which is a Sci-Fi, action, drama film. It is sometime in the future after the third world war and we know live in a fascist society where feelings are being monitored to prevent war, greed, and uprising. Christian Bale plays John Preston, an agent who is in charge of destroying artifacts that invoke feelings and destroy anyone who violates the law and feels. After missing a dose that prevents him from feeling, he starts to realize why his dead partner (Sean Bean) and a prisoner (Emily Watson) would sacrifice their lives for feelings. Preston then goes on a crusade to protect the resistance and correct all of the wrongs in the world. The film also stars Taye Diggs (The Wood) as Brandt, Dominic Purcell (Prison Break) as Seamus, Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers) as Father, Angus Macfadyen (Braveheart) as Dupont, William Fichtner (The Dark Knight) as Jurgen, Maria Pia Calzone (Gomorrah) as Preston’s Wife, Matthew Harbour (I’m Not There) as Robbie Preston, and the film was directed by Kurt Wimmer (Law Abiding Citizen).
First of all, I have to say that I loved the concept of the film, but I have a couple of issues with it. My one problem with the idea is despite being given a dose to try and prevent you from feeling, how is it that you don’t feel anything? There are a couple of instances where Taye Diggs’s character cracks a smile at Bale during the film and you are meaning to tell me that is not a violation? I do however understand that the drug makes you a mindless drone who carries on with a mundane life in a world where everything is mundane including the color of cars (all cars are completely white with no details). There are instances in films that you see an actors performance and you instantly see similarities in other roles. For example, much of the way he carries himself in this film is very similar to the way he portrayed Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight trilogy. I am not saying that is a bad thing because this is definitely one of my top Bale films besides American Psycho and The Machinist. The action in the film is something else that I wanted to talk about because I wish I saved this for Ass Whoopin Wednesday it is so bad ass. Christian Bale is a total bad ass and the action sequences are truly amazing. The whole film overall is amazing from top to bottom and check out what happens to Taye Diggs in the film. The film is currently on Netflix as we speak, but I have no idea for how long. I am going to give the film an A for a final grade because it’s special effects, acting, and action sequences are all amazing.
Back in the 1990’s, it seemed that a lot of films were coming out that explored the darkness of the drug scene with some of them being very hard to watch. Trainspotting is one of those films that gained a lot of critical acclaim and that is why I chose to watch it for today. The film stars Ewan McGregor (Velvet Goldmine) as Renton, a guy who has a little bit of a problem in good ole Edinburgh, Scotland. You see Renton is mixed up in the heroin scene of Edinburgh and no matter how hard he tries to get out of it, it seems that either his friends or the allure of the drugs sucks him right back in. He’ll have to clean up quick before the scene eats him up alive. The film also stars Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers) as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd (Dog Soldiers) as Tommy, Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later) as Begbie, Peter Mullan (Braveheart) as Swanney, Ewen Bremner (Snatch) as Spud, Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) as Diane, James Cosmo (Braveheart) as Mr. Renton, Eileen Nicholas (The Quiet Ones) as Mrs. Renton, and the film was directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later).
This is a very hard film to watch at times and so I am going to warn you that if you can’t stomach this kind of stuff then turn away. Every single person that I have talked to about this film has said the same exact thing to me and that is the dead baby scene is just way too messed up and I don’t get the point of it. I can take most things in life like zombie babies, but that was just way too much for me to handle. The film may have bee prevalent at that time, but I think it is still prevalent to today. There was a big issue back then with heroin and HIV and so I feel the film was raising awareness to the issue and how tough of a habit is to quit. Now you look at today’s generation and it’s a problem again. I love British cinema because it so over the top and I love the language. Ewan McGregor is absolutely fantastic in the film and I love what they did with make up as well. They make him look very sick during the film to sort of normal which was fantastic as they emphasized the drug habit. You can see Danny Boyle’s style of filmmaking shine through as there is similarities in this film with other works as far as cinematography is concerned. Like I said before, there is a lot of imagery in this film that you may not agree with or want to watch so I tell you to proceed with caution when watching it. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 