It presents a future where having emotions is prohibited. Critics hated it but public ratings are much more positive.
The overwhelming success of ‘The Matrix’ led to a growing interest in Hollywood in making science fiction films along those lines, but none came even remotely close to the one starring Keanu Reeves. Among all these successors, I have always felt a special weakness for ‘Equilibrium’, a dystopia starring Christian bale.
Released at the end of 2002, ‘Equilibrium’ came with everything against it, as it won a tight budget of 20 million dollars and its arrival in theaters was done without much fanfare and with the public already paying attention to the fact that the first two sequels of the ‘Matrix’ saga were going to arrive the following year. That was undoubtedly one of the causes of its resounding failure at the box office, since its worldwide income barely exceeded 5 million.
Of course, in Spanish cinemas we never got to see it and it has been a title that borders on the category of cursed in our country. In fact, It was not released here until 12 years later and directly to Canal+, without going through the cinema billboardsand it has never had a truly legal edition in physical format (because the blu-ray that is for sale is not).
Destroyed by critics and loved by the public
It didn’t help that the criticism was very harsh on her (it has 40% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of just 33 out of 100 on Metacritic). However, the public’s evaluations are much more positive, something that was key for it to quickly become a cult film.
‘Equilibrium’ presents us with a totalitarian regime that emerged after World War III in which having emotions is considered a crimewhich has led to the prohibition of several artistic expressions.
The character played by Christian bale He is one of the government’s best agents when it comes to liquidating those who go against rules that at the time led to the execution of his own wife. Everything gets complicated when an incident leads to him coming into contact with his emotions and there is no turning back…
I’m not going to deny that ‘Equilibrium’ would have benefited from a more generous budget, nor that perhaps its references are too obvious, from the ‘Matrix’ itself to such emblematic novels as ‘1984’ either ‘Fahrenheit 451’but Dismissing it as a forgettable pastiche of other people’s ideas seems like a serious mistake to me.
In fact, visually it looks great for the cost and the action scenes are much better choreographed than in productions that easily multiply their budget by 10 or more. Furthermore, it is noted that Kurt Wimmerscreenwriter and director, takes what he proposes seriously, proposing a cocktail that is careful to invite reflection but also to give a great time to anyone who has no problem letting go a little and is not obsessed with looking for possible script gaps, of which there are quite a few, it’s okay to say so.
Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs, Dominic Purcell, Angus Macfadyen or William Fichtner They accompany Bale in the cast. It is clear that ‘Equilibrium’ does not reach the level of ‘Matrix’ (because miracles like that do not occur as often as we would all like), but it does surpass the sequels to the capital work of science fiction cinema directed by the Wachowski sisters.
Unfortunately, access to ‘Equilibrium’ has not improved much in Spain over time. Not currently available within the subscription no platform in Spain and the only option to watch it streaming is through the streaming service. rent in the Amazon Prime Video catalog.
In Espinof | ‘Matrix’: in what order should you watch all the films and shorts in the saga (and where the video games fit in)
In Espinof | The best science fiction movies in history
