Plot summary I ripped off from Netflix.com (*laughs*):

In a futuristic world, a strict regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions: Books, art and music are strictly forbidden, and feeling is a crime punishable by death -- a rule that's enforced by feeding the denizens a mood-limiting drug. John Preston (Christian Bale) is a top government official responsible for destroying those who resist the rules. But when he misses a dose of his own medication, he experiences a pang of conscience…

(Rated R for violence)

And now for my reaction to it...Ahem:

AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

*has just watched Equilibrium*

Oh. MY. GAHHHHH!!!!! *runs around screaming*

So good!!!! Oh my freaking-a gosh!

(Well, okay, I'll be honest with you; this is more of a *so stunned that she's kind of shaking from the incredible Matrix-like very much staring Bale movie version of amazing books like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, etc*)

Seriously *shaking* Wow... And I don't mean, like, bounce around and giggle "Wow" like with Newsies. More like... the sort of feeling when you've spent weeks reading a really strange and confusing book that made little sense at the time, but then you read the last sentence, close the cover, set it down and think "Holy s#!& that was amazing!!!!" (Catch 22, for example)

Really though, I think the concepts of these sort of films/books are really facinating. Like, we keep having to make up these really horrid and cold futuristic extremes to whatever it is people are getting a little to trigger happy about (be it book banning, prozac, machines, or 'legal' invasions of privacy), in hopes of freaking ourselves out from going too far.

...2+2=5 eh?

(Highlight bellow to read spoilerish comments)
by the way:
1. I burst into laughter at seeing Sean Bean in it (Boromir!!)
2. I burst into tears when the puppy licked his face and then they asked for it back
3. I started sobbing when his son walked into the bathroom holding the lil vile thingys
4. Holy crap they keep us guessing don't they? It's like "Mwah ha- *blink* NOOOO!!!! *blink* MWAH HAHA *blink* Nooo!!! *blink* Eh hehehe *hugs Bale* and so forth)

So basically; I :love: Equilibrium. *adds it to the list of Bale movies she likes* ;)

I'm so happy that you loved the movie, its one of my fav. And the poem in it. GAH its such an awesome thing. I know what you mean about the whole shaking thingy, definitely got that reaction from the movie as well.

*shudders at remebering 1984* that novel really depressed me but yeah no definitely similar. I loved all the martial arts sequences they were so good.

so true. I think that because it triggers injustice to us about what happens in the story we realize how lucky we are, like in the Crysalids, we would accept their "unnormality" (don't think its a word *shrugs*) because we grew up with it. I don't know if i'm making anysense but yes... i also think it prepares us to know how far we should go.

so theres my input, honestly it made my day that you had seen it ^_^

~Ciao Claire

Thank you so much for suggesting it! (That was you, right? *laughs) I did love it, very much :D

In fact I'm going over to Celly's in a few minutes and chancing getting her cold so that I can make her watch it too! Hehehe... *busts out vitamin C and mask* There, she can't get her germs on me now! Mwah ha!

The poem is lovely "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams..." So lovely! (Perhaps I should write Yeats down on my 'to read' list; right after Brave New World, hehe)

I loved that concept though! 2+2=5; so chilling! Sheesh...

*laughs* And so amazingly doofy *sniggers* Though I did find the whole concept of using statistics for shooting pretty facinating :)

I tend to love end-of-the-world movies/books and movies/books like this; they're so bloody interesting because the writers are basically always trying to say something they're not smacking in your face.

Ah, Prozac Nation *ponders* (Don't take this the wrong way; I know people who have greatly benifited from anti-depressants. And people who have attempted suicide after people bothered them into not taking their ADs. So basically I know they have their place. That place is just not with every person who sniffles *sigh* Then again, what do I know? Heh...)

I'm glad *laughs* It's always nice to make someone's day :laugh: Tchao!

*holds movie up to screen and says* Looooooveeee mmmeeeeee!!!

Really all; the kung-foo may be a bit silly, but Bale's acting is incredible *nods*

You waaaaant to waaaatttccchhhh ittttttt

:D :D :D

;)

For those of you who are rather bored; this is what I babbled about on my xanga yesterday (yes, it's related to the movie). Ahem *quoting self*...

"Annoying situtation that holds absolutely no importance in real life but has managed to keep me entertained for the past who-knows-how-long:

Movie; Equilibrium. Potential plot hole: Gun swapping incident.

(for those of you who have never seen it, this will probably make absolutely no sense to you. my recommendation is that you drop all of your school work, forget all the things you do that actually have a point, and go watch this movie right now. Then get back to me; esp. since this post will include BIG TIME SPOILERS)

Background: (the entire movie! ugh). Actually, most of this is covering the climax of the movie, so whatever....

Libriums (people in Libria) are not allowed to feel, emotionally (helped along by drug called Prozium). Preston is big-shot Cleric/shooter of sense offenders and burner of paintings. Partridge (Preston's partner) commits sense offence. Preston shoots him in the head (but we get to hear lovely poetry first; yay!) Mary has stopped taking drug. Preston arrests her. Preston stops taking dose "by accident" and falls sort-of in love with Mary. Mary gets excuted for commmiting sense offense (oh the rhyming!). Preston cries (*sniffle*). Brandt goes all "*snickers*" and arrests him, making sure to make a big scene and throw him around alot (*kicks Brandt*). Brandt drags Preston in to see DuPont.

DuPont goes "search his house, making sure to look behind bathroom mirrors and pat down his kid for the prozium we already know he hasn't been taking because of all the cameras watching him get all lovey with Mary- I mean..."

Brandt says "Nah, just search the tracer on his gun and it'll show you that his gun shot the sweeper-people, cause, you know, it's not like he has five hundred of them or anything"

DuPont goes "What do you have to say for yourself Preston" followed by Preston giving a touching speech that's suppose to make us think he's stalling by confessing while he plots to steal his gun back from Brandt and keeeeeaaaalll him; then he winks at Brandt. The computer screen is turned around to show that it was Brandt's gun shoosting all the sweeper people back when Preston saved the puppy.

*crowd cheers as Brandt is drug off to be keeeeaalll in zee firey furnace bwah hahaha cough cough sputter* (We can hope he gets killed; he's not a real person :P)

Later on, of course, Preston turns in the rebel-I mean resistence leaders so that he can get to Father (boo hiss), Brandt shows up going bwah ha and getting a "NOOO!!!" from the audience. The "Brandt's job was to make you feel like you'd won silly Preston, oh, and by the way, Father's dead. I am the SPAWN of Father, bwah hahaha"- DuPont speech happens. Tis followed by "not without incident" statement on Preston's part, then lost of shosting and slicing and caboom rather like the end of Fight Club.

But all of that is beside the point.

Problem: "But I thought Preston switched guns at the scene where the people were executed all lined up against the wall and that happened after the puppy/shoosting sweepers scene!!! *panics and cries hysterically*"...

And now, after an eternity of reading up on the subject while listening to Christmas music, I have gathered up a list of possible explanations to quiet the person in my head that's still screaming about the John-Conner-being-but-not-possibly-being-13 incident (THEY BLOODY HAD A TIMELINE! CAN'T THEY COUNT??? *grumbles*)

Explanation #1: The evils of editing. ie, they switched scenes around and forgot about the switch needing to happen before puppy scene #2. Supporting this is the apparent low budget... *shrugs*

E#2: Preston actually switched guns with Brandt before puppy scene #1, and the either did or did not switch back at execution scene; meaning he either had and then didn't Brandt's gun, or his gun, or two guns without tracers, or all sorts of insane mixes full of As and Bs that are making my head spin.

The script apparently says they switched pre-puppy scene #1. It's possible that Preston then just gave his own gun back to Brandt when Brandt handed it to him in the EX scene. But then there's the issue of it being handed to his right hand and back with his left. And how the gun was turned around when handed back, which could account for one gun switched hand to hand back handle-first. Only I'm pretty sure he had another gun in his left hand already; so how did he turn it around? Nifty flip-in-hand trick? Perhaps.

E#3: They were screwing with him. They thought to watch the tapes recording his talks with Mary and thought: Meh hehe, I know! We'll let him switch the guns and then act all 'Bad Brandt' and get him to think he'd won (which explains DuPont's statement), and then take away his sword and keeeiiillll him!!

There are several variations of this one; including Mary and/or Partridge being in on it, getting Preston to feel and then stop taking Promizium and feel some more and find the rebel/resistence people, turn them in, and then turn himself in. And they also had the invisible green fairy knock his Prozium off the counter after the Sandman made him dream about his wife that commited sense offense and got incinerated. Oh yes, that must be it.

The question then becomes, when did they start screwing with him? At Brandt being arrested? His wife? And who was in on it? Mary? Partridge? Did the rebel base lauch a terrorist attack on the equilibrium plant, or the council? And how did they bloody get his son to call his partner and make sure he showed up and wisked him away before skipping off to another plant for more PZ? The kid's a good-guy (who Preston-the-brilliant-sense-offender detector managed to over-look, but that happened with his wife too, so we'll let it slide)... The conspiracy theories are endless, believe me.

E#4: The director's screwing with us. Making us think that Preston had one by deceptively flashing to the EX scene hand-off when really it happened pre-puppy scene #1. Tricky... very tricky...

And E#5: My personal favourite: "It's all just magic. gun swap, gun kata, everything. magic."

The above may no even make sense to me in five minutes, but I don't care because I amuse myself. Meh hehehe... "