Equilibrium (2002)

Last week's new release Salt led to my post about The Recruit because both CIA-themed films were written -- at least in part -- by Mister Kurt Wimmer. As long as I'm pimping out his work, I figure I might as well bring up the two films that he both wrote and directed: 2002's Equilibrium, which earned him a decent fan base, and it's bigger-budget follow up, 2006's Ultraviolet. While the latter is not a sequel to the former, both futuristic films share a similar feel. Part of their common thread is the orginal fighting style known as "Gun Kata" which features prominently in both. While Hong Kong action films have been incorporating firearms into hand-to-hand combat (informally known as "gun-fu") for decades, Wimmer turned it into an actual martial art within the world of Equilibrium. It is based on the premise that the trajectories of bullets in a firefight are statistically predictable based on the positions of the combatants. Therefore, a master of the "Gun Kata" forms is able to place himself where he has the least probability of being hit, while at the same time firing his weapon in the directions that give him the greatest possibilities of hitting his opponents... without having to actually aim. As an actual combat system it's completely ridiculous, but in an action movie it creates the opportunity for beautiful scenes of graceful carnage.

The setting for Equilibrium is an Orwellian post-World War III future where emotions have been banned by an oppressive government that values peace at all costs. Through the daily use of a mandatory emotion-killing drug, the population of the world's monochromatic cities are prevented from feeling anything more than a mild fear of breaking the rules. Kinda like life in much of the Midwest. The belief is that feelings of any kind could lead to stronger feelings, like anger, which could lead to violence, which could once again plunge the world into war. In an effort to minimize the risk of gateway emotions cropping up, the omnipresent Big Brother-style government has banned anything that might elicit an emotional response. This means no art, no poetry, no music, no pets... and virtually no colors other than shades of gray. As with any oppressive regime, there are dissenters, individualists, guerrillas who don't want to follow the rules. The kind of people who might want to put a little salt on their flavorless government issued food product. These people exist mostly in filthy ghettos outside the well-maintained cities. They stockpile paintings, books, vinyl records... maybe even some color swatches from that long forgotten purveyor of psychedelic visual debauchery, Mister Sherwin Williams. These people are known as "sense offenders" and they are the reason that our protagonist has a job.

Enter Christian Bale, who plays our appropriately-named defender of blah, "John". John's job is to root out and destroy sense offenders and their contraband with joylessly ruthless efficiency. As you might expect, circumstances arise that cause John to question his occupation, as well as the basis of the very society he serves. Bale plays the gradually awakening machine to emotional being role quite well, as you might expect if you've seen American Psycho. And if you haven't, well go ahead and queue that up too. Taye Diggs turns in a sinister performance as an up-and-coming enforcer who would probably love his job, if such a thing were allowed. Emily Watson appears as the only female with an actual role in the story. Angus Macfadyen (The Bruce in Braveheart), Sean Pertwee, William Fichtner, and Sean Bean round out the cast. Fichtner is one of my favorite "That Guy" actors who you may know as "That Guy who worked at the mob bank in the opening scene of The Dark Knight... you know, the one with the shotgun." And if you only know Sean Bean from Lord of the Rings or as 006, then you're missing out.

Equilibrium had a fairly low budget for a sci-fi action thriller, which shows in the cheesy Leather Trenchcoat/Black Motorcycle Helmet uniforms of the anonymous government soldiers. But on the upside, it's also refreshingly CGI-free, other than the exterior shots of the Metropolis-inspired city. It's not your average sci-fi fare. There's almost an art-movie influence buried somewhere within the action. Sadly, it was a box-office flop and received generally bad reviews from critics, although Roger Ebert gave it 3 out of 4 stars and said "Equilibrium would be a mindless action picture, except that it has a mind. It doesn't do a lot of deep thinking, but unlike many futuristic combos of sf and f/x, it does make a statement." Since it hit video, the film has done significantly better and gets predominantly good reviews in customer ratings. My advice... if you liked Ultraviolet, check out Equilibrium. If you haven't seen either, start with Equilibrium. It's a better film. While I do enjoy both, I can recognize which has more merit. Think of Ultraviolet as a slicker, more mainstream product of Wimmer's imagination that cashed in it's soul for a bigger budget. Milla Jovovich's hotness replaced Bale's efficiency, bubble gum colors replaced gray, style replaced substance, and CGI replaced... well... damn near everything. But at least it kept William Fichtner.

107 minutes
Rated R for violence
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Ultraviolet (2006)
88 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence, partial nudity, and language

NOTE: Kurt Wimmer is currently working on the Total Recall remake (do we really need a remake of a movie from 1990??) which will NOT take place on Mars, does NOT feature Ahnold (happy b-day, big guy) and will be targeted for a PG-13 rating. Wow. I guess the man likes a challenge.

The Recruit (2003)

Angelina Jolie's CIA thriller Salt opens today, and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing it. Hollywood's favorite (possibly psychotic) bad girl playing a badass (possibly Soviet) super spy? And parts of it were filmed in my hometown?? Yes, please. But I haven't seen Salt yet, so I cannot comment on it. I hope it doesn't disappoint. Now on to something I have seen...

James Clayton: "Would I have to kill anyone?"

Walter Burke: "Would you want to?"

The last time Salt's writer, Kurt Wimmer, worked on a script involving the Central Intelligence Agency, it was for 2003's The Recruit. Hollywood's favorite bad-boy-of-the-moment at that time (is there a pattern here?) was Colin Farrell, who plays James Clayton, a part-time bartender who also happens to be a genius super-hacker. Clayton, who sports a permanent 5 o'clock shadow and a rebellious anti-nerd personality, is about to graduate from college and is being scouted by some top private sector companies. Things get interesting when he is approached by a recruiter of a different type: Walter Burke, played by Al Pacino, a talent scout for the CIA and a self-proclaimed "scary judge of talent". Clayton's desire for a life less ordinary, and what he sees as an opportunity to explore lingering questions about his father's disappearance years earlier, lead him to accept Burke's invitation to join the CIA.

The Recruit is not the most original film, and the audience will see through many of the twists and turns involved in the plot, but overall it is an entertaining ride. What really sets it apart is the exploration of the CIA's recruiting and training process. When Clayton begins his training, we are introduced to "The Farm", a top-secret facility where civilians are transformed into spies. The inside look at how recruits learn fieldcraft, practice with weapons and gadgets, and are trained to see details that others ignore is truly fascinating. Above all, their fundamental mindset is transformed as they are conditioned to "trust no one". As Clayton gets deeper into the Agency, the film does a good job of creating that feeling of uncertainty and paranoia that comes from the inability to trust the people closest to you.

Farrell fits his role well and Pacino is... well... Pacino. His character may seem a bit too familiar if you've seen Donnie Brasco or Scent of a Woman or pretty much anything else he's done in the last couple decades, but I can't complain about seeing Pacino throw himself into any role. The guy is just plain fun to watch. The other main character in the film, Layla Moore, is one of Clayton's classmates at "The Farm" and the film's ubiquitous romantic interest. Layla is deftly played by the beautiful and terribly underrated Bridget Moynahan in what has probably been her best role (and most screen time) to date. Layla is an essential piece of the puzzle in this psychological thriller, but, as with all of the characters, she's not to be trusted.

The Recruit opened to mixed reviews, pulled in a disappointing box office total, and I find a lot of people haven't seen it or even heard of it. All of which make it a prime candidate for one of my recommendations. It's not one of the Best Movies I've Ever Seen, but in my opinion (and that's all this blog is), the 6.5/10 rating on IMDb falls a bit short of the film's real entertainment value. Solid performances, good dialogue, an interesting plot (if you don't analyze too much), and a rare look at the inner workings of the Central Intelligence Agency make it worth watching.

115 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence, sexuality, and language


*in my next post, I'll try not to use so many parentheses

Memento (2000)

"Have I told you about my condition?"

Wanna see Inception this weekend, but can't afford to give up the appendages your local theater charges for a ticket? Well, you can still experience the mind-bending imagination of writer/director Christopher Nolan by picking up his first major film, Memento. Starring English-born Australian actor Guy Pierce (recently appearing in The Hurt Locker) as Leonard, the memory man, this film has a very unique structure: it runs backward. Well, technically, that's only half true. Chronologically, the first scene of the film is at the end of the story. As the movie plays through, each scene you see ends where the last scene you watched began. Confused yet? It's called "reverse chronology" and it's the same structure as the Seinfeld episode where they go to India for the wedding. That episode aired in 1997, three years before Memento was released, so Nolan can't claim to have originated the device, but he implements it masterfully. Spliced in between the backward running scenes are a series of black and white scenes whose relation to the main story is at first unclear. The black and white scenes run in normal forward chronology until they eventually meet the reverse chronology color scenes. It may seem confusing at first, but it's beautifully done and will probably make you want to watch it again once you have a handle on the timeline. There is a special edition of the DVD that allows you to watch the entire story in chronological order, but as far as I'm concerned that misses the point completely.

The real genius of this film is that the unusual structure is not just a gimmick. It serves a higher purpose. Leonard, our protagonist, has a condition that prevents him from forming new memories. It's a form of amnesia, but not like Jason Bourne's or the type that's been so played out in Hollywood and TV for decades. Leonard knows who he is, he remembers everything from his life up until The Incident, but since that moment, he has been unable to remember anything else for more than a few minutes. As you can imagine, this makes his life rather difficult.

Leonard: "If we talk for too long, I'll forget how we started. Next time I see you, I'm not gonna remember this conversation. I don't even know if I've met you before. "

He keeps his existence manageable through a system involving polaroid photos, notes, and... tattoos. The structure of the film... seeing a scene at a time without knowing what lead up to it... serves to simulate for the audience the experience of living with Leonard's condition. While this alone is an interesting premise for a film, there is MUCH more at play in Leonard's story. He is investigating the death of his wife, which of course can be challenging for someone who can't remember any new information he uncovers. The story is packed full of mistrust, manipulation, and mystery that will keep you guessing right up until the... err.. middle? Yeah.

Pierce gives an outstanding performance in an extremely memorable (no pun intended) role. He's solidly supported by Joe Pantoliano (what ISN'T Joey Pants in?) and his Matrix co-star Carrie-Anne Moss. While the much-anticipated Inception, which opened today, is billed as coming "from the director of The Dark Knight", it was Memento that really made Christopher Nolan a writer and director to watch.

113 minutes
Rated R for violence, language, and some drug content

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UPDATE 20.JUL.10 : saw Inception last night. it did not disappoint.
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Additional Christopher Nolan films:
Following (1998)
Insomnia (2002)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Prestige (2006)
The Dark Knight (2008)

Green Street Hooligans (2005)

Whether you've been maniacally following the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and need to fill the void left after Spain's win in the Final last Sunday, or if you're an average American who just doesn't get what the big deal about football is (and why doesn't anyone else call it soccer?), this film may be what you're looking for.

Two years after Elijah Wood concluded his (nearly) interminable trek to Mordor, he headed out on another little journey, this time to the birthplace of Middle Earth's creator: Merry Old England. In the role of Matt Buckner, our former hobbit plays an American who gets swept up in the rowdy, fanatical, and often violent world of English soccer hooliganism. Matt's new brother-in-law, Pete Dunham, played by Charlie Hunnam (who now stars on FX's outlaw biker show Sons of Anarchy) reluctantly brings him into his football firm, the Green Street Elite. If, like Matt, you're not familiar with football and firms and such, here's a little dialogue from the film to give you the basic idea:

Pete Dunham: All right. Every football team in Europe's got a firm. Some have two.
[Matt gives him a blank look]
Christ, I forgot how clueless you Yanks are. All you've seen of us is the stadium riots on TV, innit? ...
See, West Ham football is mediocre. But our firm is top-notch, and everyone knows it. The GSE: Green Street Elite. Arsenal... great football, shit firm... the Gooners. Tottenham... shit football, and a shit firm... the Yids, they're called. I actually put their main lad through a phone box window the other day.

Matt Buckner: [Matt looks down at the newspaper] What about Millwall?

Pete Dunham: Ah, Millwall. Where to even fucking begin with Millwall. Millwall and West Ham firms hate each other, more than any other firms by far.

Matt Buckner: Sorta like the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Pete Dunham: More like the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The film is not a big budget production, and I personally can't vouch for the authenticity of the subject matter, but it's a well-crafted and interesting story that explores a world few Americans are familiar with, and most probably don't even realize exists. Wood is surprisingly believable for a guy who doesn't look like he could throw a decent punch, let alone take one, and Hunnam shows some of the charisma that later led to his role as badass biker Jax Teller on SoA.

If your looking for a deeper insight into why the rest of the world gets so excited about soccer, or if you just want an entertaining film to occupy a couple hours of your time, Green Street Hooligans is worth watching.

109 minutes
Rated R for violence, pervasive language, and drug use