EQUALS – Review

Review by Stephen Tronicek

EQUALS  is EQUILIBRIUM without guns. That’s not just to call a comparison to the worlds that the films create, but also to show how Equals elevates itself using a very similar setting. Both take place in societies where emotions are demonized, and the inhabitants must keep from feeling anything in the attempt to fit in. The divergence is that while Equilibrium allows its awesome action to take over the plot, EQUALS  doesn’t have guns, meaning that it cannot devolve into just another generic future action movie by the end. Instead, it turns into a wrenching love story, that while heavy-handed and melodramatic, works to a more satisfying degree.

Nicholas Hoult plays Silas, a man who suddenly starts to feel. He starts to notice Nia, (Kristen Stewart) who is another person that is starting to feel. Together, they find their way through these new feelings, avoid the authorities, and fall in love.

There’s a genuine Orwellian sense to Equals, in that its passion is genuine but subtle, and everything else is made up of the world. 1984 as a work seems to be a huge inspiration as the romance parallels it in many ways. Equals almost seems an adaptation of the structure of Orwell’s masterpiece, and the dry sensibility of the book transfers over just as much as the themes. That sensibility isn’t really for everyone, but here it serves to create simplicity in the internal logic of the movie leading the audience into a state of emotionlessness that actually allows an understanding of the way each character feels. That’s disarming and boring at times, but the world is consistently interesting enough and the payoff is spectacular. The “boring” sense to it also benefits some aspects. The feeling comes down thick creating an oppressive feel making the villains even more menacing.

This is the type of movie where the use of melodrama is justified. The twists and turns that the story eventually takes may seem cheesy to the point of feeling uncomfortable, but it fits the way the characters suddenly and violently gain their emotions back. The emotion in the film isn’t played safe at all, and that’s actually completely appropriate for the world. Hoult and Stewart aren’t always the best emoters (though Stewart is getting pretty good now) and this explosion of emotion serves them well as their subdued nature makes it much easier to wrestle. The other actors here: Guy Pierce, Bel Powley, Jacki Weaver etc are all predictably compelling but underused for their pedigree.

EQUALS  is one of those films that Andrew Niccol should have made a while ago but didn’t. The world is beautifully stark, and the emotions are both disarming and overwhelming. It’s a sci-fi film that actually considers the world rather than the action, and is worth seeing even if it can be little monotone at times.

4 of 5 stars

EQUALS opens in St. Louis July 22nd exclusively at the AMC Chesterfield 14