Equilibrium

Trivia: The word 'tetragrammatron' has some very interesting origins which render the film either profound or pretentious, depending on your point of view. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3477909 for a full explanation.

Trivia: Towards the end of the movie, Preston is in a white suit. This suit was derived from another white suit, worn by Bruce Lee in the film "the Chinese Connection", during the funeral scene. (01:29:05)

Trivia: The scene where Preston clubs a whole bunch of guards to death with his spiked pistol butts took only 30 minutes to shoot. (00:58:25)

Trivia: Director/writer Kurt Wimmer appears three times in the film. The first is in the opening sequence as the silhouetted Cleric performing gunkata movements during Father's voice-over. The second time is as the voice of the Tetragrammaton officer who tells Cleric Preston that they have a warrant for his wife's arrest (in Preston's flashback dream sequence). The third time is as the Resistance member who is shoved up against a column and executed by the police during the warehouse raid (he's the one who holds up his hand in front of his face in a futile attempt to protect himself). (00:01:00 - 00:57:15)

Phil C.

Trivia: Originally the emotion suppressing drug everybody takes in the film was supposed to be called 'Librium'. Kurt Wimmer changed it after discovering that there actually is a drug with this name. (00:09:50)

Trivia: The soldiers and resistance fighters, despite this film being set quite some time in the future, are all armed with unmodified modern day weapons. Personally, for those who are interested, I saw G36, G36K, FNC and AK47 rifles, and MP5, MP5K, Skorpion and P90 submachine guns. The clerics, however do have much more futuristic looking weapons. A reference to them being more advanced than ordinary humans, perhaps?

Trivia: An observation: In 'American Psycho' Bale plays a guy who has absolutely no feelings of any kind but tries to convince those around him that he does. In this film, he plays someone who goes through the entire range of human emotions but pretends he feels nothing. Interesting reversal of character.

Trivia: In the scene where Cleric Preston picks up the puppy to keep it from escaping, then hands him back to the Sweeper, the puppy makes several whimpering and yipping sounds. Director Kurt Wimmer had listened to all the "dog" sounds that the sound editor had in his library, but wasn't quite happy with any of them as characterizing the puppy quite right, so they actually hired a voiceover actress whose job it is to characterize dogs to create the puppy's sounds for this scene. (00:44:25)

Phil C.

Trivia: Director Kurt Wimmer designed the Tetragrammaton insignia as four T's, joined at the middle. When the symbol's (unintentional) resemblance to a Nazi swastika was pointed out to him halfway through the film, he was startled and upset, but it was too late to change by then so it was left that way. (00:09:00)

Phil C.

Trivia: The muzzle flash from Cleric Preston's pistols appears in the shape of the Tetragrammaton insignia in several of the gun battles: first, in the nighttime battle over the dog, when Preston first fires his pistol; secondly, several times during the hallway battle near the end of the film (most noticeably just before and after the pistols are reloaded from the wrist-loaders); and finally, when Preston fires the single shot that executes Dupont. (00:51:40 - 01:37:35)

Phil C.

Trivia: The library proprietor is listed in the credits as "Brian Connelly", but his name's actually "Brian Conley" - he's a comic/TV presenter in the UK. No reason why he can't be playing a straight role, but it was a bit of a surprise when he suddenly popped up! (01:06:15 - 01:42:20)

Jon Sandys

Factual error: When they first pick up the Mona Lisa, they show the back. There you can see a canvas sheet over a wooden framework. However, the Mona Lisa is painted directly onto wood, no canvas at all. The scan they run even says it's painted onto wood, despite visual evidence to the contrary. (00:06:35)

stupidonlinename

More mistakes in Equilibrium

John Preston: I'll do what I can to see they go easy on you.
Partridge: We both know they never "go easy."
John Preston: Then, I'm sorry.
Partridge: No, you're not. You don't even know the meaning. Its just a vestigial word for a feeling you've never felt.

More quotes from Equilibrium

Question: The movie's whole point is that emotions have been stamped out, correct? So why does Taye Diggs smile almost constantly and shows obvious glee, and the Vice Councilor pounds the table in rage. Wouldn't the elite of the government be the ideal?

Answer: Because of their display of emotions it is clear that the elite are not taking their Prozium. If the idea of the emotionless society worked, then yes the elite should be taking their Prozium. However, this society obviously doesn't work and instead of being the solution to all man's problems, Prozium have just become a way of subduing the masses while the elite are free to do as they please.

Andreas[DK]

Answer: I am sure Brandt is dosing every day. He even talks about getting his dose adjusted at the beginning of his partnership with Preston, stating: "I am a wary person, cautious by nature, always expecting the worst." And yet he definitely does seem to display anger and he smiles throughout the movie. In my opinion, the only member of the elite that is NOT taking the Proseum is "Father" since he admits as much to Preston at the very end of the movie, and he eradicated due process for offenders: He is a psychopath and so doesn't need Proseum to suppress emotions he doesn't have. Yet warning Preston at the end that he is "treading on his dreams," shows his narcissism. Maybe Brandt's "emotions" are merely acting, as he was from the start part of "Father's" plan to set Preston up. Therefore, he isn't really "feeling" at all: merely acting. One can act as though one is angry or sad or happy without actually feeling anything at all. I am sure that Brandt never came off his interval.

More questions & answers from Equilibrium

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