STUDIO: Echo Bridge | DIRECTOR: Kurt Wimmer | CAST: Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs
RELEASE DATE: 5/10/2011 | PRICE: Blu-ray$19.99
BONUSES: featurette
SPECS: R | 107 min. | Science-fiction | 1.78:1 aspect ratio | 2.0 stereo audio | no subtitlesRATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie
| Audio
| Video
Kurt Wimmer’s science-fiction thriller Equilibrium was pretty much invisible when it was released in theaters in 2002, but the movie gained a following after its DVD release, and those fans will be pleased to know its Blu-ray debut in the U.S. is decent.
Wimmer, who wrote the Angelina Jolie thriller Salt, wrote and directed Equilibrium, setting up a futuristic world in which emotions are controlled by a drug that’s mandatory for every citizen. Sense-offenders, who stop taking the drug in favor of being able to feel and appreciate art and music, are hunted down and killed by clerics, the best of which is John Preston (Christian Bale, The Fighter). Bale’s Preston meets an offender (Emily Watson, Red Dragon) who reminds him of his wife, who was incinerated by his fellow clerics, and begins to question the order he has served so well.
The story isn’t without its flaws, which Wimmer acknowledges in the featurette on the Blu-ray disc. But the flashy fight scenes are the highlight of this film. The clerics use a fighting style that allows one man to easily beat a group of enemies in one battle (which is explained in the movie), and cinematographer Don Beebe (Nine) makes good use of light and angles to show off the action.
All looks good in this high-definition version. The film hasn’t been remastered, and the Blu-ray is an uncompressed version of the DVD, but the transfer is still clean for the most part. The picture has grain, but it’s not overpowering, and there are a few dirt spots, but they’re only noticeable if you’re looking for them.
Where the Blu-ray video excels is the color saturation. Wimmer’s futuristic world is filled with grays and blacks, but the world of the sense-offenders is covered in color. That’s especially noticeable with Watson, whose red lips and cloak and blue eyes are bright and beautiful in high-def.
The Blu-ray sound is the major disappointment on this disc, as Echo Bridge didn’t upgrade it beyond 2.0 stereo. Despite that, the audio isn’t terrible, it just could be so much better.
The only special feature on the disc is the forementioned featurette, “Finding Equilibirum,” which was on the DVD
Note, although this is the film’s debut on Blu-ray in the U.S., it has been released overseas and some copies can be bought here.
|
Buy or Rent Equilibrium
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|
  Blu-ray  |
 Blu-ray |
 Blu-ray |
 |
I love this film and I am so disappointed by the absolutely craptacular Blu-ray releases it has around the world. It’s near impossible to find one that’s actually released in the correct aspect ratio (not open matte to 1.78:1) and has lossless 5.1 audio (Japan is the only place and it’s REALLY expensive).
Echo Bridge should be ashamed for releasing a film in the incorrect aspect ratio and with with a 2.0 mix.
Yeah I have the Japanese version and it sounds much better than this version…. and of course the AR is correct 🙂