When was the last time an action scene left you slack-jawed? A scene that took you so much by surprise that you had to rewind and watch it multiple times just to absorb it. In today's spoiler-heavy, piracy-rampant culture it's become almost impossible to be surprised by anything in a film; but back in the early aughts, movies could still throw the audience a curveball.
Personal anecdote: I, like most people, experienced Equilibrium (2002) on DVD in 2003. Back in the halcyon days of video rental stores, I would forego the big releases in favor of more obscure films. While this lead to a lot of disappointment, it also introduced me to cult action gems like Mean Guns, Extreme Heist, and Six String Samurai. Equilibrium was a film I'd read a blurb about in Entertainment Weekly; a low budget sci fi action movie that was more about entertainment than smarts. Sounded right up my alley.
The film started out decently enough: cool designs, that guy from American Psycho, Sean Bean getting shot in the face while reading Yeats (that shouldn't even qualify as a spoiler these days) but it needed more to keep my interest...... until.
From that moment on, the movie had my attention. Every action sequence was fresh and different from the last, each with its own distinct style and personality: bokken fight, pistol beatdown, massive 1 against 100 gunfight, and a group sword fight that ends with Bale cutting Taye Diggs' face off.
Ouch...
Now, it was time for the final battle against the big evil, Vice-Counsel DuPont. The music rises, Bale rolls in, grabs the gun, collides with his enemy and then..... slack-jawed amazement. I'd never seen anything like what I was seeing on screen... I had to re-watch it 4 times just to absorb it.
But just because something wowed us then, doesn't always mean it endures. Does being FIRST at something make it classic?
THE SETTING
Gunkata, the film's fictional martial art of choice, employs mathematical and geometrical probabilities in gunfights to determine an attacker's position and shot trajectory; it allows you to dodge his bullets and shoot him without actually aiming. The style was created through a combination of director Kurt Wimmer brainstorming in his backyard with prop guns and fight choreographer Jim Vickers bringing his Wing Chun experience to the fold.
The final fight is heavily influenced by Chi Sau (sticking hands) with the fighter's weapons often crossing their centerline while maintaining physical contact at the forearm and wrist. Aside from a weird twirl that the men do at the fight's midpoint (why?), there are no big moves and the whole thing is very much in the philosophy of economy of motion.
Not even breaking a sweat.
THE FIGHT
Coming in at just over 1 minute, Preston vs DuPont packs a lot of action into a short space. The moves all come fast and furious with the closest thing to a “valley” being when the two men aren't constantly pulling the trigger. Even then, they're trying to outmaneuver the other to get that one clean shot needed.
Your left brain is trying to tell you how ludicrous this fight is...
But it can't be heard over your right brain's yelling and cheering!
The early aughts were a great time for action cinematography; every shot from this fight is gorgeous and intense, the editing is aggressive without becoming chaotic, and the camera flows in a way to mimic the fluid brutality of the fighting. Wimmer also plays with the camera's shutter speed (ala Gladiator and 28 Days Later) to make the movement look even more kinetic. The only time it cuts away from the two men fighting are the brief moments to show the environmental destruction of their combat.
Both Bale and Macfadyen do an amazing job with the fight scene (though, at times, Macfadyen looks like he's not 100% comfortable with the intricate choreography). Wimmer and Vickers praised Christian Bale for his ability to learn and remember the complex choreography like a highly skilled dancer (hello, Newsies!). Being able to see the actors' faces during the entire fight helps to sell the film's reality to us.
Pictured: if Newsies had more guns
Despite its intensity, the fight does have something of a lull in the middle as Preston and DuPont try to conserve bullets. The music track's intensity lowers as they try to outmaneuver eachother and it starts to feel a little repetitive. And WHAT'S UP WITH THAT TWIRL???
Almost exactly at the fight's midpoint, Preston and DuPont do a strange twirling maneuver.... for some reason. It's the one part of this already implausible fight that goes too far and becomes laughable. It takes you out of the fight briefly and is something that the editor probably should have removed.
Fortunately, the lull doesn't last long and the intensity ratchets back up to ludicrous speed (they've gone plaid!). The moves become more aggressive and the techniques more risky as the fight barrels toward its conclusion. And just like that, it ends as suddenly as it began. You're left (literally) feeling the adrenaline that Preston has in the moments before he ends DuPont.
DOES IT HOLD UP?
Hell yes it does! While it may not have the kind of wow factor it had 13 years ago, Equilibrium's final battle is still a fine piece of action filmmaking craftsmanship.
In the years since it's release, Equilibrium has gained a cult following but gunkata has been all but abandoned by Hollywood. Wimmer's follow-up, Ultraviolet (2006), promised us Gunkata 2.0 but failed to deliver on it (among its many other failures). The Rock was given a shot at it in G.I. Joe Retaliation (2013), but by that point choppy editing and chaotic camerawork were the Hollywood standard; needless to say, it's a disappointment.
The de-evolution of Hollywood action.....
It's in the indie-film space that gunkata has been able to thrive. The style is used much more frequently with a surprising amount of diversity in execution. While Hollywood doesn't seem that keen (or capable) of evolving this style, the indie filmmakers who rallied around Equilibrium seem to be more than willing to take up the cause.
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