6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A futuristic love story set in a world where emotions have been eradicated.
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart, Jacki Weaver, Guy Pearce, Rebecca HazlewoodRomance | 100% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Stop me if you’ve heard (seen?) this before—well, never mind, I’ll stop myself, because no matter how you slice the whatever the future version of bread is, Equals owes a lot to George Orwell’s iconic 1984. Dystopian future society? Check. A collectivist society where individuals are merely cogs in a wheel? Check. A group of people intent on rewriting, or at least re-describing, history? Check. And two anachronistic souls who have the temerity to fall in love despite cultural proscriptions against such behavior? Check and double check. Equals boasts a story credit by Drake Doremus (who also directed) and a screenplay credit by Nathan Parker (Moon), but as someone who is neither an attorney nor who plays one on television, if I were representing the Orwell Estate, I’d be having some serious chats with the Writers Guild of America. In a way Equals tends to filter a lot of Orwell’s formulations through the prism of other dystopian future outings like Gattaca, with a genetic component to what’s going on, as well as medical monitoring to make sure that citizens fall within accepted limits of “normalcy”. In Equals’ slick, serene and stylish world, emotions have been genetically “removed” after some kind of apocalyptic showdown (the film only tangentially touches upon what brought Mankind to this current state of affairs). People now live alone, with sex replaced by “conceptions summons” for women who are (evidently) artificially inseminated in order to “grow the collective”. Touching is expressly forbidden and daily life is often a march of what seems like semi-lobotomized worker bees toiling in an ultra hygienic and really white environment. The film focuses on Silas (Nicholas Hoult), who works as an illustrator at a company called Atmos (maybe the Dolby folks can join the Orwell folks in any proposed litigation), which is evidently tasked with creating stories and/or histories to keep the citizenry occupied when they’re not at their jobs or playing the puzzle games that many seem to pass the time in their apartments with. As Silas zings from his domicile to work aboard a super sleek and very white subway, he affords himself the opportunity to watch “news” on one of the omnipresent touchscreens that are a major part of this future society. He’s accosted by what turns out to be ubiquitous warnings against “SOS”, or Switched On Syndrome, a “disease” which proceeds in various stages and which basically boils down to the fact that some genetic wiring misfires and individuals with the affliction begin feeling emotions. Guess what happens next?
Equals is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. It's a little hard to know how to assess the video quality of this release since it's obvious that director Drake Doremus and cinematographer John Guleserian are going for a highly stylized look (and unfortunately their commentary isn't overly detailed on how they achieved it). As can easily be seen in the accompanying screenshots, this digitally shot feature (Arri Alexa XT, according to the IMDb) is often color graded to within an inch of its life, with a lot of the film playing out in ice cool blue to violet hues that often tend to give flesh tones a purplish tint. Low light and/or low contrast often tend to deplete detail levels, but this transfer has an abundance of banding, typically in arcs which fill the background but which often even intrude onto faces, giving things a weirdly painterly appearance that is almost reminiscent of intentionally dreamlike ambiences in films such as Waking Life. A number of scenes that are shot in extremely low light conditions suffer from what I call "digital murk" (see screenshots 12, 16 and 17). In relatively decent lighting conditions, and when extreme close-ups are employed (as they often are), detail levels are generally excellent, though often in these extreme close-up situations, it appears that Guleserian was pulling focus on the fly, and as such parts of the frame will have at least the appearance of softness at times. On the plus side, there's no noise to speak of, even in low light conditions, and no issues with image instability.
Equals is a filmed of strained silences and anguished glances, and as such its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track really only gets to stretch out a bit when the pulsing minimalist score by Sascha Ring and Dustin O'Halloran is being utilized. Ambient environmental effects are minimal, leaving occasional discrete channelization for things like the gliding sounds of units that slide out of various apartment walls. Dialogue is cleanly rendered, and fidelity is excellent throughout the presentation. Because of the kind of numbed emotional ambience of the film, dynamic range is understandably static a lot of the time.
Is Equals derivative? Undeniably. Does that mean it doesn't warrant any attention? That's a bit trickier, for a certain slack has to be cut for this feature to really resonate with any more force than a distant echo of 1984. But there are a number of interesting elements here, and for once Kristen Stewart's seeming genetic incapability to actually emote works for her character. The production design is quite, well, sleek and very white, giving an interesting visual allure to the film. With caveats duly noted, and with a recognition that video quality is odd (whether intentionally or not, I can't authoritatively say), Equals comes Recommended.
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