Equilibrium (Promo)

Review by Paul Hildebrandt:

Low budget and unknown movie Equilibrium hit selected theatres in 2002, but was not widely known until its DVD release. This is what I believe to be Klaus Badelt’s best piece of work yet, although what I gather to be all synth, the use of the vocals in the riveting theme keep me listening to this soundtrack over and over. The main theme is taken from a small part of Hans Zimmer’s Pearl Harbor and had the last few notes altered I still find this a very original score. 'Encounter' boasts this theme for the first time, followed by 'Evidence', 'More Reprimand', 'You must Kill Him' and several others. Equilibrium being set in a torn future mixes perfectly with the heavy synth usage by Badelt. And the scenes of the movie go perfectly with the vocals used in the scenes, the movie is very much black and white, emotionless, this score has so much emotion, one would expect a movie about people with no emotion would have a simple score with strings or perhaps some light brass, however this score is completely opposite. Along with basic synth sounds and vocals, there are also hints of metal hits and guitar themes during the fight sequences. 'Grammaton Clerics' and 'Fathers Law' compose the theme for the character of Father and the Vice Counsel, similar to that of Hans Zimmer’s The Thin Red Line score with a deeper and more evil feeling.

It is true that this score has a good amount of Media Ventures style to it, but I have no problem with that, the fight scenes such as 'Cry for Freedom', 'Hard to Believe' are full guitar, drums, and other miscellaneous synth sounds and are very much so a techno or rock style action track. 'A New Beginning' is a repeated action track used throughout the film whenever Cleric Preston is out there with his duel guns kicking ass matrix style, and although a good track, the theme is used over and over and over and can get repetitive at times, this may be my only single complaint about this score. While many people believe that Equilibrium is a copy of The Matrix, gun battles with an interesting story line based on a character realizing some type of truth, the scores are 100% completely different, while Don Davis used heavy brass and techno for the fight scenes, Badelt has crafted what I believe in my opinion to be a top quality original score and his best work ever.

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

While not as brilliant as perhaps Paul indicates it to be, there is indeed a special taste around Badelt's scoring, infusing both the electronic edge of the movie with the more classical ideas of the old democracy its world was once based upon. Badelt's music also doesn't inherit the Media Ventures style, which makes the promo of Equilibrium fresh at the same time. The choral ideas at times make the score enjoyable while the occasional electronic blasts cool and daring. However, too much is reprised and makes a 2 CD score somewhat inaccessible if you easily could make of it a 1 CD soundtrack with all the best and highlights. Badelt's score is easily for the fans of the movie but fits the visually grand (and interesting) movie well while indeed underlining a more emotional context behind it, and will please fans from both the old and new, if you have it all on 1 single package and not 2.

Paul's rating: ****1/2
Thomas rating: ***

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Tracks

Double Disc

Disk One: 39.40

1. Grammaton Clerics (1.18) Excellent Track

2. Encounter (1.48) Excellent Track

3. Cleric Preston (0.45)

4. Burned (2.09)

5. Evidence (2.48) Excellent Track

6. Always Knew (5.06)

7. Remember Me (0.29)

8. Predict (0.21)

9. Abduction (0.57)

10. Don’t Feel (0.59)

11. Libria (0.45)

12. Suppression (2.27)

13. Equilibrium (2.03)

14. Breath Is Just A Clock (1.05)

15. Gun Katas (0.44) Excellent Track

16. Family (0.51)

17. Without Love (3.29)

18. Prozium (1.14)

19. More Reprimand (2.10) Excellent Track

20. Massacre (1.49) Excellent Track

21. Fathers Law (1.02 ) Excellent Track

22. Marys Museum (1.31)

23. Discovered (0.29)

24. Kata Moves (3.21)

Disk Two: 39.22

1. Hidden Souls (1.08)

2. Practice (2.31) Excellent Track

3. Nether (0.30)

4. Try To Escape (2.28) Excellent Track

5. Execution (0.42)

6. Faith (1.37)

7. By Me (2.09)

8. Jurgen (2.37)

9. You Know Why (1.40)

10. Underground (2.33) Excellent Track

11. Is Possible (0.40)

12. No Time For Love (1.06)

13. Lost (5.12) Excellent Track

14. Decision (1.16) Excellent Track

15. Betrayed (0.47)

16. Confront (1.38) Excellent Track

17. You Must Kill Him (2.13) Excellent Track

18. Cry For Freedom (1.46) Excellent Track

19. Hard To Believe (1.39) Excellent Track

20. Nothing To Hide (0.47)

21. Master Gun Kata Fight (0.20)

22. A New Beginning (1.55)

23. End Credits (2.08) Excellent Track

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Klaus Badelt ===