Equilibrium

Rating:
Summary: Even my Mom loved it!!!
Review: For action sake why this movie was so poorly received by critics? Ok, I'm a huge action fan. I love watching a movie with well-developed characters, great plot, interesting conversations but when I rent something in the action category I am expecting to see a film where the main character kicks some serious butt. Equilibrium was great! It not only satisfied my hunger to see beautifully choreographed gun battles but it also delivered likable characters and an intense plot. Christian Bale shines in his role as the cleric John Peterson. His expression is so cold, his stance with a gun in each hand exudes extreme power and fearlessness. In fact, he doesn't feel fear because he has to take Prozium, a drug that eliminates emotion. Accidentally, however, one day John misses the dose of his drug and starts feeling the world around himself like a true human. This is where the trouble starts and cool fight scenes begin.

If you are an action fan, you will love the fights in Equlibrium. I'm also a big Matrix fan and after watching Equlibrium I have to say the gun battle scenes of this movie can almost put Matrix to shame. For the love of action, do not miss this film! This film does indeed shows us something new.

Rating:
Summary: Nice little sci-fi flick
Review: I didn't expect much when I rented this DVD. I had never heard anything about Equilibrium when it came out in theaters last December and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. The film bombed as could be expected since not many were even aware of its existence. And then, the marketing team tried to connect it with the Matrix phenomenon to get their products known, even putting references to it on the cover of the DVD. I agree with some reviews that the implied connection does somewhat of a disservice to the movie. This is no Matrix as it shouldn't be, even though a few minor elements might be seen by some as "Matrix-influenced".

After a third world war, a new regime has decreed that feelings are dangerous and the cause of every human being's self-destructive behavior. Therefore, they decided to suppress emotions in the population by using regular doses of a drug which will inhibit their capacity to feel. "Clericals" are highly trained officiers hunting down and executing "sense offenders", who are people that stopped using the drug. This premise is actually interesting even though not necessarily new, with obvious references to "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984" among others.

Shot on a very low budget especially for a sci-fi flick, some of the special effects are definitely on the ...side but surprisingly, the whole look of the movie is quite stunning. Dark and greyish tones are utilized in different sets to evoke a sense of rigidity and coldness which fits well with the storyline. The plot is fairly simple but engaging, even though many aspects of it border on the cliche and seem convoluted at times. Despite its flaws, I found myself quite engrossed in the story even though it still felt a bit like a [copy] from so many other sci-fi movies I had seen.

One thing that really irritated me about this though, as some reviewers have pointed out, is the fact that all the actors who were supposed to play characters unable to feel would emote all over the place. In the short documentary about the making of the movie, the director explains that he made the conscious decision to have the actors avoid playing their characters as "zombies" because he felt like it would have been much less interesting for the audience. Excuse me? Personally, seeing all those actors show every emotion in the book made the whole purpose of the story seem ridiculous and pointless.

Christian Bale as the lead probably gives the best performance, even if he has some trouble making the switch from cold to emotional seem fluid. Then again, how is the audience supposed to see the difference between a character who is still under the influence of the drug and one who isn't when everybody acts the same way? I must admit this really bothered me because I feel like the movie could have been even better if the acting was more in accordance with the story.

This said, I still enjoyed Equilibrium quite a lot as I was able to suspend disbelief long enough to not let this big flaw ruin my appreciation of the film. I won't pretend this is a masterpiece but rather, a good "little" movie who deserves to be seen and appreciated. Four stars seemed appropriate here as I felt like, although not the best sci-fi I've ever seen, it is far from being the worst either. It has a coolness and sophistication which redeems its flaws and I truly feel like the movie deserves an audience. Give it a try if you are a sci-fi fan.

Rating:
Summary: A well balanced movie.
Review: I would have given this a 4.5 star rating, but I can't, and don't think it deserves a 5 star rating.

Nonetheless, the movie was great. The action scenes where extraordinary, and while some people say they are fake, they aren't. Here's how it works, the star is surrounded by enemies. He has two guns and shoots them in opposite directions(ie, one forward and one backwards, or one to the left and one to the right). Those guys are dead, then he does it the opposite way(ie if he shot forward and backwards then he shots left and right the next time), this is because those are the most likely of your enemies to shoot you next. Then it happens diagnally. Now this may seem a little fake, but you have to remember that this guy has been trained for a LONG time and is the BEST of his proffesion. He's also fast, not Matrix fast, but fast. Bale does the fight scenes with a kind of beauty, and it makes the action seem very real, very concrete.

And while I'm on the Matrix, I'll say, that this movie is original in its action, nothing like the Matrix. Don't worry, this movie isn't a rip-off of the Matrix.

While reminiscent of Farenhiet 451, this thriller is still very original. It has many twists and should be much more widly watched. I learned about the movie, not from T.V., not from the newspaper, or a magazine, but from another person who took a chance and rented it. I wasn't wild about renting the movie, but decided to as there was nothing else to rent at the local Blockbuster. I took a chance and loved it, you should too, wether you are looking at this review to rent, buy, borrow you shoud definetly get it, or at least rent it. It's worth every penny.

Christian Bale, does a splendid job too. In a world where there is no emotion he can't show happyness, sadness, anger, nothing. And he does it very well. He shows no emotion while doing the shoots up until the parts that require emotion(He accidentally doesn't take his emotion-depressing drugs on accident).

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Retelling of several classic books/movies
Review: I read some of these negative reviews, and I question the intelligence of the people who wrote them. Some say this movie is a rip off of things like Fahrenheit 451, and metropolis. While in actuality it's a retelling of the story. It goes like this.

In the future, mankind has suffered a third world war. Knowing that mankind would not survive a fourth, a policy is introduced to curb human emotion so that humans will no longer feel any of the extreme emotions which typically lead to violent conflict. Or as the movie says, "at the cost of the soaring high's, we cut off the plummeting lows." Now, people who don't take their mandatory emotion depressing drug are labeled "sense offenders" and are either summarily executed on the spot, or taken back to the city to be incinerated.

The people leading this fight against the priests are the Tetra Gramaton Clerics. These clerics have spent years mastering a style called the "gun kata". The gun kata is derived from having analyzed thousands of gun fights, and then using mathematical probability to increase lethality of the person using it, while minimizing the clerics chance to be hit.

I found the story very compelling as it shows the underlying lesson that without emotion, we aren't really human, as it's the emotion that defines us as human. I highly recommend this movie, and think that almost everyone should see it once with an open mind.

Rating:
Summary: A Well Done Adaptation
Review: To a fan of dystopia literature, this movie is immediately familiar. It's a (rather well done) blend of Kirosawa, The Matrix, and Ira Levin's novel, This Perfect Day. The Levin novel, unfortunately out of print, is wonderful, but doesn't anticipate the gunslinger hero of the late nineties/early naughts.

If you liked this movie, stick around, there'll be more. Check out the early William Gibson novels (especially the original Neuromancer/Count Zero/Mona Lisa Overdrive trilogy and the collection Burning Chrome). For a slightly lighter movie, try Split Second.

Rating:
Summary: Equilibrium in more than just title.
Review: Did you like the Matrix but feel it had just too much loopiness in it's plotline?

Did you like the book Brave New World, but felt at times it lacked a modernistic approach to action?

Did you ever wish to see those two stories in one.

Okay this movie has that kind of feel. It's basically saying in the Early years of the 21st Century, WWIII happened. Since then the world joined together(what remained of it) and created a society where emotions were outlawed because it was believed that emotions cause war. These emotional criminals are monitored and eraticated by these Gestapo type policemen called Clerics.

So it's like BNW in that it's a society hellbent on one ideal. (BNW=Youth alone EQ=No Emotion) and then one Cleric learns what it is to feel and tries to work his way through it all. While there's some incredible fight scenes (no CGI or Wires mind you. Just pure crazy choreography) it's also got a great deal of feeling to it without all the crypticism of the Matrix.

Christian Bale provides an amazing portrayal of innocence through naivity. And while Taye Diggs belied his part by smirking far too much for an emotionless Cleric, he did play a natural bad guy 'just doing his job.'

All in all despite a fairly basic plotline, and Taye Diggs minor slip ups, this movie provides all that was lacking in Matrix and more.

Tired of Wire Fighting and CGI taking over the job of great choreography blended with great acting? Look no further than Equilibrium.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Entertaining
Review: The Gun-kata in this movie is unbelievable. A very creative piece of imagination I must admit. Bale as Preston character does a good job, and also pulls off the action sequences really well. It could have been so much better if they could have used Sean Bean more in the movie. The costumes and the environments also give the audience a good feel of the cold atmosphere surrounding the new world.

One last word must go to the ending sequence. The ending sequence of this movie was unbelievable. I would say that one would easily be among the best action sequences together with Blade's opening sequence, and The Matrix's scene where Neo and Trinity take on the entire swat team in a hall. I wish it would have been longer.

For sci-fi and action fans, I strongly recommend this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Gun Fighting done right
Review: Forget The Matrix, the action scenes in this movie (done with no wires, bullet time or slow motion) absolutely blows everything else away.

This movie demonstrates how to blend martial arts and gun fighting perfectly.

The story is good, but its the fight scenes (which unfortunately only take up maybe 15 mins of the whole movie) that makes it so great.

Rating:
Summary: poor man's matirx/minority report
Review: The action sequences were very entertaining. Otherwise, the movie could be pulled apart if you wanted to get into the theory of it.

Rating:
Summary: Believable?
Review: Sure the visuals, scenes, mood, and action were very good, but I could never get past the obvious flaws to the underlying premise.
The underlying theme of the movie is that people are animals and that we will kill each other if allowed to express feelings (even a tear could get you killed). How this fascist government came to power and how/why the people let it is unexplained. It is just not plausible.
Although the action scenes were fun to watch they were also unrealistic to the extreme. How an action hero (John Preston) can stand in the middle of a room, surrounded by 20 men armed with automatic weapons, and gun them down with 2 pistols - all without moving is beyond comprehension. C'mon, even Neo has to move around.
The movie is fun, but had a real problem suspending my disbelief.