Equilibrium

Rating:
Summary: An Equilibrium of the Bowels
Review: This book makes my bowels settle every time I read it, and it's not even a book! It's a movie, and a movie is ultimately what it is and all it has to give.

Rating:
Summary: Great film
Review: Rather then repeating everything previous reviewers have said on here, I will just say one thing: Believe the reviews you read on here and not the critics reviews. For some reason this movie got knocked by critics big time. The only way I would compare it to the Matrix sequels is to say it's a much better movie then either of them were. This is a great, original movie. It's a sci-fi movie with some plot and substance which is something a lot of new sci-fi movies are lacking.

Rating:
Summary: Why did this movie go straight to video?
Review: WOW! This is a movie I bought the day after I rented it. The video store clerk suggested it after I passed it by at least a dozen times (I'm not interested in taking "chances" on rentals). I'm sure glad he did. Original and action packed. The last big seen of the movie was worth the purchase alone.
It's strange that a movie like Equilibrium can be such a sleeper when movies like A League of Extraodinary Gentlemen (yeah, whatever) are such box office smash hopefuls.
Buy this movie, or at least rent or borrow it, especially if you enjoy martial arts, action, original movie ideas, sci-fi or all of the above.

Rating:
Summary: Fahrenheit 451 + The Wild Bunch = MAYHEM!!!
Review: If you're not put off by violence, this is an AMAZING film. It's basically Fahrenheit 451 crossed with every "Gunfight" movie ever made. It's a postapocalyptic future where emotions must be suppressed to keep mankind from having a 4th world war. However, the cure is worse than the disease, as the "Grammaton Clerics" wipe out everyone with even a shred of emotion. Christian Bale is GREAT, as are Sean Bean and Emily Watson. Taye Diggs, who is normally good, gets a bit irritating here as a treacherous lawman. Also the film is a bit flawed here and there...even those who supposably aren't 'feeling' show plenty of emotion in various scenes; killing nine people to save a puppy seems a bit ridiculous; and some of the bad guys can't shoot worth a DAMN, even when they're SURROUNDING a target! However, this film has some of the most amazing gunfights ever filmed, courtesy of Kurt Wimmer's "Gun Katas", which make gunfights into swordfights at the same time. A very underrated film, well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Don't just look at the surface.
Review: I went to the official site for this movie and was STOKED to see it in theatres. Funny though, how it never actually made it there. It seems that too many people compared it to the Matrix for the studio to see it as a profitable vehicle. If you accept that the Brothers Waichowski and Kurt Wimmer drew from the same influences in realizing their seperate visions it's EASY to see that the films are otherwise nothing alike.

The people who say it is are the same tunnel visioned close minded lemmings who say all rap music sounds the same and once you heard one country song you've heard them all.

This is a great, action packed movie. It may be thin on story, but the story IS present. What it happens to lack in story it makes up for that in punch.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time and money
Review: In any good action movie, it is ok to create an alternative reality. However it is, at least somewhat, important that the movie tries to exist within the reality they choose to create.
When the movie goes way off track already within the first three minutes, and the rest of the movie really doesn't unveil any new aspects to the action genre, nor does it even give any twist to the established action genre, I get really bored. The movie is filled with faults in the logic of its own plot, acting really sucks and the movie fail to present any ideas of its own.
If at least the action scenes where any good, or at least somewhat entertaining, I would be willing to forgive some of the massive faults in this movie. But no, effects and fight scenes are uninteresting and boring.
There are really not many reasons to see this film, and I would say this is 103 minutes of my life I never will get back.

Rating:
Summary: Emotions are the root to all evil...
Review: In the future, a majority has been taught that emotions are the root to all evil and they now must be eradicated by the government through a police force lead by the Clerics. Anything that can cause emotion is to be exterminated or taken in for investigation such as art, books, music, and people with knowledge of feelings. The people are controlled by Prozium, a mind-numbing medication that controls emotions. However, when Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) loses his partner and repressed memories begin to haunt his sleep, he decides to see what happens if he does not take the Prozium. Equilibrium is a dark film about a possible future that promotes thoughts about our current freedoms in the western world; however, it also offers some action packed sequences that will keep the sleepy awake. In the end, Equilibrium offers a solid cinematic experience.

Rating:
Summary: Awsome movie!!
Review: Oh my god, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It has such great fight scenes and an awsome plot and theme. I would reccomend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a great movie. I love Equilibrium!

Rating:
Summary: Derivative, but still fun
Review: What would you get if you crossed "Brave New World" with "Fahrenheit 451" and shot it in the style of "The Matrix"? A capably made second-tier sci-fi flick called "Equilibrium". It's the post-apocalyptic dystopian near-future and, as always, the tyrannical authorities are to blame. This time, they've decided that human emotion is the cause of all our social ills, so the population is doped up on mood equalizers and a priestly crew of gun-toting clerics enforce the dose. But what happens when one of their own starts skipping his needles and questioning his role? "Equilibrium" is a reasonably successful effort, especially impressive when you consider it was shot for a mere $20 million. It's helped by a strong cast and a solid pace, but let down by the single factor that usually undermines dystopian fantasies of repression and rebellion: it's all about what's going on inside the hero's head. That's easy to explore in a novel, but in film it's harder to represent. Bale can really act, which helps, and Yeats, Beethoven and a puppy are all called into play, but it's never quite enough. Writer/director Wimmer and the Weinsteins obviously decided that teenaged boys were this film's audience, and so were more intent on delivering ludicrous (though spectacularly choreographed) action sequences and multiple plot twists than on building interesting characters or emotional intimacy with the crowd. It's doesn't help that Kurt Badelt's score is insistently epic/melodramatic when what this film really needs are a few quiet moments of emotional engagement; more well-written scenes and less musical montage. It's fun, but for a film about the importance of emotion over slavish obedience, it's a surprisingly formulaic and unmoving affair. So long as he can resist turning it into a cinematic Norman Rockwell painting (e.g. the appalling "The Majestic"), Frank Darabont's new version of "Fahrenehit 451" should show us all how it's really done.

Rating:
Summary: WAKE UP!
Review: How about this: this film is based on the premise that the totalitarian society that Bale must reject and destroy is one which is totally devoid of emotions and will stop at nothing to keep things that way. If this is true - then what is the motivation to keep order? Without emotions we have no desires - so why would anyone in this world want to do anything? Why do all the bad guys in this film smirk and laugh? I thought they didn't feel anything. Why is everyone so suspicious of each other being sense offenders? What do they care? How does any character in this film have any motivation to do anything - let alone perpetuate their society or destroy it. Oh yeah - the action sequences are laughable - and if you look close at the editing the idea of 'continuity' is something that is also suppressed int he future. If you want good action - get something by John Woo when he was making good films in Hong Kong. If you want good dystopian Sci-fi see Blade Runner or Clockwork Orange