Equilibrium

Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi movie for the uninformed
Review: When firepower outweighs logic, you've got the making of a silly movie that borrows blatantly from LOGAN's RUN, FARENHEIT 451 and THX 1138. EQUILIBRIUM looks like one of those movies where a highschooler is asked to imagine Aldous Huxley meets THE MATRIX and the results are hamfisted, derogative and frankly insulting to intelligent sci-fi fans who should be looking for originality rather than body count.

Bale, who used to try for 'next big actor' is now going for the next Van Damme in FUTURE COP, er ROBOCOP, er TIME COP, no EQUILIBRIUM. He seems to excel now in playing gritty-lo-no-emotions (see or don't see his last turkey, REIGN OF FIRE).

This low budget MINORITY REPORT sci-fi movie has poor production values and a Cadillac Allante as a 'futuristic car'. But the biggest crime this movie commits is to waste a talent like Emily Watson who looks a little silly playing the emotional damsel in distress to Bale's Van Dammy hammy emotion cop. The logic in marketing this movie is to placate people waiting for THE MATRIX sequel. I'd rather rent a sci-fi original than waste time on this plastic bit of tripe.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G!!! - JAW-DROPPING!!!
Review: Beautiful! Astonishing! Breath-taking! Best action scenes in over 50 years of filmmaking! This is the type of movie that makes you stand up and take notice. This is the thought-proviking version of the Matrix, but so much different. I am buying TWO of them, one for myself and one to loan out. Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson, Agnus McFadden.. none of these actors are of the blockbuster type, but they sure are great in this amazing, well-crafted MASTERPIECE of Brave New World meets The Matrix. The action sequences are nothing you have ever seen before. This is not only a great action film, but it is SMART and STYLISH. The most amazing thing is that hollywood completely dropped the ball advertising this film. Heck, after seeing this film, Christian Bale should have played NEO in the Matrix. Ok, short synposis... nevermind, you can read that yourself. Just see this movie and you will agree that this film has set the bar really high in stunts, action, and camera use. And one more thing... the story is extremely well written also. Bravo to the director and writer, Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Get Dosed!
Review: After seeing Ebert and Roeper's positive reviews, I decided to check it out while all the other lemmings were lined up around the block in the cold to see Lord of the Rings. Most of the people in the theater were only there becuase Two Towers was sold out. When it was over, nobody got up because no one was prepared for what they saw.

Matrix-like? Sure. But hey, "The Matrix" borrows heavily from "Ghost in the Shell," "The Terminator" and The Bible, to name only a few. Plus, Christain Bale is ten times the actor Keanu is. "The Matrix "doesn't have Emily Watson, either.

This is a slick action flick with great performances and interesting ideas. Why Miramax decided to dump it with minimal marketing is beyond me. Perhaps they have a stake in the upcoming "Fahrenheit 451" remake and don't want that movie to look redundant.

Miramax did the same thing with "Below," a great little ghost story that got released in a handful of theaters with hardly any marketing.

Rating:
Summary: Stupid, self-indulgent sci-fi
Review: I really wanted this to be good - there's nothing I like more than a good Sci Fi movie that challenges the world we live in today, and translates our problems into higher concepts. While the idea of [chemical substance]-induced "numbness" is an interesting one to explore, it rubbed off on the performances and photography too much. The script is dull and pretentious, and develops as intelligently as Mortal Kombat. "Let's get this character from point A to B and then have him fight and move on." This film is dumb, boring, uninspired, pretentious, slow, illogical, too "serious" and an otherwise complete waste of time. I wish the film's interesting concept had been developed by a less self-important personality with an actual grasp of story and character development.

I wholeheartedly recommend watching director Kurt Wimmer's director's commentary on this thing, though ... That ... track makes this DVD worthwhile. ...

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie...should have spent more on promotion!
Review: I'm not much of a writer, but what I do know is a good movie. I actually saw this movie by mistake, tickets were sold out to Lord of the Rings so we went to see this at the time, and I never regreted it. I saw this movie twice and I love it, even my wife love this movie. I wanted to see it again but it was already taken off the screen at my local theater, now its about to be released on DVD, what a bonus to have this movie so soon. The plot leaves much to be desired but the action sequence makes up for any shortfall. I think of it as a Matrix type movie at probably 1/3 the budget but on par with the action and imagination. Watch it and you too will know what 'Gunkata' means.

Rating:
Summary: Equilibrium is another classic underground Bale film
Review: I love this movie & was able to get a bootlegg that only makes me drool for the real dvd to come out(they did a good job on making a fake dvd whoever it was) People, DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS FLICK, SPREAD THE WORD, THIS MOVIE IS A CLASSIC FILM, PLAIN & SIMPLE, NUFF SAID....except that I dont understand why it would take them longer to release this film on dvd then others that have came out before or around the time of it and this destroys them all! PO-

Rating:
Summary: Equilibrium
Review: Hands down, an incredible film. Period. Not just an incredible genre picture, but an incredible picture. Especially in this day and age of studio homogenization of their films, this picture stayed true to its obvious roots.

An amalgamation of futuristic sci-fi/mind-bending action and moments of tear-jerking drama, this one is a very enjoyable 2 hour distraction. Hollywood failed this movie in not rightfully promoting it to the ticket-buying public but word of mouth will not be contained. It's already on my 'must buy' DVD list and I'm sure many MANY more people like me will be looking forward to picking this one up in May.

Disregard the nay-sayers who shove this off as a Matrix clone. I'm a huge Matrix fan and went into Equilibrium without any pre-conceived notions and after viewing it I realized I'd seen something so distinct and different emotionally than the Matrix that it was a crime to connect the two films.

See this film, then make your judgment. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Melodramatic and Cheesy, with some Admitedly great Action
Review: Equilibrium is basically a hash of famous orwellian inspired movies and books. Yet it falls short of any of those famous works.
In the future people are mandated to take drugs that supress emotions. In this emotionless society, most crimes are eliminated, however, rebels exist underground, as there were rebels in Farenheit 451.
To enforce all the rules of law there is a small group of gun totting Ninja policemen called 'Clerics'. Christian Bale happens to be the best Cleric there is. His acting performance is probably the best amongst the cast, which is not saying much. Although he certainly does do a respectable job with what he was given.
Even those who are willing to forgive this movie of its numerous flaws, like me, may not be able to the ensuing laughter that occurs after the cheesy scenes.
One scene is where Christian Bale realizes that there is something wrong with the society he lives in when the clerics try to kill a group of puppies. Puppies? Trust me it was as silly as it sounds.
Asides from that another flaw was simply that many of the characters would oddly display emotions at times. Even though they were supposedly on drugs.
The action scenes on the other hand were what made this film. Some of the kung fu was truly incredible. However, it was also problematic. In the Matrix it was explained how they could fight in such a manner, however, in this film ppl are fight similarly for no good reason. It just seems odd.
Equilibrium just ends up being a run of the mill Sci Fi flick with good special effects. Definetly not even close to the great Sci Fi films ( not matrix ), such as 2001, Bladerunner, and Gattacca.

Asides from all the problems, the action is definetly a huge saving grace. Has you have probably heard it does feature some amazing fight scenes, however, the were quite short and not enough. Bale also does a good job, and along with his acting, the score, there is moodiness to the film too. In the end I ended up getting the DVD, just because of the mindless fun.

Aslong as you know to expect self indulgent mindless actioner, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Rating:
Summary: How can such a great movie get no respect?
Review: First of all, I'll address some prior comments: THIS IS NOT A MATRIX RIP-OFF. The only things the two have in common are that they are sci-fi and action movies-THAT'S IT. While I watched this, the Matrix didn't even enter my mind, and it didn't strike me at all afterwards until I read some Matrix-freak's review that tore into Equilibrium.

This is a no BS action movie that, unlike many that come out these days, has a great story to go along with it. It was a lot better than usual action movies that get a great deal of hype, and was very well cast (Bale and Diggs give flawless performances). This also surprised me that a film with such established actors (including the woman from Red Dragon-I'm sorry, I don't know her name) would be a limited release and be relatively unheard of in most parts of the country.

The makers of this movie surely did miss out on a great chance to make some serious money, as this movie is much more entertaining than the majority of the ... that's out there. I'd recommend picking this up if you want great action or even if you just want an inventive movie that, unfortunately, went unappreciated.

Rating:
Summary: freaking awesome
Review: ohh my god this is the best movie i have ever seen, it is sorta like the matrix but it beats out the matrix like 80 billion times, literally, it is like 200 stars... out of 5 stars... the best movie i have ever seen, SEE IT!!!!