Equilibrium

Rating:
Summary: Better than The Matrix
Review: This movie has a plot as well as action and some special effects. The Matrix was all special effects. The story is based upon a book "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin. Unfortunately he isn't credited for it by the producers. It is basicly a story about individualism versus totalitarianism with some very entertaining plot twists.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!!!
Review: I loved this movie. I think this movie and it's star (soon to be Batman - Christian Bale) are highly underated. It didn't do so well in the box office, probably because of poor marketing (I only saw one commercial for it prior to it's release and never even new when it came out. I would have never seen it if I hadn't come across it in the video store). Pay no attention to the review above in which Pavel Simsa complains that there is not enough realism in this movie. Sure, there are some unrealistic scenes in the movie, but hey, I've got a news flash for you Pavel - IT'S ONLY A MOVIE! and a SCI/FI movie at that. Sci/Fi movies are supposed to be unrealistic. If you want realism, go rent Steel Magnolias or something. So relax and enjoy. Bottom line - If you liked The Matrix, and you're not one of these people who sits there through the whole movie picking it apart saying "That would never happen", you'll love this movie. Lots of action, a good storyline, and a great cast. I've added it to my DVD collection and once you've watched it, I'm sure you'll do the same. Pay no attention to the editorial above either. I liked the gun katas and I happen to think that the fight scene over the puppy was awesome! Who wouldn't fight someone that was trying to kill a puppy dog?

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Love this movie. It's wonderful. A broad science fiction thriller in a classic vein, Equilibrium takes a respectable stab at a Fahrenheit 451-like cautionary fable. The story finds Earth's post-World War III humankind in a state of severe emotional repression: If no one feels anything, no one will be inspired by dark passions to attack their neighbors. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer's monochromatic, Metropolis-influenced cityscape provides an excellent backdrop to the heavy-handed mission of John Preston, a top cop who busts "sense offenders" and crushes sentimental, sensual, and artistic relics from a bygone era. Predictably, Preston becomes intrigued by his victims and that which they die to cherish; he stops taking his mandatory, mood-flattening drug and is even aroused by a doomed prisoner. The action scenes are extrordinary. This film is so underated, it's unbelievably good. See this. This is what Sci-fi should be.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling Sci-Fi Adventure
Review: It is true that there are many similarities between this and other Sci-Fi stories. Human beings are oppressed by a government like in "1984" (except Big Brother is known as Father), pieces of art or otherwise items that make you "feel" are burned, destroyed, or taken like in "Farenheit 412," and some of the city scenes remind me of futuristic films like "Brazil" or the animated film "Metropolis." However, the film takes it all its own in one storyline and unlike other films (like Star Wars Episode II) doesn't make you feel like you're just watching a carbon copied movie.

The futuristic society of this movie oppresses its citizens by removing "feeling," which includes movies, paintings, books, cute puppies, any thing that would change your bland nature. Imagine a more serious version of "Demolition Man." Like the latter, there's a rebel group known as the Underground that just wants to live their lives the way they want too. Enter our hero, a "Cleric." The Clerics practice a form of martial arts that utilizes both body, mind...and firepower. While it will probably be a while before we see a type of person like the Cleric, the movie presents it in a fairly realistic manner and you're never left feeling "Yeah...right." Unlike what other reviewers have said, it doesn't feel too much like the Matrix. There is no bullet dodging or slow motion shoot outs, the Clerics merely use quick calculation and smooth, flowing movement to decide who to kill first and how to avoid getting shot themselves. Its believable.

The movie has some excellent action and some unforgettable lines and scenes. Its definately worth at least a rental. I'm definately planning on buying it some day.

Rating:
Summary: Do you know what the problem with Hollywood is?
Review: "They make s**t. Unbelievable, unremarkable s**t. I'm not some wannabe filmmaker, searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke. No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, shortsighted directing, and a moronic stringing-together of words the studio terms as prose. No, Im talking about the lack of realism. Realism. Not a prevasive element in modern American cinematic vision." - This is Travolta's opening text of the movie Swordfish. It came to my mind together with The Credits of Equilibrium. I'm not saying this movie has all these elements. But lack of realism is definitely the main. The fighting scenes for example. He is fighting about 20 heavily-armed guys (these looked like M-16s, but let's just use the term automatic assault rifle). Leaving apart that he has just 2 pistols, he eliminates about half of them and then he just stands there for nearly 4 seconds while the pistols are being reloaded. So the scene is: Primary target standing in the middle of the room for 4 seconds against 10 men with automatic assault rifles... Here is another one: He eventually eliminates the second half, picks up the assault rifle and gets to the Father's room and immediatelly drops it at the doorstep. For some reason, highly trained and very experienced warrior goes unarmed against his primary target, seeing that there is his cold-blooded ex-colleague with two ninja swords on the table and room with obstacles that can hide unexpected surprises, and he still drops assault rifle. OK, another one. He gets to the middle of the room. About ten guys with ninja swords appear and go towards him. They know he eliminated 20 assault-rifled guys with his 2 pistols and that at this point he has no weapon on himself. Still, they approach such a person with ceased swords getting so close to him that he can reach them or the swords, which is effectively the only way he can fight them. Again, he kills them all. Still standing in the middle of the room, his ex-colleague has two pistols on the table and knows that this guy does not like to be f***ed with. Instead of just shooting him, he still approaches him with unprepared weapon in more relaxed way than I would use to approach my car in the parking lot. Is that realistic? In comparison to Matrix, in Matrix the heroes' speed and "invincibility" was partially justified by the fact that they were in fact hacking into basic rules of physics. But even if they did not, it would still look more realistic than Equilibrium. Or a storyline problem: The Underground claims that they have planted bombs to all the clinics that make the drug. So why the h**l do they need to remove one guy first? If they destroyed the factories and he was still alive, would he pick a broomstick and by some kind of spell create the drug for entire city to keep them under control? Or another one: They are waiting for a sweep team to search his house for small capsules with liquid in them that can be easily disposed of. And they still let him in with nobody to watch what he's doing. Simply, unbelievably unrealistic. I've seen Cube 2 the other day. Leaving aside the arguable quality of the movie, the ending makes sense. They send a highly trained agent "terminator" to find and kill someone. They sent several of them before and none succeeded. This one does. So she finishes the mission, learning the truth. They know she posesses the danger of exposing the practices and has to be killed, so they do. Simply, instantly, without her ever having a clue what happened (bullet in the head does not give you a chance to realize that you'll be dead in a while). That's it. I need to get rid of someone who is extremely dangerous and posesses immediate threat - so I won't take chances. Mission completed, I have what I need and you are now too dangerous. Even saying "Ready, Aim" is unnecesary chance. But "Audiences love happy endings." (quote from Swordfish again)

Rating:
Summary: Matrix step aside!!!
Review: This movie is without a doubt ten times cooler and better than The Matrix. The Gun-Kata is jawdropping. So please log out of the Matrix and in to EQUILIBRIUM!!!

Rating:
Summary: Not a horrible movie, but almost a complete copy
Review: Equilibrium takes place in a dystopian future. Usually when a story takes place in this type of setting, each work presents a unique view of what will happen to society in the near future. This was not the case with the Equilibrium. Almost all of the themes of this movie are ripped from defining work of futuristic literature.

In the movie, 'sense' offenders--those who posses individual qualities--are arrested and have their personal belongings burned. Does this sound like Farenheit 451 to anyone else?

The clerics--the sensory police that arrest sense offenders--are all too akin to the firemen in Farenheit, and also resemble the thought police in 1984. The citizens in the movie also follow a ubiquous leader known only as 'the father' who is blantly a photocopy of '84's Big Brother.

Since the setting of this movie is already hacked, it is only fitting that the plot itself be as unoriginal. The main character follows a similar route as Guy Montog (F. 451) or Wilson Smith (1984) by originally being an intergal part of the society's structure, but then rebelling against his previous beliefs. The ending is a little different, but leaves many loose ends that cannot be tied up by the fledgering plot.

Another drawback to this movie is its much too constant depiction of violence. The fight scenes really aren't that great. I'm not sure when this movie was released, but the hyper-active martial arts styles that the characters use, and some key fight scenes in the movie are almost INDENTICAL to those in the Matrix, which would give another reason (as if it needed one) of why this movie is so terribly trite.

This movie can be appreciated by those would haven't already read great classic dystopian literature. However, for the many of us who have, it presents almost nothing new. Ultimately, the movie steals from much better works of literature and inserts their themese in a more visually appealing but much less thought provoking medium. My suggestion is to just read the books instead.

Rating:
Summary: This movie kicks butt!!
Review: Truly a visual delight that could take the Matrix on for 10 rounds and come out swinging. Vaguely Orwellian, this film is about a futuristic world in which emotions are outlawed in order to prevent a 4th World War. One of the enforcers of this rule is Preston, (Christian Bale), a so-called cleric in this world, dispensing order among the sense offenders. In order to eradicate all emotion in the population, drugs are administered daily to wipe out all feelings. When Preston doesn't take his dosage one morning, his entire world is upheaved as he experiences for the first time the feelings and emotions of the world around him.
With some truly stunning fight scenes that rival movies like the Matrix and the Transporter, prepared to be awed as this movie runs it course, ultimately leaving you thirsting for more.

Rating:
Summary: A Predictable Mishmash of Dystopian Futures
Review: Equilibrium shows the viewer a nightmarish future in which emotion is suppressed by drugs and incessant televised lectures from "Father". Anything that might induce an emotional response is prohibited (art, music, drama, and so on). A totalitarian police force, the clerics, enforces this new world order by destroying prohibited material and executing those involved in emotional offenses. This has all been done before. One reviewer called it "a thinking man's movie"; the only thing I found to stimulate thought was the attempt to figure out which story a given plot element was being borrowed from. Numerous candidates present themselves: Brave New World, Ayn Rand's Anthem, Fahrenheit 451, even a little bit of 1984. The borrowing goes beyond plot - many of the visuals are very clear ripoffs of cinematic versions of the above and the Matrix.

Because of the degree of "borrowing", the film's plot twists are predictable in the extreme. The exception would be the happy ending which is incongrously tacked on to the end. One suspects that the writer and director did not think the average viewer was prepared for the depression that dystopian visions can induce.

Despite all this, the film is at least moderately entertaining. The various action sequences are all well done. Bale and MacFadyen turn in performances that are better than one would think possible given what they have to work with.

Rating:
Summary: A thinking man's movie
Review: A lot of people have been comparing this movie to The Matrix. But the special effects and fight scenes are actually realistic and believable. Not just a bunch of people flying around(obviously on wires) in slow motion for 2 minutes before landing a kick. Also the story isn't confusing or complicated. Anyway, comparisons to Sci-fi movies like Gattaca and Minority Report are more fitting. It's a futuristic version of society where rulers try to rid the world of war, hate crimes, etc. by eliminating the cause...extreme emotions. So they use a drug to eliminate ALL emotions, including love and fear. Where Gattaca targets classism (money buying status), and Minority Report targets morals (arresting a person who's done nothing), Equilibrium targets desensitization. It's an excellent study in extremes in order to avoid...extremes. Christian Bale plays the top "cleric" who begins to feel, and decides to join the resistance to knock out the system. Where The Matrix failed for me (long, overblown, over computerized, implausible fight sequences), Equilibrium succeeds with good old fashioned martial arts with weapons (that NEVER is overlong or boring), and only a few special effects, and no wires at all. So everything looks fantastic and real. A must for any fan of the "futuristic society" genre of films. Definately in the league of Gattaca and Minority Report. With better action and choreography that in big budget, highly digital movies, like The Matrix and Charlie's Angels 2. Christian Bale will definately revive the Batman franchise if his performance in this is any indication.