I was thinking about it again today and personally I think a better action movie which has similar themes (the human spirit winning over emtionlessness, the abuse of a societal system that looks at people as automatons) is Soldier. Of course the two don't necessarily directly compare one is about an entire society drugged into submission the other is a group born into submission but it was one of the movies that came to mind when I was watching it. Granted the some of the action sequences in Equilibrium were better than Soldier (the sword work was pretty good, and the final "can I shoot you" hand fight was enjoyable) overall I think the development of the character and story was handled better in Soldier. JMO everytime I try to write this post I'm not sure I'm fully explaining myself... this time I figured I'd just submit it and see what people think

SOLDIER!! WTF!!
that was the biggest pos film in histroy. ITS WORSE THEN SOLO!

Freakin the story was so @$@%@% horrible. The chick russel has a thing for is married so her husband dies and bada bing kevin costner movie. thats the worst film ever.

BLECH
bleh

Id rather watch mission to mars.
AGHHH

you left a nasty taste in my mouth. blechh

I had a feeling that would get a reaction from some people

And people say intelligent film criticism is dead.

As for "Equilibrium," I had fun with it, although it's surely no classic. A cross between George Orwell’s classic novel “1984” and “The Matrix,” with ample portions of “Fahrenheit 451,” “Minority Report” and any number of Jet Li movies thrown in, “Equilibrium” is pulpy trash that thinks it’s gold. This one doesn’t just wear its influences on its sleeves — it’s clad in nothing but influences. Still, perhaps it's just because I've been swept up and over by the omnipresent “Matrix” hype of late, but I found myself having a decent time watching this hunk of sci-fi kung-fu cheese. Why this bombed and its Keanu-fied cousin was a worldwide hit, who knows? For my money, Christian Bale's the better actor.

But I have to say, I thought that very last gun 'wrasslin' match' was freakin' AWFUL, with pudgy the allfather all of a sudden pulling Jackie Chan moves -- I couldn't stop laughing during the whole thing.

I really enjoyed Equilibrium. I'm a huge fan of Gattaca, and it reminded me a lot of that, though not quite as good. Still, I'm not too picky when it comes to science fiction. I love Farenheit 451, Minority Report, Impostor, Dark City, Soylent Green, THX-1138, heck, even Soldier. There's just something about future dystopias that appeal to me, so I like nearly all movies of that genre, and I think Equilibrium is one of the better ones.

Who are these people you speak of?

I liked Equilibrium more than Matrix. I just have more fun watching it. I saw it in the theatre and I own the DVD. I'm glad it has such a big following now and shame on Dimension for dumping Equilibrium and Below into a handful of theatres.

I enjoyed "Equilibrium" a great deal too. And the entire time I was watching it I kept thinking it would be the perfect double feature with "Gattica"

Now that's pushing it a bit but to each his own

I was most suprised of the amount of quality actors in Equilibrium. The Director and Producer definitely have strong connections.

I bought the dvd because of the hype on the forum. I liked it, but now I know why it was released in select cities. It wasn't really that good. And obviously the film distributers knew that.

I got Equilibrium from CH as a fulfillment, but I have not yet seen it. I will watch it with my brother whe he comes to visit this summer, and I know he would probably like it. I also do not think I will be watching The Wind Will Carry Us (Kiarostami) with him. What I mean is, two different films and both are probably pretty good (have not yet seen Equilibrium).

Finally got my lost shipment replacement of this from DVDplanet. I was doing a bit of rolleyes through the first few scenes, thinking they were just trying WAY too hard to be cool, but after the story got into gear I settled in for the ride and loved every minute of it. The action scenes were really well done and at least tried to be a little original (even Matrix Reloaded felt like a mildly tired rehash of its predecessor and a lot of other films that have come since then). Bale was excellent as always, and Emily Watson did fine for the small amount of time she was onscreen. Diggs felt a little out of place to me, maybe a bit smug I don't know. It was enjoyabe to see how fast he reached his "resolution" at the end. I was expecting something drawn out. Better than the original Matrix? No. Reloaded? Possibly and I enjoyed that one too.

Equilibrium took about an hour to get going (it put my roommate to sleep), but it got better and more easily watched during the second half. It's an interesting film but certainly not groundbreaking and absolutely NOT better than The Matrix. The fight scenes were well choreographed, although the amount of mindless death approached Rambo 3 levels.

Owned!

poor to crap movies get released all the time.


it's not a perfect movie, but i liked it alot. i've recomended to everyone, and they all have liked it. including my mother, and my one friend who dislikes virtually everything.

I own the DVD. My friend enjoyed it. Now I'll have to see my other friend's reaction. He's a little more picky.

I really enjoyed it too. Can't wait to watch it again when my friend comes over.

agreed. was the "father" a former Cleric or something cuz he became Chow Yun Fat's caucasian brother all of a sudden?

btw, I liked the movie. Thought the beginning moved rather slow, but overall in no way was it as great as some ppl claim it to be. I'd give it 3 stars out of 5, maybe 3.5 at most.

I would have to agree with many of the negative posts, the movie is really stylish, and the action sequences are cool, but that doesn't make up for where the movie lacked. What pissed me off the most was when they killed sean beans character off early in the movie, and let taye diggs character live, imho I think the movie would have been a lot better if it were the other way round (big sean bean fan).

I think my biggest obstacle in enjoying the movie was that I couldn't accept all the wooden performances people were giving despite the fact that that's how they were supposed to come across.