Equilibrium (2002)

Overrated

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kurt Wimmer isn't exactly a brilliant mastermind behind the camera. Most of the movies directed by him are either bad or disasters. However, in this rare instant, he directed a damned good film, especially considering the unusually low budget for a sci-fi action flick. This picture was erased by critics and bombed at the box office, grossing one-fourth of its budget and it's such a shame, because this movie deserves way more. Christian Bale gives one of his better performances, the way he portrays his character's change of attitude is truly entertaining to watch. The rest of the cast is are all great as well. This movie features a fighting technique called "Gun Kata". It was invented by the director and is spectacular to look at. The action and the choreography are fantastically shot and executed. Wimmer clearly borrowed from The Matrix, but it doesn't hurt the film in the slightest.Unfortunately, I have one big problem with it, and that's the script. It is overall written acceptably, but there's a twist at the end that only makes sense if you try to come up with some excuse for it. If you're an action junkie, you might find enjoyment here, even though it isn't typical mindless action.

This movie's high rating made me set up an account to review this title. It is cheap, a blatant matrix clone sprinkled with ideas from dystopian novels/movies and poorly acted; Brent Spiner's portrayal of Data in ST:TNG puts everyone into place here. A society without feelings yet everyone displays feelings from the very get go? A score which is an obvious rip-off of The Matrix? Fight scenes which look like a college student's attempt to recreate said title? Countless plot holes, etc. Don't get me wrong, if you're here for the action, able to switch off and just enjoy another b-movie sci-fi flic with a-listed actors then you can't go wrong here. As a standalone attempt though, this soon should be forgotten.

Movie Review: "Equilibrium" (2002)Indulging Japenese manga comics, writer/director Kurt Wimmer, known for written adaptation scripts for "Sphere" (1998) starring Dustin Hoffmann, Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson directed by Barry Levinson as well the neo-classical-received remake "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1999) starring Pierce Borsnan & Rene Russo directed by John McTiernan, when the director hits a rumorly--troublesome production period in Fall 2000, shooting exteriors in Berlin (Germany) and additional shot in British Columbia (Canada), accompanied by a splendid, seemingly motivated cast to make a difference in cinema after awe-stricking "The Matrix" (1999), led by action-carrying actor Christian Bale as John Preston in fittest shapes at age 25 and emotional-arc-carrying Emily Watson, when highly-advanced black-to-white costumes designed by Joseph A. Porro, who misses the ocassional "thin line of red" alongside convincing supports as William Fichtner as resistance leader Jurgen, Angus MacFadyen as supreme leader Dupon and Taye Diggs as the nemesis throughout-uncompromised character of Brandt toward faith-struggling supreme support performance presenting actor Sean Bean, awakening in reminiscene of classic dystopia-novel "Fahrenheit 451" from author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012), when a science-fiction scenario on a system with submerged emotions by equalizing individually-received medication pushes the leading character into confrontation with executive surveilling arm of a global cooperative entity, which does not shy away from on-sight raids and citizen executions with regard the title-given state of human existence.Suspense tightens over a neatly assembled 100-Minute-Editorial by William Yeh and Tom Rolf (1931-2014), when character Preston stops taking his medication under watchful as suspicious of his son, when a truth-seeking odyssey in elegant, stainless decór designed by production designer Wolf Kroeger, favoring Dion Beebe's excellent cinematography towards Christian Bale's transforming ability from ice-cold agent of governmental execution to precisely-choreographed fight scenes by Jim Vickers, letting director Kurt Wimmer deliver after painstaking as character arc fixing period of unusual minor digital effect works indulging two years in post-production the final release on December 6th 2002 to a desastrous attendance at movie houses on the targeted U.S. domestic market to the major disappointment for distributing Walt Disney Pictures affiliate Dimension Films with Harvey & Bob Weinstein executive producing, when nevertheless in retrospective this action-movie can convince under in the realm of low-budget exceeding production values especially in costume, camera and action-chereography. © 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

I don't get people sometimes. This film got panned for having the 'silly' gun kata and the boards are flooded with negative posts about just how daft it all is.All I can say is that if you are so uptight and so boring that you can't accept a little silliness in not just your life, but in a movie then there is something wrong with you.Equilibrium is a tremendous film. Stylish, gripping and with a concept that not only borrows of of George Orwell's 1984 but does completely it's own thing with it. The cast is great, the action is super slick and the visuals are sumptuous.If the film had one flaw I'd say that it was maybe a little too familiar with The Matrix which was an extremely hot property back in 2002 and the obvious comparisons were probably drawn which led to it's poor critical reception.Don't be fooled though, this is FAR better then both Matrix sequels and is a rip roaring standalone film in it's own right which is both interesting and highly entertaining.Thoroughly entertaining and thought provoking film!