Has anyone here seen "Equilibrium"?

[Khephra]

.

[Khephra]

1. If you haven't

it's the "Blade Runner" of this decade.

By that I mean, it's a film that most people ignored when it came out.

BUT MAN...

If you aren't on the edge of your seats in the first four minutes when Bale shoots up a whole room, well, then, you're missing the BEST action sequence since the first Matrix film took you by the guts with bullet time...and unlike bullet time, this is all in real time.

[Khephra]

2. damn...

so many of us talk about 1984 when this film is being ignored.

WATCH IT. If you trusted me with Donnie Darko, trust me with this film. I cry over the fact no one has heard of this film.

[Khephra]

3. what can I do to make you all watch this movie?

sighhhh...

[Khephra]

4. sigh

someone else please tell me they've sen this film

[Exultant Democracy]

5. It is a very solid film

Great production value, and Christian Bail does a great job, but I feel that the director wasn’t up to the task of closing the movie and his vision wavered towards the end.

[Khephra]

6. OMG

why doesn't everyone know about this film????

I'm sitting here with my mouth open from the action scenes, and the topic? Oh wow...how in the hell did this film get missed by the "liberal press"?

Gun-fu WOW...fuck me...this is one of the best films I've ever seen that no one else seems to give a fuck aboout.

I'm making it my "work" to make sure people see this movie.

Blade Runner was a failure at the box office, as was this, but damn it....I WANT PEOPLE TO SEE THIS MOVIE

[Exultant Democracy]

7. the gun-fu was pretty nasty

so was the wood sword battle with his new partner (Trey Diggs?) The relationship with his son was also well done. None the less the last 5-10 minutes did not live up to the rest of the movie.

[Cleve Steamer]

12. Re: the "liberal press"

For what it's worth, Ebert & Roeper raved over the movie on their syndicated TV show last year. As they said: on paper, the movie shouldn't work. The premise of a futuristic society that has "outlawed emotions" is corny as hell. But it works! OH, DOES IT WORK!!!!

The action scenes alone would make this movie. But it's the other stuff, like Preston hearing Beethoven (?) for the first time and Preston's first encounter with the dog, that puts Equilibrium so far ahead of the typical action/sci-fi flick.

From Ebert's review: "Equilibrium" would be a mindless action picture, except that it has a mind. It doesn't do a lot of deep thinking, but unlike many futuristic combos of sf and f/x, it does make a statement: Freedom of opinion is a threat to totalitarian systems. Dictatorships of both the left and right are frightened by the idea of their citizens thinking too much, or having too much fun.

The movie deals with this notion in the most effective way, by burying it in the story and almost drowning it with entertainment. In a free society many, maybe most, audience members will hardly notice the message. But there are nations and religions that would find this movie dangerous. You know who you are.

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2002/12/120603.html

Other reviews HERE: http://imdb.com/title/tt0238380/externalreviews

[RebelOne]

8. Seen it.

Rented it from NetFlix a couple of months ago. Good movie.
It has gotten great reviews.

[Dead_Parrot]

9. Seen it, Loved it...

1984 meets the Matrix, with lumps of Farenheit 451, Bladerunner and Enter the Dragon for good measure... If you haven't seen it yet, cancel your dinner plans for tomorrow and go rent it.

Repeat after me:
Khephra knows best.
Khephra knows best.
Khephra knows best.
Khephra knows best.

[Cleve Steamer]

10. One of the best action movies ever?

Equilibrium was criminally underpromoted by the studio during its brief run in theaters, but like Donnie Darko, it's now finding an audience on DVD.

It's one of my favorite movies of the last few years. And I don't even like The Matrix.

[Beetwasher]

11. Is it rentable? Never even heard of it

If it comes w/ such a high recommedation from you then I'll havet to check it out. Thanks!

[Khephra]

13. Thank you all!

I was crying last night because I thought no one had seen this movie.

[MissMarple]

21. OK, I'll rent it.

:D

BladeRunner was quite good, a more thoughtful scifi.

[PVnRT]

14. I have

It kicked ass, period.

[Cleve Steamer]

15. Shameless kick: another review

From CHUD's Nick Nunziata:

You can feel the roots of some of the classic science fiction stories making up the foundation of this film, but Kurt Wimmer's movie does something few films achieve, let alone aspire to.

It shows us stuff we've never seen before.

Honestly, when was the last time a film actually made you look at your friends and go "Did I just see that?". The 2nd time I saw this film I didn't get to enjoy some of my favorite scenes just because I wanted to watch my gang's reactions just to make sure I wasn't alone in my surprise. They responded louder and bigger than I did, and it was then that everything about Equilibrium clicked for me. In addition to some of the fresh ideas, it also challenges us to think a little more than the average flick and I find it incredibly surprising that two of the best recent films I've seen are being released by Dimension (well, if your definition of "release" leaves room for the imagination).

**snip**

This a refreshingly smart and robust film with some of the coolest action scenes you will ever see. No kidding, and what makes this film even more special is the lack of wires, bullet time, or any other tired recent action trends. Instead, like the best films from the East it's all about physical performance, timing, editing, and inventive use of the frame. When it boils down, that has so much more weight than high end special FX techniques.

More at the link: http://www.chud.com/news/oct02/oct28equilibrium.php3

[Nikia]

16. My husband and I rented it

It made a pretty good statement.

[Jackhammer Jesus]

17. Great movie!

A friend recommended it to me and said the action scenes were like The Matrix, so I was expecting a rip-off.

Boy, was I surprised... :crazy:

The movie definitely didn't get the attention it deserved.

[Kusala]

18. I've seen this topic 4 times in DU lounge

So i'll give my opinion again, not that anyone cares :)

here's my take on the movie: matrix clone. Potential of the plot was very high but I wasn't that impressed. I'm just not a fan of the over-the-top Hong Kong type kung fu movies like this and Kill Bill.

Take out the HK kung fu and leave in the 1984 stuff and this could have been a winner.

[toddzilla]

19. it was good.. but had many problems with the plot

It was ok, i've kind of lost my taste for violent movies lately so it was tough to enjoy without being really bored. plus, you really can't function without emotions so it was pretty far-fetched.

[Nikia]

20. Yeah, I wondered about the no emotions

I think that you can be functional with no emotions to some extent. For characters with no emotion though, they seemed to have quite a bit of emotion. They weren't like Vulcans and doing everything according to logic. They all seemed to be motivated to some extent by emotion. That is why it would be bad to try to eliminate emotions in people. Emotion is at the root of most motivation. It would be a good way to have a totalitarian regime, but rather boring and threat of death would have to be the motivator. Someone without emotion might not care to live although I suppose it is logical to want to live. It is our purpose to exist, isn't it?

[DS1]

22. pissing-my-pants hilariously bad

God-fucking-awful. Gun-fu? BWAAA!!!! The sets and props? High school level. Hey, we need a futuristic car interior, let's cover everything up with white sheetrock!

Plot/story? Decent concept, blown to smithereens by execution.

mmm, crispy.