Equilibrium- the most underrated action movie of the decade?

I vaugely remembered the name of this film in 2002, but I never had a chance to see it. My only experience with it was the unimpressive poster and a Penny Arcade comic on it.

Holy crap, I just saw the trailer and this film looks amazing. The acting, costuming, gun action and sword fighting all look incredible. Why the hell didn't this movie get more press!? I don't know whether Christian Bale is scarier as an emotionless killing machine or an enraged killing machine. I can so see him as Batman now it isn't funny. The concept of a bad guy fighting for good has been a really under used concept, and has been pulled off sucessfully even less so. The logic behind the bullet dodging is brilliant too and reminds me a lot of Remo Williams, the ORIGIONAL bullet dodger as far as I'm conserned. Having (thankfully) overcome my fondness for the Matrix movies (which yes, I now recognize was nothing but an average live action Anime ) this movie looks like a nice gem to fill the space in my heart for kick ass gun duels and awesome anti heroes.

I mean come on! It's F-451... with swords... and guns akimbo.

[image=http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2002/equilibrium1.jpg]

Come get some mother bastiches!

 

(which yes, I now recognize was nothing but a below average live action Anime )

Fixed it for you.

I personally love this film, and it's currently the only stand alone film I own. It's not as deep as most other good distopian films, nor nearly as original, but the great action and acting compensates rather well for the stories flaws. It really is just a hella fun film.

-P!-

 

I liked this film also. I saw it on DVD because I never remember it coming out in the theater.

Christian Bale plays a great action hero and I cant wait to see him kicking some *** in Batmn next year.

 

I was lucky enough to catch it in the theatre, back in December of 2002. Awesome movie. Easily in my top 10 films of all time.

 

After I first saw this film I started saying that Bale would make the best Batman ever. And then, they picked him up for the roll. I was most pleased.

-P!-

 

I remember it playing in a few theaters, but it had an almost non-existant advertising campaign. Never saw one commercial for it, but I spotted tiny ads for it in the L.A. Times for a week or so. I thought it must of have been crap because the distributor seemed to be completely ashamed of it. The poster in the ad was very Matrix-esque, but I was surprised that Christian Bale was in it.

So, some months later, it comes out on DVD and a buzz starts growing about it. I checked it out and really enjoyed it. I ended up buying it on DVD. There's definately some style influence from The Matrix, but the story is completely different. Bale is excellent, the action's cool, the special effects and sets are great. It definately was extremely underrated, but people are discovering it all the time, buying it on DVD, and it's been playing a lot on cable now for quite a few months.

But you still haven't seen it, masterskywalker?

 

I like the movie a lot more than I like The Matrix. All in all a good story, good acting and great fighting sequences. Not to mention the look of the thing.

 

Yeah, I hadn't heard of it until it came out on video, either. I came across it at a blockbuster when I couldn't find anything else to rent. I saw it had Christian Bale in it, and that got my interest. I loved his performance in American Pyscho.

That whole Gun-Kata thing is just too cool, as is just about everything else. I'm simply amazed that this movie got no attention during its theater run.

 

To my shame, I haven't seen it. However, its something I'm atempting to remedy as quickly as possible through Amazon.

And yes Trell, you're right, the Matrix was a *below* average anime.

 

This was a good movie. Better than I expected. That said, the most underrated? I don't know. I do think it deserves more attention than it has gotten.

 

^ Kneel before the pwnage:

[image=http://www.freewebs.com/equilibrium-movie/Corinthian-misc_kata.gif]

 

I rest my case.

 

I loved Equilibrium, even though I only saw some of it. It was just as good, if not better, than the Matrix.

 

One thing that I liked was the gun kata stuff. It was a very cool, new take on things.

 

I loved Equilibrium, even though I only saw some of it. It was just as good, if not better, than the Matrix.

I don't know about that. I felt it ripped off the Matrix quite a bit, though a likeable movie. The whole drug injection thing has been over used in science fiction so many times. Christian Bale did a fantastic job as usual.

 

I donno, the movie kind of looked eh, and the story was nothing really new, from what I've read. I don't know when I'll actually get around to watching it.

 

...eh, i enjoy this flick. It's kind a mishmash of 1984, Fahrenheit 451 and The Matrix, but it's got alot of style.


And i quite enjoyed Taye Diggs in this one, along with the always excellent Bale.


The look on Diggs' face makes me laugh every single time...

Own the DVD, and watch it regularly.

 

"I felt it ripped off the Matrix quite a bit."



I'm I the only person who sees the irony in that statement?

 

I just watched it, I thought it was pretty stupid. The plot was halfway decent, but the directing was so lifeless and the whole thing was so predictable. There was no emotion throughout the whole film, which considering the whole point of the movie was emotion and feelings it would seem like the director would have had the characters show more emotion. You have a group of men waiting to get shot, not a peep from them, you have a woman that's about ready to be toasted and all she does is grab her silly looking red dress.

Then what's the deal with his kids having feelings that whole time? That's such a safe way to play it out when a father dealing with his emotionless kids would have been such a great thing to focus on in the movie.

Christian Bale did a good job with what he was given, but other than that the movie was a stinker.

 

He he, I came, I saw, I wept with joy at the sheer ownage Preston hands out.

Man, that was a good movie on multiple levels. I loved the slow awakening of Preston and his coping with feelings that he has had no prior experience with (The thing with the puppy, the view of the city and his kids were the best in my opinion). Bale's smoldering intensity is great, and he milks his few emotional scenes for all they're worth. Yes, Preston doesn't have a huge degree of emotion, but at least he has an excuse, unlike Neo who acts like a Borg before he's ever unplugged. I would have liked Sean Bean to have been in the movie more, but hey, the guy probably shot it between Rings movies. The action was incredible, much better than the Matrix in my opinion. Why? Because the director understands, like the Japanese and Chinese do, that action is supposed to be FAST. Watching Preston tear through ranks of souless pseudo Nazis with guns and sword was just too cool. The whole, "guns as a martial art" is so simple yet so amazing I'm stunned more people haven't used the technique. Repeat watchings of the Matrix put me to tears with the incessant overuse of slow motion. Yes, its a nice technique to use sparingly, but as the sequels prove, it doesn't really work by itself.

9.5 out of 10. I want a sequel dammit.

 

A Hell of a lot better than Matrix could ever hope to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!