"Equilibrium" is one part "1984" and two parts "The Matrix". This is a highly stylized movie packed with what can best be called 'gun-fu' action scenes. It's pretty impressive stuff, although it's hard to believe no one could get off a shot of their own while Christian Bale's character is flipping and twisting around. It all looks very cool but it's a little hard to swallow.
There are a few unexpected moments and twists along the way that keep this whole thing from being a bit too similar to other Matrix-y movies. It seems a good deal smarter than the average Action/Sci-Fi genre entry. Unfortunately, the sets, while futuristic, really smelled of a limited budget with extensive shooting on a sound stage.
The Orwellian society is nothing you haven't seen portrayed in other movies and though everyone is taking a drug that numbs emotions, there sure are a lot of feelings on display (I'm talking to you, Taye Diggs).
This is not a great Action flick but it's good enough to justify a viewing. It's heavy on imagery and style and a little light on story, but seeing Christian Bale in an early role along with some neat gun fighting makes it fun.
Review by BergjaegerVIP 7BlockedParentSpoilers2023-01-29T18:12:23Z
There is a huge gap between the IMDB and the Rotten Tomatoes / Metacritic score - true to say this time Metacritic holds the truth. The big risk with sci-fis set in the not so far future is that they tend to age bad - well watching this in 2023 and finding cars with ignition keys and there goes your suspension of disbelief in an instant. This is the forerunner to the John Wicks movies of our time where mistreatment of a dog can catapult the main character into a 100% bulletproof killing robot - the fighting art being a ridiculous gun kata where memorized statistical bullet trajectories help the hero avoid ten thousand bullets a minute fired from automatic weapons in close proximity. Then there is the emotion surpressing daily dosage where if you accidentally drop a glass vial you need to stand in line at the equilibrium shops for hours among thousands of poor bastards who had the same morning accident. Talking about our super organized dystopic future ... how am I supposed to believe that a thousand people stand in the queue for the replacement vial with no emotions whatsoever when they have just missed their daily dose? No ... this is just bad all over, Christian Bale carries this through if you are a fan, Mr. Bean (Sean) gets yet another on-screen death (this time through a poetry book) and you can watch two grown adults trying to beat each other to pulp with handguns all the while randomly shooting in the air for sound effects (the final fight) ... but that's it ... not a good entertainment anymore in 2023.