Equilibrium DVD Review or The Comeback

[Halofan1]

That's right. I'm coming back with my DVD reviews and the first one up: Equilibrium.

So to my 2 fans, I'll be back here with it later in the day.

[spiderman_2k]

This is that film where peeps cant show emotions right??
It looked okay, most peeps say the let down was the lack of enthusiasm towards its Advertisement

[Kris Hodgson]

Yay! Halofan is back with reviews. I always liked your reviews. I've heard so much about Equilibrium, except anything about the plot, story, actors.
Is it good, because I've heard alot of positive reviews for it.

[Halofan1]

Originally posted by Kris Hodgson
Yay! Halofan is back with reviews. I always liked your reviews. I've heard so much about Equilibrium, except anything about the plot, story, actors.
Is it good, because I've heard alot of positive reviews for it.

Nice to have a fan! I was going to have this up today, but my friend today hit me with the fact I might get to see Reloaded TONIGHT!!! If that's not the case, then the review will be up tonight. If I do go, I'll post it first thing tomorrow.

To answer your question(I'll go more in-depth in the review), I give this film a 9 and had it not been for Road to Perdition, this would have been my favorite of last year.

[Clark Savage Jr]

I'll let Halofan 1 give his extensive review, I just wanted to say I just finished watching it for the first time....Fan Friggin Fantastic!!!

Why this never made it to the theaters over here I'll never know. Fantastic film...a 10+.

[Halofan1]

Originally posted by Clark Savage Jr
I'll let Halofan 1 give his extensive review, I just wanted to say I just finished watching it for the first time....Fan Friggin Fantastic!!!

Why this never made it to the theaters over here I'll never know. Fantastic film...a 10+.

Agreed. Awesome movie. Glad you loved it. Doesn't look like I'll hit Reloaded tonight, so I'll have the review up. I'm going through the first commentary right now.

[Halofan1]

Aight kiddos, here it is. Tell me how you like it.

EQUILIBRIUM

The Movie

Say what you will about The Count of Monte Cristo, Frailty, and Moonlight Mile, Equilibrium is the most underrated film of 2002. The film had one trailer, no TV Spots, and no backing from the bastards at Disney(sorry guys, Gangs of New York was not as good as this). Luckily with the hype from the internet, the film can get a second shot to impress and wow.

After World War III, it is decided that emotion is the cause of all the WW's so now it will be controlled with a drug called Prozium(you should have heard some of the other names for this). Anyone who decides not to take the drug is a "Sense offender" and is outlawed by the Clerics of the Tetra Grammaton unit. One day, the highest ranking Cleric John Preston(Christian Bale, who kicks more ass here than he could have dreamed of in Reign of Fire) misses his dosage and begins to feel.

Many will complain Sean Bean is underutilized, and that is true. In my defense, I will say the fate of his character does play an important role for both Preston and Mary O'Brien(Emily Watson) so I can understand why he was underutilized. Unlike most films in this genre, Equilibrium relies not as much on its action, but more so the actors and their characters. Bale is amazing as Preston, going from absolutely no feelings in the beginning, to having a pure hatred for his opponents. Taye Diggs gives a fine performance as Cleric Brandt, making you hate his character. And what do I really need to say about Emily Watson? The woman is remarkable in what I've seen her in and this is no different. Special note I think should be made to Matthew Harbour, who plays Robbie Preston. The kid gives a stand-alone performance as the son of John Preston. I'm trying to describe his performance, but I can't. My hats off to him.

Now, for what all you have heard about this film: the action. Ever since The Matrix unvieled "bullet-time", every sci-fi and action movie since copied that "Slow-motion" idea. Hell, even the recent(but great)X2 is responsible of it. Not here. Instead, we get the classic fast-paced, ka-blams and pistol whips that were around before the thought of "bullet-time". Kurt Wimmer should be given "Best New Idea" award for Gun-Kata, which is essentially martial arts with guns. And I cannot go without mentioning how awesome the production design is. They had a very limited budget, and it still amazes me how they made their settings that good.

I love this movie. I will even go as far to say I think it is better than the overrated Two Towers. As stated, this film deserves a second chance and had it not been for Road to Perdition, this would be my choice for best film of last year.

9.5 out of 10

The Video

Equilibrium is presented in 2:35.1 anamorphic widescreen(NO FULLSCREEN HERE) and is enhanced for 16x9 TV's. I wanted to give this a grade like I did the film, but sadly, it falls short. This transfer cannot decide if it wants to be great(as displayed in most scenes) or if it wants to be like Aliens(as displayed in the rest of the scenes). Since this film is mostly dimly lit, the darks and to be handled well, and they are done so. The colors are handled magnificently as well, and we have no edge enhancement that this eye could see. On the down side, we have grain and specs galore. And they don't show up once or twice, they show up more frequently than they should. Oh well, I just hope I'll get my "Special Edition" of this movie and an improved transfer.

8 out of 10

The Audio

Two words: Bass owns. I was worried that the climax of the film wouldn't be handled well, but thank goodness it is. This disc makes use of the surrounds very well, as bullets wiz by you and the music still makes it through crisp. The dialogue is handled just like it should be, in the center. This is one aggresive mix and don't be surprised if you end up showing off a few scenes. Equilibrium's awesome sound is given to us in Dobly Digital 5.1 Surround and I just imagine what DTS would be like had it been included.

9 out of 10

The Extras

I may not be getting my full-blown Special Edition of Equilibrium, but my fear of it getting no special features didn't come true. First we have two commentary tracks. One by Director/Writer Kurt Wimmer and in the next one Producer Lucas Foster. The first commentary is no doubt getting a second listen from me, as Wimmer is lively and full of info. And yes, he does address is "ripping off" of the films he was accused of doing so(this film was better than most the ones listed). The second commentary covers what the first doesn't, and it well worth a listen as well. I ended up liking Kurt's solo act better just because he had some nice humor in that one. Both of these, however, never have a dull moment and keep you interested throughout. Next up is a featurette called "Finding Equilibrium" which is the typical promote the movie type thing, but does feature interesting comments from cast and crew. Finally, there are theatrical trailers for Below, Kill Bill, Invincible and Wes Craven Presents Dracula II: Ascension and some reel that is titled "Big Action Guns" or something.
5 out of 10


Overall

Why oh why didn't the Mouse House promote this? Why couldn't Bale's other effort, Reign of Fire receive the "no press" instead of this one? You can bet I have started telling people to flock to stores and rent this movie, and I'm telling you do follow suite. In terms of extras, this DVD sucks at that, but in presenting a marvelous film with good image and terrific audio, it excels. Since most have not heard of this til today, I highly recommend renting it first. To the cult fans like myself, you know why you love this movie, so why haven't you bought it yet? And it still amazes me the "pistol-whip" scene was done in thirty minutes.

DVD Overall Rating - 8 out of 10

[Kris Hodgson]

I finally seen this yesterday. It blew me away. I'm going to buy it this weekend because it kicked so much ass. The gun kata style of fighting was incredible.
I love when you see a movie you don't know much about, and hasn't been hyped through the roof, and it just blows you away. I highly recommend it.

[The Insider]

I would probably give the movie 5 out of 10. It was entertaining in places, but aside from Bale, Watson and Bean, all the actors were utter crap. The story was also a MAJOR ripoff of (especially) Fahrenheit 451 and 1984.

[Halofan1]

Originally posted by The Insider
I would probably give the movie 5 out of 10. It was entertaining in places, but aside from Bale, Watson and Bean, all the actors were utter crap. The story was also a MAJOR ripoff of (especially) Fahrenheit 451 and 1984.

Yeah, but Fahrenheit 451 sucked. And I do mean the book too.

[The Insider]

Originally posted by Halofan1
Yeah, but Fahrenheit 451 sucked. And I do mean the book too.

I disagree. Both the movie and the novel are bonafide classics. And Equilibrium, as entertaining as it may be, is essentially just Fahrenheit 451 with a few guns thrown into the mix.

[Halofan1]

I heard the movie sucked too so I did not bother with it. 1984 I hear is pretty good though.

[The Insider]

Originally posted by Halofan1
I heard the movie sucked too so I did not bother with it. 1984 I hear is pretty good though.

I haven´t seen any of the 1984 movies either.

[Frizzo the Clown]

Originally posted by The Insider
I disagree. Both the movie and the novel are bonafide classics. And Equilibrium, as entertaining as it may be, is essentially just Fahrenheit 451 with a few guns thrown into the mix. I thought the novel was great, but to be honest, the movie version of Fahrenheit 451 was really disappointing to me.

[Sculder]

Originally posted by Halofan1

Equilibrium's awesome sound is given to us in Dobly Digital 5.1 Surround and I just imagine what DTS would be like had it been included.



Russian edition of Equilibrium has DTS (effects are great). But unfortunately DTS track has dialog dubbed in russian. English language track is the same Dobly Digital 5.1 :(

[Rizor]

F451's novel is great, but the movie isn't though it had a great director at the helm.

Haven't seen Equilibrium. Doesn't seem like anything I'd buy, but I'd like to check it out. Hopefully it'll come to tv soon. I'm not eager to rent it for $4. ;)

[Halofan1]

Originally posted by The Insider
I haven´t seen any of the 1984 movies either.

Then how can you say it's a rip of 1984?

[The Insider]

Originally posted by Halofan1
Then how can you say it's a rip of 1984?

George Orwell.

[Frizzo the Clown]

I finally watched Equilibrium last night. I'm not much at writing reviews, but let me just say that I loved it! One of my favorite movies now, probably.

[KayTang999]

I heard about this movie before it was out, I promised myself to see it in theater but I didn't!!! Really disappointed in myself because after I saw it on DVD, I realize that this movie is best seen in theater!!!

[Halofan1]

I was fortunate enough to see it on the big screen at a Q & A with Kurt Wimmer and I just had to shake his hand. Like I said time and again, this was one of the best of 2002 and it's a shame it didn't receive as much credit as it was due. It's a pity films like Half Past Dead get more credit than a gem like this.

[The Insider]

I still thought the movie was decent, but I´m totally at a loss as to why some people would consider Equilibrium to be such a great movie... as I´ve said before, it´s a TOTAL ripoff of many classic sci-fi stories, especially 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, it contains zero truly appealing characters, several horrible performances (especially Sean Pertwee, whose only job was to talk in a slow, menacing and "trailer-esque" manner, which made him extremely unintentionally humorous, and also Angus MacFadyen was absolutely horrible), wasted actors (Sean Bean and especially Emily Watson, whose talent was completely wasted here in an extremely underwritten and very meaningless role) and an extremely rushed second half. Essentially it´s one big Sci-Fi cliché. That said, it did feature some nice cinematography and some of the action was done in an interesting enough way to warrant a viewing. Somewhat entertaining, but instantly forgettable, IMO.

[KayTang999]

It might be a ripp off from the book but to the world of film, it is original. I have to give the credit to this movie the fact that the budget was so low and they can produce such a great movie. Where as some big budget movie that is totally bomb.

The blending of both books together is really nice IMO.

On the acting, well it is sci-fi, so it is hard to catch outstanding performance. As long as you can deliver the story, you are good.

To me action was a major bonus. Also, I do think that Sean and Emily could have been nice with more screen time.

[Rocketboy]

It sounds good, but the plot does remind me Fahrenheit 451, and to a degree, Harrison Bergeron (sp?).
I'll look for it next time I go to the video store.

[KayTang999]

Yeah, they burn everything that is lead to cause of feeling.

[nightbringer]

I just watched this film about a week ago. All I can say is wow. I loved the movie, it will forever go down in my book as one of the best independent films along with Donnie Darko and Boondock Saints. I loved the GunKata, and Christian Bales acting was topnotch, after seeing this I think he'll make a great Batman. He would have been a better Neo also.