Equilibrium....any good?

the celtic tiger · 14-03-2003 11:17am #1

the trailer looks sweet enough, wondering is it any good or just a pretty turd.

mooman_00 · 14-03-2003 12:19pm

id say its gonna be watery shiite, another shiity action film me thinks....really didnt like minority report so i cant see this being good

s8n · 14-03-2003 12:20pm

I saw a preview of it last week.....it's like a cross between 1984, brave new world and the matrix. However, It sucks big time

the celtic tiger · 14-03-2003 12:23pm

i'll probably still go to see it, but thanks anyway.

mooman_00 · 14-03-2003 12:41pm

whats 1984?

remoteboy · 14-03-2003 12:43pm

The last 10 minutes rock - almost make you forget how turgid the rest of the film is. Almost.

Tom · 14-03-2003 12:45pm

Originally posted by mooman_00
whats 1984?

Sorry, mooman_00, are you being serious?

OSiriS · 14-03-2003 12:48pm

I saw it a few weeks back and have to say I quite enjoyed it. The storyline was semi original but I found the fight scenes very well choreographed.

mooman_00 · 14-03-2003 12:49pm

ya

davej · 14-03-2003 1:00pm

There's a review of it here.

Looks like silly (but enjoyable) rubbish that's trying to ride The Matrix wave.

davej

Tom · 14-03-2003 1:01pm

Fair enough, 1984 is based on the George Orwell novel and is excellent..

mooman_00 · 14-03-2003 1:08pm

whats Blade runner?............
...........................................................................................:D only messing, seriously though never heard of 1984 before must give it a go............

aine · 14-03-2003 10:27pm

Friend of mine saw it today and highly recommended it, he's usually pretty reliable so I'll probably toddle along at some stage next week! There's just sooooo much to choose from this week, equilibrium, the life of david gale, the hours, far from heaven ( which ive actually seen, quite good too!)

Karl Hungus · 14-03-2003 11:58pm

Quite brilliant, actually.

Despite the rather matrix influenced action scenes, it had a good plot, and overall, great acting. Overall, stripping the film down of all the eye-candy, I found that I really did care about the lead character, Preston. Christian Bale was very good in the role, and you could really see him go for a very cold unflinching person, to a person trying to come to grips with his emotions. All very beleivably done.

I think labelling it a Matrix rip-off is a bit unfair though.

Tusky · 15-03-2003 12:18am

why does every film that has slow mo slick action scenes now get put aside and called a matrix rip ! a disgrace i say !

Blitzkrieger · 15-03-2003 2:16am

I've only seen the long preview but there's no way i'm going to watch it. "A future without emotions..........." I'm a sci fi fan, and I can suspend disbelief with the best of them, but it's obiovious this is going to be a **** storyline. I also thought the action sequences seemed repetive - even from the preview. He also seemed to crouch a lot - it looked like he had piles.

Karl Hungus · 15-03-2003 4:45am

I agree there Tusky. In fairness, I'd sooner compare it to Ghost in the Shell than The Matrix... But in unfairness, The Matrix, like it or not, was a benchmark for the action genre in general, and mostly everything that comes afterwards is going to be compared. I've even heard people say that Brotherhood Of The Wolf was a matrix rip-off...

And Blitzkreiger...
It was actually a Good plot. Not really original by any stretch of the imagination, but never the less, a good one. Although, I would remind you that even The Matrix was quite a blatant rip-off of Dark City, and definetly took more than a glance at the visual style of Blade. But seeing as you seem to shrug off the film with comments like Looked like he had piles, you've most likely made up your mind about it already...

I'd definetly say it's a character-driven film, rather than plot-driver, and on that level, it hits the bullseye. I did watch the film genuinly caring about the lead, and feeling very sorry for him. Especially

That scene with the dogs!

Bale was brilliant, you could really see the emotion grow in his eyes throughout the entire film.

Great film from start to finish, and definetly one I'd love to get on DVD.

Mr E · 15-03-2003 2:04pm

I'm afraid I have to agree with The Whore!

Very enjoyable movie with a great, plausible storyline. Bale's transformation from Cleric (no feelings) to human being is well done - little touches like

watching the sunrise - he looked like he was watching his first sunrise ever

, and

the scene with the dogs

were superb.

MacFayden was pretty smug as DuPont, Bale's 'boss', and their

hand to hand gunfight (yeah, you read that right!) at the end

was excellent.

Emily Watson was very watchable (as usual), but she wasn't in it enough.

I have to say that if you don't enjoy the last 15 minutes of this movie, then there is something wrong with you.... After the fight between Preston and Brandt,

there is about 10 seconds after Preston strikes the fatal slash where you know something cool is going to happen - and it does... you're guaranteed to either laugh out loud or clap. Samurai swords are dangerous, mmm'kay??

.

If you have the attention span of a gnat, you won't enjoy this movie. Its mainly story driven, with a short action scene every half an hour.

Everyone else, take a chance.....

- Dave.

Karl Hungus · 15-03-2003 4:38pm

Originally posted by TmB
I'm afraid I have to agree with The Whore!

I'm seldom wrong...
Even when I'm wrong, I'm not wrong.

Miguel_Sanchez · 15-03-2003 9:08pm

My girlfriend was at a talk by a Producer (I think) who works with the studio releasing Equilibrium. It was green lighted and scheduled to cash in on the Matrix buzz.

Of course that doesn't mean that it's a rip off just that the studio saw it as similar and therefore likely to make money if released a month or two before the next Matrix movie.

There you go.

Angelwhore - wasn't the Matrix based on a comic of some sort? Also Dark City was only out a year before the Matrix - I don't think they ripped it off directly although admittedly they do share similar themes (as does the 13th floor I suppose in a way).

Anyway everything is stolen nowadays. Why the fax machine
is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached.

Pugsley · 15-03-2003 9:22pm

Originally posted by AngelWhore
I'm seldom wrong...
Even when I'm wrong, I'm not wrong.

Oh look at this ego :rolleyes:

BLITZ_Molloy · 16-03-2003 1:28am

I thought this was fantastic. The problem with Matrix was the fight scenes completely eclipsed everything else in the film. The acting in particular really, really grates on repeat viewings. Christian Bale does a great job in this and has enough screen time to develop the character properly. The costume design is slick, not cliched "I wear sun glasses at night" and long leather jackets.

The fight scenes really aren't a rip off of Matrix. The whole gun martial art makes a certain amount of sense and the choreographing is exceptionally good. They managed to explain the bullet dodging thing in a credible way without resorting to rehashed Matrix Bullet Time. As far as I can see very little wires are used either. People should be giving the action scenes credit. They are unique and interesting.

The only thing I disliked was the over emphasis of the whole Soviet Union analogy. It seemed a bit forced having Stalin in it.

All in all this film has reduced my enthusiasm for the Matrix sequels significantly. It adressed most of the issues i had with the first film.

spooky donkey · 16-03-2003 1:32am

Well seeing as Angle Whore recomended this film im gona go see it! Some day he will be wrong and till then i`ll keep listening to his film recomdations!

Karl Hungus · 16-03-2003 3:14am

Originally posted by Jeff_Lebowski
Angelwhore - wasn't the Matrix based on a comic of some sort? Also Dark City was only out a year before the Matrix - I don't think they ripped it off directly although admittedly they do share similar themes (as does the 13th floor I suppose in a way).

Anyway everything is stolen nowadays. Why the fax machine
is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached.

No, Dark City writer/director Alex Proyas orinally went to Warner with his idea, before going to New Line. Apparently (And I say this only because I cant prove it) they stole his script. And this really isn't anything new either, when you consider that True Lies was actually a script for a Bond Movie.

But that's the first I hear about The Matrix being based on a comic. Despite the Wachowski(Sp?) brothers' comic history, it was supposedly an original story.

richindub2 · 16-03-2003 2:34pm

Originally posted by Tusky
why does every film that has slow mo slick action scenes now get put aside and called a matrix rip ! a disgrace i say !

-> the matrix ripped it off from blade

the plot for this equilibrium film looks beyond tedious, no way in hell im going to pay 7e to see it!

Miguel_Sanchez · 16-03-2003 8:04pm

But that's the first I hear about The Matrix being based on a comic. Despite the Wachowski(Sp?) brothers' comic history, it was supposedly an original story. [/B]

Emmm.... It probably wasn't. I just thought someone said it was based heavily on a comic strip (or did they say ripped-off?)

I'm not sure.

Doh!

Karl Hungus · 16-03-2003 10:54pm

I found it funny that Carrie-Ann Moss was in a TV show called "Matrix".

Just for trivia nerds.

s0l · 16-03-2003 11:01pm

Just back from seeing Equilibrium. tbh, I really enjoyed it, leave your brain at the door and its one of the most enjoyable action films i've ever seen. And I must say, there is no matrix similarity whatsoever, theres no slowmo, he's just really fast

And its so worth it just for the bit with the puppy

I laughed so hard it was fantastic

Karl Hungus · 16-03-2003 11:08pm

Originally posted by s0l
leave your brain at the door

Or, better yet, take it with you, you might enjoy it more.

Mr E · 17-03-2003 12:09am

Yeah... its not a mindless action movie at all. There is about 10 or 15 mins of action in the 2 hours. Bring your brain - you'll enjoy it more.

Clintons Cat · 17-03-2003 12:19am

I would have said that dark city or the matrix were hardly original concepts.

The matrix was heavily influenced by the writings of William Gibson,Phillip k dick and louis carrol.

Dark city was invasion of the body snatchers/ V and nightmare on elm street meets mary popins as imagined by Tim Burton.

of the two movies i prefer Dark City though,its just much more inventive with the material.

BTW Sam Peckinpah was doing slow motion shoot outs in the late 60s in movies like the Wild Bunch?
Sam Peckinpah movie notes

Equilibrium....any good?

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