Equilibrium

Being a big fan of both sci-fi and Christian Bale, I had added this movie to my list.  A couple weeks before watching it, I ran into an article on Entertainment Weekly listing big stars’ most glaring failures on the big screen and this was listed as the lousiest movie Bale had ever made.

Naturally, my interest was even more piqued now, so I watched it anyway.  Boy, oh boy, was EW correct, this movie is crap!!

Synopsis: in a futuristic society, the government has determined that emotions are what drive humans to harm each other.  In order to protect the human race from certain annihilation, emotions are outlawed and anything culpable of stirring emotions, like books, music, or art, is destroyed.  Those who rebel are summarily executed.  Will the cycle ever be broken?

On paper the story doesn’t sound so bad, even though it reminds one of dystopian futuristic societies we’ve all seen before (Fahrenheit 451 and Blade Runner come to mind).  And the EW article also noted how Equilibrium looks like a bad rip-off of the fabulous The Matrix, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to witness.

The sets look are cheap.  The action sequences are not just bad rip-offs of The Matrix, they’re just bad, period.  The screenplay is poorly written and there’s no amount of acting from the likes of Bale, Emily Watson, Sean Bean, William Fichtner, and Taye Diggs that can save it.

The Bottom Line: I really cannot think of one good thing to say about this movie (ok, Bale does show some skin, but c’mon, he’d have to go full frontal to make it worth it…).  The intention was clearly to cash in on the Matrix-craze, but not even the two poor Matrix sequels sink to this level.  Bale must have been promised by his agent that this would be the next Matrix and he’d be a fool to pass on it, so I hope he fired his ass once he saw the finished product!!  If you haven’t seen Equilibrium yet, count your blessings and stay away.  What a turd!!!!

Grade: 2