i saw a movie this weekend called equillibrium. It is great. It is in fact better than the matrix. The action is more stylized than the matrix for sure. And the storyline is awesome. For those of you that havent seen it, it is about a city where emotion or feeling of any sort is outlawed. Every body has to take this stuff called prozium. It takes away thier emotion. There are these guys called clerics that hunt down sense offenders. They fight with a martial arts style called gun-kata. its great.

Equilibrium (2002)/#####/** In a future dystopian world, government forcibly drugs the population to keep it passive--until one of its own agents turns renegade and sets in motion a rebellion. [Dir: Kurt Wimmer/ Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs/ 107min/ Action-SciFi/ Government Enforced Morality]

"Equilibrium" is very much in the tradition of anti-authoritarian cinema. Indeed, you may have seen elements of this film before. As in George Lucas's "THX-1138," the population here is drugged to induce passivity, and when the hero stops taking his drugs he becomes an enemy of the ruling regime; as in "Fahrenheit 451," the state has banned artistic work because art excites the passions of people, and it's one of the enforcers who turns against the ban; likewise, there are touches of "1984" and "Metropolis" in the grey totalitarian setting here. OK, so this may not be the most original film ever made, but at least what it repeats is worth repeating.

At the center of this story is a "cleric" named John Preston; clerics are super-cops who wage a war on art and music, very much like the current War on Drugs. The clerics also enforce the mandatory consumption of "Prozium," an emotion dampening tranquilizer. It seems that years before, WWIII nearly wiped out civilization, so it was decided that the extreme emotions that drive conflict, and artistic stimulants to such emotion, must be eliminated--even at the price of making "sense offence" a capital crime.

Unfortunately, offenders are sometimes found very close to home. In Preston's case, his wife was earlier executed for skipping her daily Prozium dose. In his own Prozium induced condition, he didn't feel much about it at the time. But when Preston accidentally misses his daily dose, his feelings start to come home. That's the turning point that sets in motion events here. Once in touch with his emotions, he can no longer be the unfeeling killing machine that clerics must be and begins to question everything about his life and the world around him; indeed, when asked why he exists, his collectivist answer "to preserve society" seems unsatisfying even to him. It's only a matter of time before he turns against the state, just in time to aid a budding rebellion.

Whatever "Equilibrium" lacks in originality, my guess is that most libertarians, especially libertarian sci-fi fans, would enjoy it. The chiseled Christian Bale (as Preston) projects his mainly emotionless character admirably, and the Matrix-like martial arts episodes, though not up to "Matrix" quality, are still impressive. And particularly for those who like to see their libertarian message delivered with a hail of bullets and a high flying kick to the side of the head--this is certainly the film for you.

i got this from missliberty.com

Seen it, got the DVD, one of my fave movies, it's awesome!

Christian Bale is awesome in it. The fighting, which was made specially for this movie by the writer/director in his backyard is great and better than most of the fights in the Matrix. The story, while obviouslly inspired by such things as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 stands on it's own as a great story.

I always reccomend this movie to people...

Hi,
I have just bought this on DVD (ex rental) from my video rental shop. It is my birthday tomorrow and I have the day of work, this film and a huige bar of Galaxy choc. Hooray.
I will let you know what I think.

Regards,
Sarah

yeah i just watched it too for the first time a couple of days ago with neo cloud. it was so freakin awesome. that is now one of my top ten favorite movies. i think it would be #5. but hell yeah, its much better than all of the matrix movies combined and the action scenes are wonderfully done and very stylized. i thought Christian Bale was good in the movie. he did well on how it shows him slowly getting his emotions back. i thought of this movie as like a futuristic Holocaust. and like The Crow, i first thought of it to be like Farenheit 451.

Hi,
Just watched film. It was brilliant. Christian Bale was so cool in it too. When he started to feel the emotions he showed the range of feelings really well without going over the top.
Exellent film. I would recommend it,

Sarah

^ my bro showed it to me. It was tight. the only part that was dumb was how Tay Diggs face got cut off. a little fake, but the rest was tight

I don’t really think you can put Equilibrium and the Matrix in the same league. The Matrix has an incredible storyline, amazing acting, and overall brilliance oozing from it. Equilibrium on the other hand has a very average if not predictable storyline, and bland acting (covered up somewhat by the fact that they’re not meant to show any emotion) Don’t get me wrong though, I did enjoy watching equilibrium. The fight scenes are pretty cool, and it’s quite entertaining to watch, just no way near as good as the (1st) Matrix IMO.

The Wachowski's got lucky with the Matrix. Yes it was a good sci-fi movie with an interesting look at the future but it was hardly new or original and the raised some interesting ideas. The fighting was cool and the acting was ok, rather average actually except for Hugo Weaving who was great. The sequeals are very much overated and weren't really needed although Revolutions kinda made up for the let down that was Reloaded.

Equilibrium, while not original either, was a pretty fresh idea, which raised some interesting ideas, with some awesome, fresh, original and innovative fighting, good directing and ok, rather average acting except for Christian Bale who was awesome. His portryal of a man discovering emotions is great and quite beautiful actually.

Equillibrium does rival the matrix movies. if it would have been marketed right it could have came out in theaters.

Christian Bale does tend to be good in anything hes in

and he has a great movie look to him...

To be honest I believe Equilibrium would have been a bigger hit if it had come out before the Matrix, the matrix was really the first to set the bar for that genre of sci-fi/kung fu/philosophy thing.

It could have replaced the matrix if done earlier, but now it just comes off looking like a watered down version of it.

yeah you are completley right. it seems like its kinda of a rip off of some sort, when it really isnt. Equillibrium is unique though, because it has its own fighting style. i thought that was extremely cool that they came up with that idea just for one movie.

yeah, i want to learn that.

True dat... One of the best actors alive today. I heard that he was phenomanal in The Machinist, especially considering what he did for the role and I can't wait to see him in Batman Begins which is shaping up to be great.

Yes. I must learn the art of the gundowa.
BLAZING PISTOLS! YES!

You mean Gun-Kata

yeah i was just gonna say that. but the Gun-kata fihgting style is so cool looking. i wish it was real so i could learn it. that would be the SHIZZNITE!