Equilibrium
Metascore
33 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 22 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 22
  3. Negative: 10 out of 22
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  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    38
    Equilibrium just happens to be a really bad comic book.
  2. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    38
    It's not only an ultraviolent, ludicrously inconsistent rip-off of Bradbury's idea, but it poisons the well for future efforts.
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    30
    An accidental entertainment, Equilibrium is a science-fiction pastiche so lacking in originality that if you stripped away its inspirations there would be precious little left.
  4. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    25
    Super- violent, super-serious and super-stupid.
  5. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    25
    Equilibrium doesn't tread softly on our dreams; it tramples them.
  6. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: David Grove
    20
    Since Equilibrium shamelessly rips off every Orwellian science fiction thriller in film history, what other reason is there besides sheer desperation for the film to be so stupidly violent?
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Dennis Harvey
    20
    Misses with its blowhard treatment of a silly, obvious script. Results might hazard "Battlefield Earth" comparison if new pic were a tad more fun.
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Dennis Lim
    10
    As this clueless, bulimic debacle madly regurgitates ideas and iconography from Lang to the brothers Wachowski, Leni Riefenstahl to L. Ron Hubbard, Ray Bradbury to Susan Faludi, it's not just Bale who has a hard time keeping a straight face.
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    10
    Equilibrium is like a remake of "1984" by someone who's seen "The Matrix" 25 times while eating Twinkies and doing methamphetamines.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    0
    If someone left "1984," "Fahrenheit 451," "Brave New World," "Gattaca" and the Sylvester Stallone potboilers "Judge Dredd" and "Demolition Man" out in the sun and threw the runny glop onto a movie screen, it would still be a better picture than Equilibrium, a movie that could be stupider only if it were longer.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 207 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 105 out of 118
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 118
  3. Negative: 12 out of 118
  1. Sandund
    10
    Whats up with most of these critics. If they didn't see the depth and the message in this movie, well they are a bunch of retards who were probably dropped as infants. This in one of the most iconic movies I've seen for a long time. A definite cult fav. Hats off.… Full Review »
  2. MarkusW
    10
    Once of my alltime favourite movies. Drama and Action could go together before the new BSG. But it´s hardly surprising that a movie warning of "soft totalitarianism" isn´t well recieved the media. Make a movie about a clicheed fascist gouvernement seizing power using anti-terror as an excuse and they love you. But a movie talking about how the concept of hate-crimes will lead to policing of thought and you are a heretic.… Full Review »
  3. RyanJ.
    10
    one of the best films ever made, original and inovative action, amazing acting and a film that can be watched over and over. It will make you question al the critics who try to discredit the film.… Full Review »
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