This movie was asinine. I turned it off after 30 minutes (which I almost never do) because it was incredibly stupid and boring as pretty much every line could be predicted almost verbatim several minutes before they were spoken. This movie attempted to rip off the style of several other much better movies, but it just became a mess. I also don't understand the fascination with "gun kata". Having a guy standing in one position, waving his hands around, while magically hitting every opponent and not being shot himself is not ground breaking, it's idiotic fantasy.… Expand

Wow, Roger EBERT gave it a good review? Roger Ebert is also the premier elevator of pop garbage movies to pseudo-intellectual status. This movie is a steaming pile of cultural backwash re-digested by the hackneyed screenplay writer whose only major accomplishment was to insert every distopian cliche ever written since the 19th century. This movie pretends to think while not having a single original thought. It also insults the audience with its excruciatingly obvious flogging of the already overtread plot points. This society destroys art? Well, how can stupid moviegoer me possibly understand how awful it is to burn paintings? OH NOEZ the Mona Lisa, now I KNOW this is a big deal, because anything less than the Mona Lisa being destroyed and my phillistine brain will just want to smear dung and shout at the screen, but since you showed me the MOST famous painting IN THE WORLD, NOW I am able to understand it. Wouldn't they have found the Mona Lisa a long time ago? Wouldn't the only art left be a bit more obscure so they'd miss it? Does Sean Bean HAVE to be reading Yates? Nuff said.… Expand

Only just got around to watching this film, and without sounding like a "cynical critic", I would have to say that this film is shockingly bad. Pretentious is a word that gets banded around far too much these days, but I'm pretty sure that this film is a good definition of the word. Inspiration is all well and good, but if you have read and understood even one or two the works that this film cobbles together so hap-hazzardly, then you should be able to see exactly why the plot is frankly stupid. All that leaves is a film with an overtly serious tone, but no substance to back it up. I love gun battles as much as the next man, but when it's blatently tacked on to appeal to the Matrix market, you have to wonder what the point is. I could have forgiven the pathetic storyline if it had been at bit more fun, but it's just po-faced pretention at every point. Enjoyable? Sure, but only if you have no taste. I think a lot of people on this site have shown why film critics get paid to do what they do. They know more about films than most of you. I'll stop being a "cynic" when people start making more effort.… Expand

What a mess.
I could go into detail and explain pretty much what's wrong with this movie, but I simply don't have time.
I just have no idea how this movie could appeal to so many people, in a positive way. "At least it's entertaining", well, it's not. One of the dullest things I've seen in my life. It had potential, a couple of minutes into the opening scene, went downstairs after that.

This is the dumbest movie I've seen in years. There's nothing redeeming about this; it is every post-Matrix "omg cool" dystopian sci-fi cliché I could ever hate rolled into one ball of crap. If you pay movie to see this movie you deserve to be slapped.

The action scenes were nice, and the story had potential, but there's so many things that conflict with common sense that it made my head spin. Such as why kill people that regain their feelings instead of just juicing them up with more of that drug? You'd think that'd be easier. :P

A clichefest for those too lazy to read or watch the classics from which all of its ideas were stolen.

So bad. I watched as one watches a train wreck. Silly, stupid trying to pass off as intelligent. The only reason I give it a 2 is that the look of the film was pretty cool visually and the fight scenes were well done. The plot is idiotic at every turn. I really cannot understand how anyone could give this movie a 10. It would be interesting to see what other movies those folks rated so highly. The Matrix, which for some reason is constantly mentioned in relation to this movie is 100x better. Perhaps the connection is the dark costume that both leads play. Christian Bale is pretty good, but seriously folks don't waste your time with this one!… Collapse

For a surprisingly large group of talented actors, this was pretty much a steaming pile. The premise behind the movie was beyond juvenile and rife with inconsistencies. Why would a repressive future society need to so clearly mimic the aesthetics of Nazi Germany? Why is art equated with emotion? Is emotion what REALLY defines humanity, is emotion REALLY what is the source of conflict in our society, rather than calculated rational decisions in the struggle for power? Is the movie self aware enough to realize the irony inherent in the actions of the principle actors in regards to the premise of an emotionless fascist society? Conceptually flawed, is the action enough to redeem this movie? In the end the answer to all these questions is no, as the action is mediocre and the acting transparent, the plot predictable and the conclusion forgone within the first few minutes of the film. I'm a big fan of SF movies, and will champion any movie that truly reveals something about the human condition, extrapolates an interesting society or scenario, or can engross me to the extent that i will suspend my disbelief and accept the premise that is being presented to me. That a movie like this gets such high marks from viewers profoundly disturbs me.… Expand

really? there are people who called this a "cult classic"? i'm all for a good action sequence, but even if this film hadn't blatantly ripped off the matrix, even if it had spent more then 27 dollars on special effects, even if this movie had better effects than "Avatar" it would still be one of the worst action films i have ever seen. This film makes Japanese animes about robots seem like incredibly well thought out voyages into the nature of mankind. But then again, this film is probably aimed at that very same demographic of perpetual adolescence.… Expand

Equilibrium is an underground Sci-Fi film with a huge cult following. If you ask any other Sci-Fi geek, they'll probably have Equilibrium in their top ten list, but I couldn't tell you why. The film is vintage Sci-Fi, with a semi-original idea, unfortunately, the cast just didn't pull it off. I've never been a huge Christian Bale fan and this movie is a prime example of why. He's given a role that suites him perfectly and he mumbles and relies on the rest of the cast to carry him. In the future, emotions and things that evoke emotions are outlawed, and Bale is one of the men responsible for enforcing these laws, but he soon turns to the other side, when he accidentally feels an emotion for the first time. Bale is a cold guy to begin with. He never shows much emotion even when his role calls for it, so aside from Keanu Reeves, he was the best choice for this role. The story was a little out there and the effects were over the top, but it's Bale himself who puts the icing on the turd cake. He's completely dependent on his fellow cast members and the ridiculous special effects his character is given. Maybe I'm just not that bright, but I really don't understand why so many people are so obsessed with this movie. The cast wasn't anything special and the story was okay at best.… Expand