Equilibrium

Miramax Films | Release Date: December 6, 2002

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

33	METASCORE Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critics

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

Would be a mindless action picture, except that it has a mind. It doesn't do a lot of deep thinking, but unlike many futuristic combos of sf and f/x, it does make a statement: Read full review

The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin

A terrific cast, stylish direction, and elegantly choreographed mayhem help make it far better than it might have been -- Though ultimately silly, Equilibrium's shopworn but stylish synthesis of ammo and ideas is surprisingly engrossing. Read full review

L.A. WeeklyRon Stringer

The fun here is not so much in the solid if stolid performances from Bale and co-stars Taye Diggs and Emily Watson (gussied up to resemble the Jefferson Airplane–era Grace Slick) or in Wimmer's overpolished plot devices as it is in the production values. Read full review

USA TodayClaudia Puig

The martial-arts sequences take this prosaic thriller to a higher level. Read full review

Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf

Equilibrium improves as it rolls along -- either that or, ironically, it wears down the senses until the viewer succumbs. Read full review

New York PostJonathan Foreman

The best thing about Equilibrium is its impressive look. Along with its generally fine cast and some well-choreographed fights, that goes a long way to making the movie watchable -- despite its underlying stupidity. Read full review

Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker

A preachy parable stylized with a touch of John Woo bullet ballet. Read full review

New York Daily NewsJami Bernard

Mostly plays like a routine thriller with a classy cast. Read full review

Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington

Not a picture that makes you think very much -- except to wonder why the studios keep making movies like this. Read full review

Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan

Just because it's a good idea doesn't mean it's easy to do well. Screenwriter-turned-director Kurt Wimmer has a hard time keeping his actors from, well, acting a lot of the time. Read full review

Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones

This operates at the intellectual level of the old "Star Trek" in its limp last season, and the professed humanism is belied by the extreme violence and Nazi-chic production design (not to mention a voice-over that traces the outlawing of emotion to "the revolutionary precept of the hate crime"). Read full review

TV Guide MagazineKen Fox

Flashy, "MATRIX"-style action sequences trump ideas; it's hard not to feel you've just watched a feature-length video game with some really heavy back story. Read full review

Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman

It's not only an ultraviolent, ludicrously inconsistent rip-off of Bradbury's idea, but it poisons the well for future efforts. Read full review

Boston GlobeTy Burr

Equilibrium just happens to be a really bad comic book. Read full review

Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis

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. Read full review

San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle

Super- violent, super-serious and super-stupid. Read full review

Baltimore SunMichael Sragow

Equilibrium doesn't tread softly on our dreams; it tramples them. Read full review

VarietyDennis Harvey

Misses with its blowhard treatment of a silly, obvious script. Results might hazard "Battlefield Earth" comparison if new pic were a tad more fun. Read full review

Film ThreatDavid Grove

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? Read full review

Washington PostStephen Hunter

Equilibrium is like a remake of "1984" by someone who's seen "The Matrix" 25 times while eating Twinkies and doing methamphetamines. Read full review

Village VoiceDennis Lim

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. Read full review

The New York TimesElvis Mitchell

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. Read full review