Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Equilibrium

Top positive review

A masterpiece that's best enjoyed after a few drinks

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 July 2018

I love Equilibrium. It's one of my favourite films of all time, just because it's so hilariously bad. The acting is lousy, the script feels like it was thrown together in 10 minutes and the gun martial arts that enables the main character to dodge opposing bullets whilst barely moving is beyond stupid, but all of this makes the film a delight to watch. Don't listen to the 1 star reviews, those people have no sense of humour, this film is amazing, you just have to be slightly drunk to fully appreciate its genius.

13 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Quinn Agathoni

Could Do Better

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 August 2018

Here is the problem. We are presented with a dystopia in which feeling is forbidden because feeling brings hate and rage which in turn bring war. And yet it is clear that the senior officers of that world all feel themselves. They are arrogant and worse, they hate those who feel. Perhaps with better writing and better acting, the world of Equilibrium could be better portrayed, but honestly, perhaps not. I think this might work better as a book than a film.

4 people found this helpful

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From United Kingdom

Seriously how any stars does this film get.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 June 2018

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Bored within minutes, and it never really got any better.

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Gabriela Costa Gopfert

under expectations

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 January 2019

Verified Purchase

The idea is really good, but the film is horrible.

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Vladlen Ionov

This movie needed new proper Blu-Ray transfer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2011

Verified Purchase

This UK release of Equilibrium on Blu-Ray is not so bad looking and sounding in fact.
But it do not cover the main problem - aspect ratio is 1.78:1 and not the original 2.35:1 ratio. And for a film like this - proper aspect ration transfer is badly needed. Also DD5.1 (or DTS=MA 2.0 like on US release)... it is not good for Equilibrium with all this shooting.
The only one proper release in the world is Holland BD which have proper AOR 2.35:1 and DTS-HD MA 5.1. But unfortunately I cannot find it anywhere.

6 people found this helpful

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lycidas

This movie is not as good as Logan's Run which also offers a taste of ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2015

Verified Purchase

This was a fair attempt to offer a futuristic society, dominated by "clerics" of whom Christian Bale was a man possessed of certain feelings which were anathema to his peers and superiors. There were occasional touching moments when cleric Bale shows his humanity, but the martial arts sequences stretched the realms of credibility. This movie is not as good as Logan's Run which also offers a taste of the future, and Christian Bale is not as convincing as Michael York.

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Darth Maciek

I have no choice but remand this film to the Grammaton Garbage Can for processing...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2014

This seemingly original and promissing Sci-Fi film disappointed me greatly and bored me almost to death. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.

"Equilibrium" is set in a near future in a totalitarian state ironically called Libria. After the Third World War and its devastation, the survivors of humanity adopted an ideology founded on one principle: because human emotions are at the root of conflicts, in order to achieve lasting peace all human emotions must be banned. Everyone is therefore required to take daily injections of Prozium, an emotion-suppressing drug and "emotionally stimulating materials" like books, paintings, etc. are banned. Those who refuse to take Prozium are deemed "sense offenders" and when identified they are "processed" (burnt alive). Confiscated materials are always destroyed.

Libria is governed by the Tetragrammaton Council, led by "Father" (Sean Pertwee). "Father" and the Council have at their disposal many thousands of policemen, including the elite Grammaton Clerics. However, no matter how hard the Council tries, a resistance movement ("Underground") endures. This film tells mostly the story of John Preston (Christian Bale), one of highest ranking Grammaton Clerics and of his growing disaffection with the Tetragrammaton regime.

Now, this film very clearly borrows a lot from famous dystopian books like "Brave new world", "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984", as well as from their cinema adaptations and also movies like "THX1138" (mandatory drug taking), "Matrix" (Grammaton Clerics are the equivalent of Agents), "Logan's Run" (the unwanted are send to the fire by the merciless regime), "Gattaca" (there are still clever people who play the system against itself) and - in my modest opinion - even from Sylvester Stallone's film "Judge Dredd", as there is intrigue and conflict at the top of Tetragrammaton Council, as it was the case at the top of the hierarchy of Judges. But the cocktail doesn't work all that well.

The main thing which doesn't work is the whole principle of the Tetragrammaton ideology - in fact there is no way human emotions can be supressed. There is bitter rivality amongst Tetragrammaton highest executives - which means they know jalousie and resentment. Some younger Clerics are very ambitious and will stop at nothing to get advancement - and ambition, greed and thirst for more power are also emotions. Many younger Clerics and almost all policemen admire John Preston - and this is of course an emotion. At least one Cleric viscerally hates John Preston and wants his death so he can take his place - and those are emotions too. Most Clerics and policemen are loyal and sincerely devoted to Tetragrammaton because they FEEL grateful that it maintains the peace (it seems that the war which devastated this world was a real abomination) - and that implies emotion. Etc, etc.

Then there is the general weakness of the scenario in which virtually nothing is really original (we saw it all in earlier films) and everything can be anticipated long in advance. Dialogs are weak, characters are wooden (well, OK, in this film at least they have an excuse for that). Christian Bale does what he can but with this scenario he couldn't do much. The "bad guys" are pathetic and the "Underground" is even worse. Finally, the ending has "deus ex machina" painted all over it...

Martial arts were considered as a good part of this film but I honestly found the very concept of "gun kata" rather amusing - and introducing sword fights into the fight for power in a technologically very advanced society is beyond ridiculous...

NON SPOILER ALERT: yes, Sean Bean gets whacked in that one - as in all his films... This is why it is not really a spoiler...)))

Bottom line, this is a really not very good variation on "Fahrenheit 451" theme and a bad coctail made with fragments of many other films and books, most of which were much better than this thing. I am glad that I rented this one rather than bought it. Avoid!

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Stokie Dave

Just boring.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 August 2010

An awful prologue takes the viewer into an unbelievable setting, and the film opens with a dull gunfight that sets the tone for the rest of the so-called 'action' sequences. Between these we get slowness masquerading as "intellectual depth", and the tedious unravelling of a rip-off plot. There are some nice visual touches, and overall the scene design and lighting is quite good. By the time we get to the really silly stuff (getting all emotional and defending puppies) the time is right to press the "stop" button. Boring.

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Konstantin Graf

Brilliant Movie, but dissapointing Blu-Ray

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2009

What a Brilliant Movie, and also an excellent preformance by Christian Bale!
But blind me, what a worthless Blu-Ray, the picture quality is the same as my upscaled DVD, in fact my DVD have even a better sound. However I was so looking forward to this release, and now I am just dissapointed I do hope that there will be a new release coming out sooner or later with true DTS and the stunning Blu-Ray picture qualiy that you expect.
Sorry guys, but I do not understand how some of you can praise the picture quality as it's rubbish for a BD!
I can just recommend to keep your old DVD, as it is the same feeling while watching (just with better DTS sound).

58 people found this helpful

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From other countries

Franky S.

Leider leider.....🙈

Reviewed in Germany on 15 May 2020

Verified Purchase

Der Film läuft gerade und ich muß sagen
🙈🙊 mmmhhhh OK ich find ihn nicht besonders.
Na ich bin gespannt.
Und sollte sich jemand über die volvos aus den 80ern wundern.
Das sind E-Volvos😂

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Margaret Bellinger

ADVERTISE MORE CLEARLY WHAT LANGUAGE THE MOVIE IS IN

Reviewed in Canada on 16 October 2017

Verified Purchase

they should really advertise in HUGE letters that the movie I ordered, was in FRENCH ! Great, but I needed an ENGLISH version.

B.S.

Guter Stoff - wichtes Thema - schwacher Film

Reviewed in Germany on 19 February 2022

Verified Purchase

Eine gute Story die es verdient, irgendwann auch mal gut verfilmt zu werden!

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5 star		72%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		4%

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