NamelessCynic
Lifetime Total
1+
IMDb Member
19 years
Reviews
Equilibrium (2002)
How derivative can one movie be?
Three years after "The Matrix" became a multi-million dollar hit, we get "Equilibrium." But just stealing from one movie wasn't enough. This movie also had to steal plot elements from "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984." Interestingly, "The Matrix" was stealing elements from Hong Kong action films, which means that "Equilibrium" has second-generation plagiarism going on.
There is not a single original thought or idea in this movie. They take their costume designs from the Nazi's and Stalinist Russia, their concept of the cities from Judge Dredd, and their soulless anti-hero coming to grips with his own humanity from... hell, it's probably a story you'll find carved in hieroglyphs inside ancient Egyptian tombs.
I've got to say, the "gun kata" is the silliest idea I've seen in years... well, OK, after the idea that a government would make owning a painting illegal because it might cause an emotional response.
The idea behind the "gun kata" is that you can figure out where the enemy is and shoot him based on mathematical principles. And in the perfect "Equilibrium" world, the enemy DOES seem to stand in formation, or surround you in a perfect circle. In real life, it's just trying to give a martial-arts explanation for a semi-mystic ability to shoot everybody around you.
Christian Bale seems to be continuing to act by showing as little emotion as possible. (Yeah, he cracks a few times, but he's well inside his "American Psycho"/"Batman Begins" comfort zone. And Boromir is wasted in what's essentially an extended cameo.
I watched it all the way through, just to see how they were going to tie it all up. My wife gave up on it halfway through, and I'd be a happier person today if I'd done the same.
There is not a single original thought or idea in this movie. They take their costume designs from the Nazi's and Stalinist Russia, their concept of the cities from Judge Dredd, and their soulless anti-hero coming to grips with his own humanity from... hell, it's probably a story you'll find carved in hieroglyphs inside ancient Egyptian tombs.
I've got to say, the "gun kata" is the silliest idea I've seen in years... well, OK, after the idea that a government would make owning a painting illegal because it might cause an emotional response.
The idea behind the "gun kata" is that you can figure out where the enemy is and shoot him based on mathematical principles. And in the perfect "Equilibrium" world, the enemy DOES seem to stand in formation, or surround you in a perfect circle. In real life, it's just trying to give a martial-arts explanation for a semi-mystic ability to shoot everybody around you.
Christian Bale seems to be continuing to act by showing as little emotion as possible. (Yeah, he cracks a few times, but he's well inside his "American Psycho"/"Batman Begins" comfort zone. And Boromir is wasted in what's essentially an extended cameo.
I watched it all the way through, just to see how they were going to tie it all up. My wife gave up on it halfway through, and I'd be a happier person today if I'd done the same.
Tornado! (1996)
Possibly not the best choice if you don't have enough beer
There are some horrendous movies out there. Movies that are so bad you can't watch them.
This isn't one of them. This is merely terrible. Even if you're a Bruce Campbell fan, this doesn't rise to the level of a truly unviewable film, except in the sense that some turds will float to the top of the septic tank. You should see this as a double feature with "Twister," if only to take a break from a well-done (if slightly over-done) action movie. See if you can spot the scenes in "Tornado!" that the writer stole from (or guessed were going to be in) the other movie.
Ernie Hudson doesn't emote nearly as well as he did in his somewhat... restrained performances in the "Ghostbusters" franchise.
You'd think that the writer who gave us "The Aviator" and the screenplays for "The Last Samurai," "Star Trek: Nemesis," (2002) "Gladiator," and "Any Given Sunday" could have done better. But then again, maybe the reason that he supplied the screenplay, but not the story, for almost all of his big-ticket movies. After all, John Logan's original works also include classics like "Bats," and, well, this drek.
This isn't one of them. This is merely terrible. Even if you're a Bruce Campbell fan, this doesn't rise to the level of a truly unviewable film, except in the sense that some turds will float to the top of the septic tank. You should see this as a double feature with "Twister," if only to take a break from a well-done (if slightly over-done) action movie. See if you can spot the scenes in "Tornado!" that the writer stole from (or guessed were going to be in) the other movie.
Ernie Hudson doesn't emote nearly as well as he did in his somewhat... restrained performances in the "Ghostbusters" franchise.
You'd think that the writer who gave us "The Aviator" and the screenplays for "The Last Samurai," "Star Trek: Nemesis," (2002) "Gladiator," and "Any Given Sunday" could have done better. But then again, maybe the reason that he supplied the screenplay, but not the story, for almost all of his big-ticket movies. After all, John Logan's original works also include classics like "Bats," and, well, this drek.