Asch

The best part about this movie - aside from the fighting style "gun kata" it introduces - is how well it blends multiple ideas we've seen before in so many other facets and makes them all part of one seamless whole. There are elements of 'Brave New World' and 'Farenheit 451' to be sure, and while some would argue 'The Matrix,' others would argue '20 John Woo movies that came before that.' Equilibrium takes the idea of our increasingly drug-reliant culture and multiplies it to an extreme. It doesn't matter if this future is plausible, its that director/write Wimmer MAKES IT WORK. He filters these other ideas through his own sensibilities and delivers a film with style AND substance.

Special mention has to be made for the editing of the fight sequences. They are, without argument, some of the best action sequences ever committed to film. They are excruciatingly fast-paced and exceedingly cleverly staged, especially since not one instance in them is ripped from any other movie. You can spot moments of inspiration perhaps, but nothing blatantly stolen.

And that is how the entire movie plays. The story is nothing we haven't seen before, but it is the execution of this story that makes it so compelling here. Bale is once again in top form and Taye Diggs continues to command respect as an actor who makes the absolute most of every character he plays.

Watch it for the action sequences and you wont be disappointed. You might even notice that the story is pretty cool too.

If that part didn't have me laughing so hard tears were streaming down my cheeks. There's something very, very funny about "Girl from Ipanema" playing while something dumb is happening. This sort of thing is just great. It's good to see a small-time little movie done for fun getting the laughs it deserves.