Josh comments on this rather old post on movie criteria, which reminds me that archives are good for mining. Anyway, he wants to know the “So bad it was good” part of Equilibrium.
I honestly don’t remember, but I do remember that I thought it a Matrix/Minority Report/Gattaca ripoff and found its pistol dancing smarmy. Other than that . . .
Matrix and Minority Report certainly influenced the look and action, but not quite a ripoff in my eyes. The premise of Equilibrium was not the same as either of the above-mentioned films, and I felt was much better than that of Matrix… The Matrix are special effects films with moments of philosophical insight dotted here and there, while Equilibrium remained ideological pretty much throughout. There was more emotion in the movie, and heartfelt loss. I thought the writing of Equilibrium more intelligent. (I know I did not expect the fate of one of the main characters to actually come to pass.)
Equilibrium has a strong cult following. For at least a couple years the film was listed as one of the films most often stolen from or unreturned to movie rental places.
This was the film that made Kas and I Christian Bale fans (we saw it several months after Batman Begins).