If this movie were any more bad ass ... it'd have to be called "Bad Ass: The Movie." And it saddens me to say, that I'd almost be willing to put money down, that you (yes, you) haven't ever heard of it. I say almost, because I could never actually put money on it ... I'd feel bad taking your hard earned cash. Equilibrium hit a select few theaters last year, mostly of the art house variety. The distribution company, Dimension, should be kicked in the nuts for doing this movie such an injustice. Equilibrium has "Summer Blockbuster" written all over it. And yet, like you, I'd never heard of it. That was, until last week. I was intrigued, but still a bit skeptical of the concept (more on that later.) So, I downloaded it this past weekend (yeah, yeah, yeah, shut it!), watched it ... and went out and bought the DVD on Tuesday when I went to pick up my copy of Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers. It's that damn good.

Equilibrium has been compared to The Matrix, and while I can agree to an extent, I feel it's more appropriate to say "It's like The Matrix, mixed with elements of Metropolis, or 1984." The movie tells the story of a "what if" future, where emotions have been outlawed. After World War 3, humans realized that they could not survive a 4th. So they came up with a way to suppress emotions through medication, and created a way to enforce the new law. The Grammaton Cleric. Aka: Bad Ass.

Equilibrium stars Christian Bale (American Psycho, Reign of Fire), who plays Preston, a Grammaton Cleric of the highest order. On a routine mission to eliminate a rouge group of "sense offenders" (people who have voluntarily stopped taking the emotion suppressing drug, so they could feel again ... be human again), he suspects his partner, played by Sean Bean (Lord of The Rings), might also be guilty of the very crime they're meant to eliminate. After his devotion to the law brings him to carry out his partner's execution, he begins to wonder what it is about this whole "feelings" thing, that so many are so willing to die for.

While Equilibrium's story borrows from old classics (most notably 1984, Metropolis, or Fahrenheit 451), it keeps the genre fresh, with the edition of the Grammaton Clerics, and their "Gun-Kata." Think of them as Samurai, with firearms. After years of analyzing thousands of gun battles, they have discovered the best forms and positions for maximum effectiveness in any given gun battle. It's become an art form. And Preston is the best of the best. Equilibrium has some incredible gun fights. Working on a tight budget, the director, Kurt Wimmer, effectively uses lights, angles, and fast paced editing to enhance the fight scenes ... gun or no gun. The visual effects are often no more than muzzle flash, unlike ... well, unlike just about every other gun fight put on film after 1993. And it's a welcome throwback to the pre-computer generated visual effects laden films. While at the same time, the choreography of the battles, and the use of lighting, various camera angles, and hyper-cuts keep them fresh, modern ... easily rivaling anything on the screen today.

Equilibrium deserved much more than it's limited theater release. But at least with it's recent release on DVD, I can now spread the word to the masses. I highly recommend this movie to anyone. A+, 5 of 5, two thumbs and two big toe's up, etc, et al, and so forth. Rent it if your skeptical, just think of me when you go buy it after watching it, and you're thinking to yourself "Damn! I should have just bought it in the first place, and saved a few bucks on the rental."

The DVD unfortunately, is pretty sparse in the way of extras, consisting of a director commentary, and a director and producer commentary. There's also a featurette called "Finding Equilibrium." With as little attention that Dimension paid to the theatrical release of the film, this shouldn't come as a surprise. It makes it doubly disheartening, when a movie like this gets shafted, while a piece of crap like Legally Blond 2 is even considered ... much less funded, produced, and given a full tilt marketing blitz.

We'll give Equilibrium an A+.