MovieChat Forums > Equals (2016) Discussion > veryyyyy underrared

veryyyyy underrared

posted 8 years ago by PoesyRedux
9 replies | jump to latest

It's a shame that this beautiful movie is disrespected with a low grade on IMDb and other websites. Right now it's 6.1, but deserves at least an 8. It exceeded all my expectations. You have to agree that the production design is breathtaking, even if you don't like the storyline (why not?), the very least appreciate all the effort they put into it. Soundtrack - wow! The sets, the atmosphere... Every actor and actress are perfect for their roles, and that's coming from someone who's allergic to the Twilight movies.

I'm a very harsh critic but this movie passed with flying colors. Even for a romance, the genre which usually makes me cringe, it wasn't filled with lame cliches like all other movies. The ending was great, I was worried that they are going to screw it up but it ended on a perfect note.

I don't know why 'Equals' is treated so unfairly. Maybe because people down-voted without even giving it a chance, because of Kristen Stewart's reputation, and because it's being accused of multiple plagiarism. Let me tell you - I've seen Christian Bale's 'Equilibrium", and we have 2 very different movies on our hands. Nobody is shooting guns in 'Equals', everything is different. So relax.

[–] TxMike 8 years ago

My biggest gripe is with Stewart and Hoult. Their acting as such was fine but most of the time they mumbled their lines so badly that neither my wife nor I could understand them, we had to turn on the subtitles. And it isn't an issue with the sound on the DVD, all the other actors enunciated just fine. To me this is a big issue and a reason to downgrade its rating.

Plus we found the fantasy to be rather shallow and this movie doesn't really have very memorable themes.

..*.. TxMike ..*..

[–] PoesyRedux 8 years ago

I agree, some lines were hard to hear. But I'm not going to hold it against the movie. I actually found to be quite natural, because we too don't always hear what others say around us. So I just allowed my imagination to play and guess what they said during those scenes. But it didn't happen often so it wasn't such a major issue. And soundtrack was always great so that helped to erase such a small flaw.

I was impressed by both Stewart and Hoult. Stewart especially. She did really well, and I enjoyed the scenes where she transitioned between showing emotions and hiding them. It didn't come off as fake.

I don't think that 'Equals' is a shallow movie. It has some depth in it. They could've made it really shallow, if they wanted to, but luckily they didn't ruin it with lame cliches that so many other movies have, especially those involving a romantic theme. I loved the ending. It was neither happy nor sad, maybe just a pinch of sadness but it's very well fit.

[–] Metatron_Fallen 8 years ago

I agree with this and I wound up putting the subtitles on for this reason.

I was born in the US but haven't lived or been there in more than a quarter century and now hear Scottish accents all day long. Sometimes when I'm in the cinema it's difficult to shift gears and I know it's down to that. But in this case, there were definitely a few scenes where I couldn't understand either actor because they didn't really get the words out of their mouths.

I find this is a problem with a lot of young actors these days- especially ones from the States.

[–] pcleary99 8 years ago

Agree with the under-rated. Just tripped into this one on Amazon. WOW. The soundtrack was great. The acting was good. I could feel their relationship. Some early scenes reminded me of what it was like as a teenager 35 years ago touching hands with a girl I was completely in "love" with for the first few times, electric nervous.

Not that I know anything about acting, but the actor's capturing the character's evolving state of emotional awakening if the scenes were shot out of order would be difficult. I read on IMDB that it only grossed $32,000? Can that be right? Shame. I think I like this one better than Gattaca. I was kinda anticipating the movie blowing the ending, but I think they did it right. Most of the movie was subtle. Watched it on my ipad with headphones so the sound was powerful. No hard time hearing the dialogue.

[–] PoesyRedux 8 years ago

It grossed more than 32K. They sold the rights to TV companies, Netflix, etc. Video sales and on-demand had to earn at least a couple million. But I don't know if they broke even the 16 million dollar budget. If they didn't then it's very unfortunate, because the producers definitely deserve to be rewarded for making such a high quality film.

I hate to see all those Marvel movies earning billions in profit, despite being a lame generic clichefest film after film. All those superhero movies, they are all the same and they stopped putting much effort into it. I heard that 'Suicide Squad' was terrible but it became a Box Office hit, nevertheless. Meanwhile great films such as 'Equals' are getting a short end of the stick, and that's why we don't see that many being made anymore.

Also, I'm impressed by how much 'Equals' achieved with just a 16m budget. That's relatively small compared to all the bloated budgets nowadays. The sets were amazing!

[–] fn-sj 8 years ago

I agree with you. I think a lot has to do with marketing. There has been serious overload on the promotion of Suicide Squad whereas there's been practically none for Equals. It almost felt defeatist to just do a deal for VOD , as though they had no confidence in the product at all.

It seems that movie quality has nothing to do with box office success at all. There have been other recent movies that have surprised the critics by doing well when their reviews were lukewarm.

Equals is a movie with real emotional depth which hinges entirely on Stewart and Holt selling their emotional journey. ..which they do so powerfully , and not an easy one to portray when you consider having to express the feelings of being touched for the first time and having the volcanic emotions swirling around inside which they cannot begin to understand.

I think a lot of the nuances of their performances are lost on a less discerning viewer. This should definitely have been invested in more in its promotion and then would have realised it's potential on the big screen. ( ...and the inaudible dialogue should have been addressed in post production !)

[–] mutationjason 8 years ago

I love sc-fi and I'm somewhat of a harsh critic. I rated it a 6, which falls in line with the 6.1. It's not because of Stewart (I'm liking her more after the last couple of years) or anything about Equilibrium. It was basically a concept and not much else. I watched the preview and I could figure what the movie would be. I still gave it a chance. Not many surprises. It wasn't bad, I just found it a bit dull and felt like it could have been better. I also agree with another poster about Holt and Stewart whispering lines. I had to turn the volume up really high. I thought they had good performances though. I liked the set design and the Logan's Run-esque set design.

Last 5 films I've rated

Arrival: 9
Captain Fantastic: 8
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: 6
Into the Forest: 7.5
Doctor Strange: 9

[–] bureau203 8 years ago

It was a lot better than I expected it to be. For the first half hour or so, it was what I expected - unoriginal copy of countless other sci-fi scenarios where the government controls your emotions and sex. But then it went into its own area, and became a lot more interesting. At one point I was sure it was going to end up being "Romeo and Juliet in the Future", but thankfully they avoided that too.

I did have a problem understanding what they were saying a lot, though. The dialogue was often mumbled and very quiet. Then I'd turn the volume up, and later some music would come along and blast out of my speakers.

Overall I gave it an 8/10.

I've seen things that would make you want to write a book on how to puke.

[–] amlu 8 years ago

This is definitely an 8. I just finished watching it and I found it masterly done on every level. The depth this film deals with is something rarely seen in modern cinema, or even modern sci-fi. Support it.