Equilibrium' it's easy to see, lacks balance ; Movie Reviews FINAL Edition

[Kurt Wimmer] has an eye for Expressionist architecture and choreographed set pieces and no head for the ebb and flow - and logic - of drama. 1984-type movies, including George Lucas' THX 1138, have always foundered on the problem of rousing thrills and empathy in a society that doesn't pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Sun (Baltimore, Md. : 1837)
Main Author Sragow, Michael
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Baltimore, Md Tribune Publishing Company, LLC 06.12.2002
Subjects
Bale, Christian
Diggs, Taye
Watson, Emily
Wimmer, Kurt
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Summary:[Kurt Wimmer] has an eye for Expressionist architecture and choreographed set pieces and no head for the ebb and flow - and logic - of drama. 1984-type movies, including George Lucas' THX 1138, have always foundered on the problem of rousing thrills and empathy in a society that doesn't permit the direct expression of feeling. Here, the game of spotting sense offenders through speech inflections or facial expressions that are too individual and fresh grows old fast. And [Christian Bale]'s attempt to undermine the system from within gets ridiculous: sans Prozium, he starts racing around like decapitated poultry when he isn't whirling around with his souped- up six-shooters - in the future, they're more like 60-shooters. The movie relies on canine lovability to clinch Bale's heroic status. At one point, Bale rescues a puppy. You know a filmmaker is desperate when he throws in a puppy.
ISSN:1930-8965