This is SUCH a tired theme... sterile emotionless future society, yet two people are different, fall in love, and fight the system... When George Orwell did it in "1984" it was still reasonably fresh, but that was almost 70 years ago.
"Equals" stars Nicholas Hoult (the creepy kid from "About a Boy" grown up, and even creepier) and Kristen Stewart (known catatonic) really have no chemistry and the movie gives them no reason to be together except they're both "different."
Watching on DVD, I saw a lot of visual "banding" issues, and the audio was largely, well, inaudible. And this universe is all touchscreens and barcode scanners that constantly ping and whoo, which becomes really grating even 10 minutes in... ick.
Instead of this, I'd suggest "Gattaca" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/ -- That was 20 years ago, and the premise was already getting threadbare by then, but at least there are some interesting stakes and twists and performances from Jude Law, Alan Arkin, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
Or maybe "The Island" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/ -- yes, Michael Bay, so plenty o' 'splosions, but at least it's a decent premise and has lots of good twists.
Even good old "Logan's Run" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/ -- handles this material in a more interesting manner -- it's pretty cheesy in terms of effects and costumes (it was 40 years ago so cut it some slack), but much more fun.
The commentary on the disc tries to position the film as some great love story that just happens to be set in this cliché future, but there's almost nothing there. Skip it, or at least lower your expectations.
"Equals" stars Nicholas Hoult (the creepy kid from "About a Boy" grown up, and even creepier) and Kristen Stewart (known catatonic) really have no chemistry and the movie gives them no reason to be together except they're both "different."
Watching on DVD, I saw a lot of visual "banding" issues, and the audio was largely, well, inaudible. And this universe is all touchscreens and barcode scanners that constantly ping and whoo, which becomes really grating even 10 minutes in... ick.
Instead of this, I'd suggest "Gattaca" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/ -- That was 20 years ago, and the premise was already getting threadbare by then, but at least there are some interesting stakes and twists and performances from Jude Law, Alan Arkin, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
Or maybe "The Island" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/ -- yes, Michael Bay, so plenty o' 'splosions, but at least it's a decent premise and has lots of good twists.
Even good old "Logan's Run" -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/ -- handles this material in a more interesting manner -- it's pretty cheesy in terms of effects and costumes (it was 40 years ago so cut it some slack), but much more fun.
The commentary on the disc tries to position the film as some great love story that just happens to be set in this cliché future, but there's almost nothing there. Skip it, or at least lower your expectations.