"So long and thanks for all the fish." This is the Dolphins final message before they leave planet earth. Why? Because a Vogon constructor fleet is building an interspace highway - and earth just happens to be in the way. Luckily for Arthur Dent, his friend, Ford Prefect, is actually from another planet, and through his knowledge manages to hitch a ride. However, both are soon kicked out of the Vogon spaceship (Vogons HATE hitchhikers) - into space, where they are picked up by another ship (against all odds) before they die. This ship has three inhabitants - Zaphod Beeblebrox, president of the Galaxy, kidnapped by himself, and now on a quest to find the answer. THE answer. To life. The universe. Everything. As start, he needs to find the legendary planet of Magrathea. Oh, and Zaphod is also Fords semi-demi-half-brother - they share three of the same mothers. Also aboard the ship: Marvin, a depressed robot, and Trisha/Trilian, a woman who Arthur Dent met at a dress party, and totally blew it with. This crazy cast strives to accomplish their quest, while avoiding Vogins, getting revenge for enemy political campaigns (don't vote for stupid), and trying to figure out what is really going on.
Hitchhikers guide is a full-out comedy - random ideas, little plotline, and lots of laughs. Whenever something good happens, Marvin is there to tell you. If something bed happens (say for instance two thermo-nuclear missiles are being fired at you) the optimistic board computer is always glad to announce. And throughout the movie, the book of "The Hitchhiker guide to the Galaxy" is there to explain with short animations.
This movie is mostly directed at teens - too little sense for grown-ups, and too big diction for little kids.
The year is somewhere around 2200 A. D. World War III has just ended, and under the lead of a man who calls himself "Father", the surviving world leaders have decided that the reason for war, our ability to feel cannot be tolerated. At the cost of all feelings, and a lot of personal freedoms, it is ensured that there will never be war again. To ensure this, a new branch has been instituted: The Grammaton Cleric. With the (only) city-state of Liberia as base of operations, they strike out, working in strike parties to seek out and destroy all that oppose the theft of what is natural to them, rebels, criminals, or even those who don´t take their proxium, the drug used to eliminate feelings.
John Preston (Christian Bale) is the leader of the cleric. With his co-worker, Partridge (Sean Bean) he works his best to ensure peace - until his world is turned upside down.
Equilibrium is an action movie, full of gun- and sword fights. While blood is kept to a minimum, dozens of people are shot, beaten, burned, sliced and stabbed. If you like action and intense scenes, you´ll probably love this movie. The Clerics receive special gun training, ensuring maximal kills, and minimizing the chance of being hit by using a precise moving and shooting technique - making them almost invincible foes.
Romance is kept to a minimum - understandable in a movie without feeling. Feeling people, or "sense offenders" as they are officially called are almost only seen when fighting for their survival against Police, what appear to be SWAT teams without the insignia, and Clerics.
Color is also kept to a minimum. Except for in the dens of offenders, everything is black, white, grey, or a drab sort of blue.
In the end though, Equilibrium is a big hit, having made over half a million in the opening weekend on only 300 screens - in other words, it was running 24/7. Reviews have given it a popularity rating of 83 percent.
Personally, I loved it - and so did most of my friends (one mentioned that it was one of the few movies he watched after 11:00 pm and didn´t fall asleep). If you´re looking for an action packed movie to watch with friends, something to keep you awake and still have a good plotline - Equilibrium can be recommended.
