10 Sci-Fi Movies That Aren’t As Bad As Everyone Says

Director Kurt Wimmer is soon to release a remake of Stephen King's Children of the Corn, so now seems like the perfect time to revisit his 2002 sci-fi action thriller Equilibrium.

Starring Christian Bale at his most theatrical, the film is a goofy Matrix rip-off which deserves to be reconsidered by fans who were turned off by the critical hate. The plot is a hilariously on-the-nose metaphorical dystopia where in the near future, emotions and free expression have been outlawed and citizens are forced to take daily medication in order to suppress their free will.

Don't faint from shock here, but one day Christian Bale's future cop misses a dose, and wouldn't you know it, he soon finds himself kung-fu fighting his way through scores of henchmen in order to free the masses.

The movie is cheesy dumb genre fun whose action is elevated by some fantastic gunkata, the director's own invented fusion of martial arts, gunfighting, and fight choreography. It's this fast-paced, slo-mo'd action that genre film fans should revisit Equilibrium for, with the movie making John Woo's gunfights look sensible and grounded compared to this acrobatic bullet strewn ballet.