I just want to add that I really appreciate everyone's appreciation. I am happy we are able to present a breath of fresh air to some of you, as it is a breath of fresh air to me as well reading your opinions. Thanks again Scott!

"The 'oh shit' guys." ha
khalling has already covered some major bases here. She mentioned the HUGE Atlas that was in the movie and we wondered the significance. It's not a mistake that it is in this movie (I don't think). And I want it also. :)
This movie shows, like all previous dictatorist/statist regimes, they find ways to take the 'you' out of you...and once that's accomplished you're just part of the collective blob. Another question to ask..."how did they get to that point?...How did that happen?" One more thing, when you were discussing how far in the future it might have been, because all of the emotion burnings/destructions were of items from the past (or our now current times) but nothing else seemed too futurists.... I think this shows how quickly these types of changes can happen under the right conditions. Are the conditions such in America right now? I feel like I'm surrounded by mindless sheep most of the time already. :( (You guys are a breath of fresh air... I love to watch the thinking going on.) Thanks! :)

Here is a written review I did for people that haven't watched the film but to entice them into watching it.

http://rogermalcolm.wordpress.com/2013/0...

We also had to reschedule this week and I accidentally uploaded Alfredo Garcia again instead of Equilibrium. I was up to 3am fixing it.

Interesting review. Especially once you guys warmed up! Like the new intro. fav lines "people are waking up" "you have to bring something to the table [when watching the film]." I also agreed with Chris about the lack of impetus in such a society for developing disruptive technologies.
Throughout history, when a nation collapses, it is common to have a totalitarian take-over. Often under the guise of "maintaining order," building out of chaos is as fearful or more perhaps than a war. This is how you get millions of people to agree in the beginning-maintain order.
The symbolism of a Third Reich was strong in the film. s well, there were nods to Atlas Shrugged. A large lighted Atlas and globe was featured I think three times in the movie. Why? (I want that globe though lol)
Maybe it was not malicious-Facts:1. Objectivism does not condone the initiation of force 2. Objectivism respects property rights 3. Objectivism does not advocate the lack of emotion. This third concept is where I think the nudge is towards. It is a widely accepted fallacy that emotion and logic are divorced from one another. You guys had that discussion and concluded correctly. As Rand said in the Playboy Interview:
"An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man’s value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man’s reason and his emotions—provided he observes their proper relationship ..."

The guy sitting in the middle...why is he there? He hardly ever says anything. Not just in this review...in every one I've watched. I think his positioning in this review at least added some humor - his head is stuck between two poster eyeballs most of the time. I don't know why that imagery is funny to me, but it is.

I do think the movie ripped off the Matrix a bit. Also, the movie setting in the "Nether region" felt a bit like it ripped off Batman walking through Gotham.

The message of this movie to me: government regulations designed to "prevent problems" lead to totalitarianism.
Over-emotionalism leads to crimes: regulate emotions.
A few men walk onto a plane with box-cutters: now everyone can't walk onto a plane with cuticle scissors or fingernail clippers.
Some guy put bombs into his shoes: now everyone has to take their shoes off before getting onto a plane.
Some guy puts a bomb into his underwear: send everyone through naked-body scanners so we can inspect the underwear.
Some guy discusses terrorist plots over email or phone: record all email and phone conversations.
Some guy shoots another guy: outlaw gun ownership, confiscate guns

You know, before criminals commit crimes or discuss crimes, they THINK of crimes. What if we had technology that could record what everyone was thinking, provided they wore the right equipment? I think we have people in our government that would pass laws requiring everyone to wear it. I think people in our government are working on this technology right now.

As we allow a government to "prevent problems" by restricting freedom of the 99.99% in response to the evils of the 0.01%, society is altered for the worse and we soon end up in a situation where it is not a matter of us "allowing" anything anymore. We have "us" at the bottom, being organized by "them" at the top, and the people on the top aren't restricted to the same rules they are requiring of those at the bottom...and efforts by those at the bottom to change the situation will be declared as criminal behavior.