'Equilibrium'

I will admit that before today I had not seen the movie 'Equilibrium.' I finally Netflix'd it and watched it, and have two comments:

Firstly, all the gun-ninja stuff is badass. At first glimpse of Christian Bale going into the room and killing all of the people, I noticed it was jumpy--which is the point. The explanation of how, in that world, all gunfire patterns will be predictable and can be avoided with carefully timed movements is ingenious. Mildly implausible, but creative nonetheless. I also liked the scene when Christian Bale kept getting attacked by the automatic rifle and kept hitting it to the side to avoid being shot (scene with the puppy, I believe). Very cool choreography.

Secondly, the ending: not a big fan. Since this was loosely based on '1984' (not legally, but it seems that way), and '1984' has far from a happy ending, I was expecting the same. Also, anyone who knows me knows I love a downer ending. I don't particularly 'buy' the fact Christian Bale's character can infiltrate the system and stage that whole overthrow. Wouldn't "Father" have anticipated Bale's character would come with loaded weapons? How would this be overlooked? And since he was planning on the rebels infiltrating the Clerics, wouldn't have have a countermeasure prepared as well? I know people like to see 'The Man' being overthrown, but in a movie like this, that ending came too quickly and in an unjustified manner.

The ending should have either been a small victory for Bale's character toward his cause, or a larger victory after Bale's sacrifice--trying to achieve both was aiming too high, and the last 20 minutes fell flat.