When I first saw the Matrix, I thought it was incomperable. There was nothing that could stand up to it. Then I saw Matrix 2 and realised that it wasn't just the superman jump at the end of the movie, it was the whole friggen script. I liked the effects and the story idea but the more they talked about it the less I believed it. Then I saw Equilibrium. The only bad thing in this entire movie was the face slash at the end. Well, ok they never really explained the swords really well either. However, the story line works beautifully. How much validation do we really need that A: emotions are evil and cause mankinds problems. (the bhuddists have been saying that for centuries) and B: in the future a martial art will be constructed with hand guns. Of course there will be.
From there, you can look at the cinematography (gorgeous), the costumes, (efficient and usable, believeable), the performances (dead on. Taye Diggs only has one emotion right?) even the coreography and the music works perfectly. any minor faults I have with this movie fall to the wayside when I am reminded that beauty is subjective and necessary for our world to exist.