Equals
A24 | Release Date: July 15, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
15
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ObserverRex ReedJul 13, 2016
All told, Equals is a feast for the eye that leaves you with a troubling contemplation of the future. Read full review
75
ConsequenceNico LangJul 12, 2016
Equals is composed of small, sensual moments which build to a climax that feels both gut-wrenching and potently universal, like an old torch song to which you already know all the words. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJul 14, 2016
Director Drake Doremus carefully constructs an us-against-the-world romance for Silas and Nia (an idea he pulled off beautifully in the underrated 2011 drama "Like Crazy," starring Felicity Jones and the late Anton Yelchin) and provides them with a rogue band of fellow thought rebels, including Guy Pearce and Jacki Weaver. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJul 13, 2016
Equals brings Stewart’s charisma back to a genre framework — though its form of low-key science fiction is no longer the kind of genre material that actually gets wide exposure. Read full review
67
HitfixDrew McWeenySep 14, 2015
If you can get past the witlessness of the world itself, there is some very good work in Equals, and fans of the cast will be no doubt pleased with the connection they have in some of the movie's best moments. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJul 15, 2016
Equals goes for the Vulcan solution, and while the movie feels a bit thin and padded as a feature, it believes in itself completely, and there are moments when the sincerity of the lead actors and the director's addiction to the narcotics of Kristen Stewart's eyes, lips, neck and hands puts the whole concept over the top. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithJul 14, 2016
Doremus can’t quite make the emotional breakthroughs rewarding enough to justify the slow buildup, but the icy beauty of the film makes it worth watching. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 14, 2016
Equals is really about possibility in a world gone cold from insisting that things can't change. Sound like any place you know? Read full review
58
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonJul 14, 2016
It’s all a little slow and stoic and familiar. Read full review
50
Washington PostMark JenkinsJul 21, 2016
More mood piece than drama, Equals ultimately benefits from the scarcity of exposition, because the story’s details make little sense. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJul 21, 2016
The final resolution of the plot is actually rather intriguing, but the journey to it is so slow and predictable that most moviegoers will have long since lost interest. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ellen BraitJul 15, 2016
The scenes between Stewart and co-star Nicholas Hoult tend to be long and lingering, even bordering on dull, and the melodramatic music grows bothersome. By the time it reaches its abrupt ending, the only emotion audiences might be left with is boredom. Read full review
50
The Film StageRory O'ConnorJun 20, 2016
It is, quite frankly, a bit dull as it plays out in a near constant melodramatic key. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 12, 2015
From Doremus’ side of things, it can’t be easy to depict something as subtle as “intermittent feeling” or “increased sensitivity,” though the helmer does a fine job of laying the groundwork for the attraction blooming between Silas and Nia — boosted by the resonant collection of electronic tones and chimes that constitute Equals’ futuristic score. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 12, 2015
For high-concept melodrama that's low on complexity, this very solemn film takes itself way too seriously. But it's not entirely without interest, thanks to sleek visuals and decent chemistry between alluring leads Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJessica KiangSep 12, 2015
Its few saving graces are some decent shot-making, a rather great score and the loveliness of its lead actors' faces. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJul 14, 2016
Equals walls itself off from the suspense implicit in its scenario — it’s practically an anti-thriller — and barely flickers to life as a tale of forbidden desire. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 14, 2016
Equals could be her least persuasive performance to date — and remember, Stewart has played a soldier at Guantanamo and a girl who dates a vampire. Read full review
40
Village VoiceBilge EbiriJul 12, 2016
We're left with an idea of passion instead of a real depiction of it. And a movie that can't stop wallowing in its own emptiness. Read full review
40
Screen DailyJonathan RomneySep 12, 2015
Equals just about passes muster as a solid vignette of love against the odds, but when it comes to futurism, its vision is dustily archaic. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 12, 2015
The film has so little to say about forbidden love, and gives its stars so little dramatic sinew to flex, that it already feels like a footnote in the genre. Read full review
40
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 12, 2015
Doremus doesn't appear to take the world he has created at all seriously. The rules shift and bend, are observed - or aren't - according to the exigency of the narrative, which ultimately renders the whole exercise fundamentally unconvincing and fatally irksome. Read full review
40
The GuardianAndrew PulverSep 12, 2015
Equals doesn’t really work as either a plausible attempt at rendering some sort of future society, nor as a really convincing thwarted-love story. Read full review
33
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 13, 2016
It’s hard to understand why Doremus, whose Sundance-winning “Like Crazy” was an effective reminder that emotion can be a narrative unto itself, would regress towards a story in which he renders that idea redundantly literal. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJul 14, 2016
It is so vague, cliché-ridden and devoid of surprise and suspense that once you grasp its premise, watching it is like leafing through a design magazine kept in a refrigerator. Read full review
30
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 12, 2015
Ultimately, Equals fails because Silas and Nia aren’t all that much more interesting as a romantic couple than they are as zombie-like individuals. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezMay 10, 2016
The Drake Doremus film all comes down, simplistically and repeatedly, to “feelings make us feel alive.” Read full review
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