BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Mabel Munoz
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Cheryl
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
popandfilms
I knew the theater play but had never heard of this movie adaptation. What a great surprise. Sidney Lumet is such a talented director and proves it again with this very intense movie. Richard Burton is incredible and the relationship between the doctor and the "sick" boy is really captivating and moving. All the oniric scenes are wonderful, filled with beauty ans melancholy. It does the effect of a beautiful nightmare. Is it better to be crazy or to live a life without passion ?
d_m_s
I was looking forward to getting my teeth into this film because the plot sounded so unusual, freaky, curious and interesting. For the first half hour or so I really enjoyed it but after that point I began to realise I was watching a film with 2 main story lines (rather than a main plot plus sub plots).The 2 were plots were: The story of Alan (the patient who had attacked the horses) and; The story of Martin, the therapist treating him. For me, the plots opposed rather than complimented each other and I found myself enjoying the film when it focused on Alan. His character and his interactions with his family and Jenny Agutter's character were all very interesting.However, this interesting story line kept getting interrupted by soliloquies by the therapist that I felt were melodramatic and I just kept wanting to tell him to lighten up. These speeches direct to the camera, as well as his scenes with his therapist friend, were all just about him being miserable and moaning about everything. I know the whole idea was to show how much the patient had had an affect on the therapist as what the therapist had had on the patient but for me it just slowed the whole story down and added a large dose of unnecessary melodrama. So for me half of the film was really good and the other half was really dull.
Armand
one of Richard Burton splendid roles. the convincing performance of Peter Firth. a good play. short, one of movies who remains a web of questions, emotions, stains of feelings because it is a kind of descent in yourself. sure, many critics , result of nostalgia for play adaptation on stage. but it is not a version. only a precise film inspired by the Schaffer universe. the director does an admirable work first for refuse of confrontation with the text. it is a splendid exploration of details and a fight between two manners to discover life. it is a precise construction using few extraordinaries images. a film about lost and axis of life, about values and need to escape from a fake image of world. it is necessary to see it. not only for acting - it is beautiful at whole. not for subject - it could be not new. but for the grace of details. and for the pillars- questions who can give another nuance , for two hours to an ordinary day.
tieman64
Based on Peter Shaffer's play, "Equus" revolves around a crime in which a young boy stabs six horses, graphically puncturing their eyes with a metal spike. It's up to Richard Burton, a local psychiatrist, to find out why the kid did what he did.Unfortunately, the film is more interesting to think about than to view. Themes of sexuality, religion and freedom all swirl about, but always in the form of conversations and dialogue. The result is a very claustrophobic and difficult to watch film.Director Sidney Lumet has adapted many stage-plays for film, but this one is simply too dark to be much fun viewing. The notion that a boy would transpose religion onto the face of a horse, the watching eyes of the animal becoming a substitute for the oppression of God, is interesting, but the film lacks energy. 6/10- Jenny Agutter, who made a career out of playing sexy characters, is very good here, but the rest of the cast is rather bland. Most interesting is the decision to place Agutter in a skintight horse riding outfit. Why is she always placed in fetish gear? Her school uniform in "Walkabout", her nurse's uniform in "An American Werewolf in London", her horse riding outfit in "Equus", her skimpy clothes in "Logan's Run", her German frocks in "The Eagle has Landed" etc etc. Her whole career is littered with roles in which she is reduced to a fetish doll.
