Unsung sci-fi view of the future

The cataclysm wrought by a third world war at the onset of the 21st century has forced the surviving world to abopt a new form of government to prevent the obliteration of the planet. In the Kurt Wimmer written and directed intense sci-fi thriller "Equilibrium" the society known as Libria suppresses the act of feeling in its inhabitants. With the aid of a drug Prozium, which all citizens inject at regular intervals, all emotions and feelings are quashed. A vast militaristic organization has been created to root out any undesirables that don't follow these societal tenets. At the apex of the enforcement arm are the Gramatan clerics, a group of super martial arts practitioners.

Christian Bale stars as John Preston the most highly ranked Cleric with unsurpassed fighting skills. Pure of thought and uncompromising, Bale and his partner Errol Partridge, played by Sean Bean comb the nether regions outside the city for rebels and to destroy any artifacts that could promote emotion and feelings. His unflagging loyalty to societal head, Father played by Sean Pertwee is shaken when he is forced to kill Bean who has committed an unspeakable sensory crime.

Bale purposely avoids dosing himself with Prozium which clears his mind and allows him to reconsider the jaded mores of the society. Working with an ambitious and suspicious new partner Brandt played by Taye Diggs, he secretly joins forces with the underground while appearing to stalk them, striving to topple the gonernment.

The underrated "Equilibrium" plays like a cross between "Brave New World" and "The Matrix" and compares quite favorably with the later. Impressive action sequences filled with incredible gunplay propels the film forward, creating an exhilarating viewing experience.

Underrated science fiction film.

Christian Bale stars in this futuristic sci-fi film, the film had a different and intriguing idea that kind of worked yes there are a few flaws but the film seems to overcome these flaws with some great action scenes, the new martial arts move that they use in this film was an interesting idea it basicely looks like samurai sword fighting only with guns. after World war 3 human kind is in a state of severe emotional repression in order to keep things inline and not make anyone attack each other they take mood dapenning pills so everybody seems emotionless and they are all ruled by a totalitarion leader, anyone who is found to have any feelings or emotions they are called sense offenders is imediatly killed by clerics who are like law enforcement or agents, Christian Bale plays Preston the highest ranking cleric we see him kill a bunch of rebels hiding out in an abandoned building with quick percision with out breaking a sweat the only problem now is that his partner played by Sean Bean has now become a sense offender and Preston is sent out to kill him but before he does he is questioned by his partner as what role does he play in life and whether he must continue with his job as a cleric.

None of this effects Preston and he just kills him but then he starts to think of what his purpose in life might be and stops taking the pills and soon has feelings for a captured prisoner played by Emily Watson. You can tell that some parts of the film were inspired by Metropolis and 1984 from the design and sets of the film, Taye Diggs character soon comes along as Preston's new partner but soon finds out that Preston might have joined an undergound orginazation that are planing to destroy the leader of there new world. The film is not your typical big special fx type action film where its just some cheesy oneliners and a crappy storyline no its much different it actualy has a smart storyline with a bit of drama and heart to it. It was written and directed by Kurt Wimmer and I highly recomend this excellent film, Kurt also made Ultraviolet which I might check out soon despite being bashed by critics and having mixed reviews on Amazon oh well.

Too flawed to recommend

The premise of Equilibrium is so utterly dumb, the film simply can not rise above it. Okay, there's WWIII, so in the aftermath, a sociopathic dictator somehow comes to power and forces (convinces?) everyone to take a drug every few hours (a needle in the neck) that is supposed to completely suppress all of your emotions.

Anyone found "feeling" is more often than not executed on the spot by dozens of cop-like goons. The highly trained Clerics are the most deadly of all. The point of all this killing is, uh, to stop people from killing. See what I mean?

The "feely" resistence (or underground), rather than actually fighting back, hangs out in hidden dens full of emotional objects, like paintings, lamps, and photos of one's family. When discovered, it is all burned on the spot.

Really, the one redeeming quality of this movie is the action sequences. There are maybe half a dozen and they're pretty good. They're fast and a little choppy (frames removed). Christian Bale does a good job as the Cleric turned sympathizer that kills more people than anyone else.

You'd think that movie producers would know by now that you can't make a good movie with just good action and a dismal story. Oh ya. Right. I'll say goodbye now...