Several years ago I dated a girl who had an older brother with an expansive DVD collection. From time to time she would let me borrow some of his DVDs, and one time we watched a science fiction/action movie called Equilibrium. I so thoroughly enjoyed this movie that she bought me a copy of my own, and it quite possibly will go down as one of the crowning hallmarks of our relationship.
Receiving a limited theatrical release on December 6, 2002, Equilibrium is the directorial debut of Kurt Wimmer. Wimmer also wrote the script, and even invented the incredibly unique fighting style on display throughout the movie known as the Gun Kata.
Equilibrium is set in an Orwellian future where human emotion is outlawed. The film fills in the reasons for this drastic step for the audience over the opening credits, but basically after World War III ends humans realize that they cannot afford World War IV. As a means to an end, any sort of content that invokes emotion is outlawed, and the citizens of this new society take designer medication with robot-like precision several times a day to rid themselves of emotion.
Music, movies, television, paintings, and essentially art of any sort are rated “EC-10” for emotional content (a subtle jab at the MPAA ratings system) and are to be destroyed on sight. In the first scene, police raid the home of a group of resistance fighters and find the original "Mona Lisa," which they proceed to incinerate with a flame-thrower.
Christian Bale stars as John Preston, a member of the elite Grammaton Cleric. The Grammaton are practitioners of the aforementioned Gun Kata, and their job is to seek out and eradicate sense offenders, as they are called in the film. Bale really shines as he portrays a full range of emotions as Preston. He begins as a cold, emotionless (literally) servant of the state. As the movie progresses his human nature slowly takes over, and he manages to portray the onslaught of emotions quite well.
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