In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to ove...
“Equilibrium”, directed by Kurt Wimmer, could have ended up as a mindless, bombastic action film. Thanks to its high concept ideas surrounding human emotions, it didn’t get drop into the $5 action bin. It doesn’t involve a lot of deep thinking, but it does make a statement: Freedom of opinion is a threat to totalitarian systems. Dictatorships of both the left and right are frightened by the idea of their citizens thinking or feeling too much.
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Set in a dystopian future where human emotions have been outlawed by the government and are suppressed by a drug, the film follows a devoted top level enforcer who’s only job is to terminate anybody who goes against the government’s wishes and destroy any contraband items that could stimulate emotions in people, like music, art, or puppies. However, when he misses a dose of his drug and starts feeling emotions, he suddenly realizes what he’s doing is wrong.
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Covering themes of authoritarianism, oppressive government micromanagement, and institutional control, the film delivers its messages in the most effective way possible, by burying it in the narrative and almost drowning it with pulse pounding action entertainment. Taking place in a gray sheen world, void of emotional or aesthetic color, the film’s story is compelling enough to follow, though it feels pieced together and not all of the narrative threads are fully developed. Nevertheless, you’ve come to this film for action, and how is it? Brutally excited! The action scenes are innovative and the Gun Kata is an action fan’s dream as it’s swift and as hard hitting as getting wack by a gun itself! It has great choreography mixed with awesome music which adds to the depressing atmosphere but ramps it up when the action kicks in.
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The strength of the film lies in Christian Bale’s performance as the uncompromising protagonist. Through nuances in his facial expressions and his subtle gestures, we are able to see his internal struggle between restraining emotion and allowing it to influence his decisions. The rest of the cast does an excellent job of portraying characters who are mostly emotionless but with cracks in the stoic armor continually poking through.
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“Equilibrium” is a fascinating sci-fi action romp that’s not afraid to cut a little deeper and provide more than just really well executed fight sequences that involves intense gunplay and badass choreography. It beats along at a great pace and, despite its narrative’s shortcomings, gives an eerily interesting insight on how far we would go to control the masses and enforce ideological conformities on those who are weak.
