Equilibrium

The plot of this movie is pretty familiar. Something bad happened, and the world reacts by outlawing something rather common but extremely necessary. In "Fahrenheit 451," it was books. In "Equilibrium," it's emotions, and anything that inspires them. Then one guy wakes up and stands up to the man, and fights to regain the particular outlawed thing.

Christian Bale plays the dystopian city's top oppressive cop/agent/soldier guy, which is called a cleric in this movie. He obediently takes his emotion-suppressing medication every day (Prozium ? I know, it sounds just like Prozac). Then he goes around arresting "sense-offenders," or people with emotions, and fights the inevitable underground resistance group called The Underground (real original, guys).

One day, John Preston drops his vial of Prozium, which breaks. For whatever reason, the cleric decides to skip his medicine that day, and wakes up the next morning with emotions. Unable to resist these potent sensations, Preston decides to secretly aid the resistance, but must do so while avoiding the suspicions of his new partner cleric and creepy son.

Despite the fairly unoriginal premise, "Equilibrium" is a decent movie. Christian Bale does a swell job of showing no emotion, although I think it would have been easier just to cast Keanu Reeves (zing!). The movie's new form of martial art, Gun Kata (lovingly referred to by fans as "Gun-Fu"), is interesting and entertaining, and actually explains why the protagonists are never ever hit by a single bullet after killing hundreds of guys in gun fights.

However, the potential for original thought that is allowed by this type of premise goes unrealized in this movie. This plot could have gone anywhere, but it managed to fizzle out in the most disappointing way. It's pretty clear that something with the script went terribly awry. With a little imagination, this film could have been as popular as "The Matrix." But unfortunately, it's just another not-so-good sci fi movie.

If you like Christian Bale and science fiction and sweet gun fights and dystopian societies, you could be one of "Equilibrium's" undying fans. But unless you have that specific combination of movie preferences, it might be better to just watch "The Matrix" again.