Equilibrium

After a third and terrible World War the survivors decide that they must purge the cause of conflict from society, human emotion. With the help of drugs and the systematic destruction of anything that could incite any type of emotion, such as music, art or books, a new civilization is formed. Enforcing these laws are the highly trained Clerics. Led by John Preston (Bale), they methodically wipe out any resistance to the new order but when he mistakenly misses one of his daily drug intakes, Preston's emotions start to return and he realises that what he is doing is wrong.

Mixing the look of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the social structure of George Orwell's 1984 and the action style of The Matrix, Equilibrium is has Sci-Fi clichés written right through it but it does them quite well.

The action is superb, showcasing a new futuristic martial art called "Gun-Kata", a way of using guns and martial arts to dispatch with opponents extremely quickly and very efficiently. The scenes, which include this form of fighting, are exceptionally well choreographed, visually stunning and a good reason to watch the movie on their own. Preston's darkness attack in the opening sequence is outstanding.

The performances from the prominently British cast are very good. Christian Bale proves again (after Reign of Fire) that he is as accomplished an action star, as he is a fine actor. Lone American Taye Diggs also handles the action very well, coming into his own in the practice scene. There is also good support from Emily Watson, Sean Bean and Angus MacFadyen, even though the first two are slightly underused.

There are some problems with Kurt Wimmer's script however. While his ideas are good, especially Gun-Kata, they are hardly original. You feel like you are watching an amalgamation of several other Sci-Fi movies.

Equilibrium is good fun and well worth watching for the fight scenes alone. While this may not be the most original piece of science fiction, it still has enough creativity to be added to the good section genre.

Audio commentary by director Kurt Wimmer, Audio commentary by director Kurt Wimmer and producer Lucas Foster, 'Finding Equilibrium' featurette, TV spots, Jump to a fight scene, Gun Kata, Theatrical trailer, Interactive menu & Scene access

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2003