Director: Kurt Wimmer
Starring: Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson

Looking for another intelligent action movie? Sick of rewatching the Matrix? Check out Equilibrium. Equilibrium takes place in an Orwellian world where emotions are outlawed to prevent wars. The population is forced to take drugs at regular intervals to suppress their feelings. Not only are emotions outlawed, but so is everything that can provoke an emotional response: art, music, literature. Those who retain their feelings are labeled "sense offenders" and are hunted down by the Grammaton Clerics, a Gestapo type force. Christian Bale plays the Clerics top agent Preston, who misses an interval and begins to question the system. The movie is highly derivative, taking elements from 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and other classic sci-fi. The action scene are interesting and unique. They did not have the budget to do all the wire stunts like the Matrix, but they found something just as entertaining: Gun-Kata. Gun-Kata is a fighting style that mixes martial arts and standard firearms and allows the user to predict enemy positions in a firefight. Giving the masters almost agent like efficiency in killing. The action is not the main driving force of the movie, the dramatic scenes are often powerful. The movie shows off Bale's acting as he has to carry every human emotion in during the course of the film. And the other actors do not just read off lines, even though emotion is outlawed the actors have to use some emotion or the movie would come to a grinding halt. There is just no joy, only ambition and disgust. The art direction is also spot on. The movie starts with a very limited palette of greys and dark blues, but as Preston regains his emotions the colors become warmer and brighter. Although the movie is derivative it is well made, making an extremely enjoyable thrill ride that does not force you to turn off your brain.

Score: 9.0

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