Rarely do you find a dystopian sci-fi uniting an intelligent plot with explosive, spectacular action as happens in Equilibrium, an intriguing 2002 movie starring Christian Bale.
In the bleak future of this fictional society, the regime of Tetragrammaton runs humanity, an entity that stifles all forms of feeling with the drug Prozium.
John Preston, a loyal high-ranking agent of the Tetragrammaton trained in the infallible handling of guns, is responsible for destroying any form of resistance.
Everything flows the same every day of his life until an unexpected event shakes up the regime’s routine of repression when his colleague, Partridge, refuses Prozium.
The revelation brings to light a shocking secret: he is a Sense Offender, a person who chooses to feel and express his passion for art, books, and music before being eliminated by Preston, who faithfully follows orders while feeling a strange thrill he has never experienced before.
Preston’s life also changes shortly after that when he inadvertently skips a dose of Prozium and begins to feel emotions, discovering a sensitive reality behind chemical indifference.
Through his new awareness, he draws closer to the Resistance, an underground group of Sense Offenders led by a character named Jurgen.
Freed from the control of Prozium, Preston joins the rebels, risking his own life and that of his children as his deadly former colleagues line up trying to kill him.
Now out of the world, he thought he knew, Preston must face another trauma when he discovers that his family, wife, and children were also innocent victims of the Tetragrammaton, definitely strengthening his resolve to destroy the top leadership of the unjust regime forever.
Changing society one bullet at a time
In his highest creative expression, Kurt Wimmer orchestrates a unique show that brilliantly blends sci-fi and action, projecting us into a shocking and tragic dystopian near future yet remaining plausible in the collective imagination.
Equilibrium unfolds to the eye as a compelling sweet experience, but no less important is the symbolic meaning where it exposes the harsh critique of suppression carried out by dictatorships, revealing the dark heart in a bold blockbuster reinterpretation.
A simplification, though, that exposes the true soul of tyrannical regimes that exist on the passive approval by citizens of the most bizarre laws, absorbed in a monotonous routine, allowing merciless despots to hold the reins of power.
In its essence, the plot evokes reminiscences of François Truffaut‘s Fahrenheit 451, merging breathtakingly choreographed action echoing John Woo and a cool, dark aesthetic evocative of the Matrix saga.
One ingenious gimmick was in the invented martial art, the gun KATA, an imaginary technique relying on mathematical analysis of firefights that makes the regime’s ruthless enforcers nearly invincible.
This whimsical trick brings to life spectacular action sequences in which Christian Bale‘s contagious enthusiasm is evident as he lashes his enemies in a deadly dance with a gun in each hand, the kind of macabre ballet that might make the celebrated John Wick envious, though delivered with a more fast over-the-top 1980s editing.
When it debuted in 2002, Equilibrium failed to break through at the box office, collecting well below the movie production costs.
However, time had its revenge. As the years passed, a host of devoted fans reevaluated this bizarre futuristic adventure, turning it into a cult treasure of their generation.
Shall we spread the word to the latest generation who may not know it?
Hollywood’s dystopian faces
Christian Bale shows all his talent in an outstanding performance. The story lives on with his intense suffering gaze and excellent physical elasticity in the thrilling action scenes.
Initially, he is an indifferent government officer who kills dozens of rebels in a raid without batting an eye. But slowly, the tranquilizers stop kicking in, and then the games begin in earnest.
Repressed lifelong feelings begin to seep from his eyes, shaking his conscience intensely. Until he no longer denies what it is and must fight with all his might the system, he has always lived in.
His transformation from ruthless warrior to revolutionary begins when he meets the beautiful Emily Watson. A free woman of a culture captured in a raid and later interrogated for being the lover of rebel leaders.
Too bad the very talented actress is not seen much, if we want to count the minutes, but just the scene of her interrogation with Bale alone is enough to give her great credit.
Taye Diggs plays the protagonist’s main enemy, an equally lethal colleague in the martial art of weaponry who obviously won’t take long to become his number-one enemy.
Initially friends, the different fates of the two men inevitably lead them to a breathtaking final duel to the last bullet.
However, he is only a tool in the hands of the real villain, played by Angus Macfadyen, who is the face of oppression perpetuated by every means, from violence to mandatory drugs and media deception.
How have so many dictators throughout history tried to erase culture to impose their horrific version of reality?
All right, at the core, Equilibrium is just an entertainment action movie from 2002. Still, I’m sure that, unfortunately, someone somewhere in the world is forced to take tranquilizers just like the characters in this story, perhaps to put a little dictator’s ego at peace inside his own home. Is it really that stupid, in your opinion?
