"Equilibrium" is one of those escapist grossly over looked gems like "Dog Soldiers", "Cherish", and "Donnie Darko" that, if marketed right, could have been a really big hit in the movie theaters. But alas they can't all be hits and more often than I would like, great movies such as this get over looked and can only depend on cult status to become a classic. If I was to explain this movie to someone in one sentence it would be this: "George Orwell meets John Woo".

In a society that resembles a mixture of "1984" and "Fahrenheit 451", the world is now completely void of emotion which the government has now declared as the cause for rage, anger, jealousy, violence, and war; windows are tinted to dull the light, all past relics are destroyed, and the children are tailored as the new recruits; emotionless and void of any sense of guilt. Now heavily armed guards patrol the streets with the use of their skilled warriors called the Grammaton Clericks, a band of sleek swift emotionless soldiers who can take on a horde of rebels without breaking a sweat; their best soldier is Sean Preston, an emotionless professional and violent soldier who one day remembers his wife whom he
betrayed to be killed for feeling and now his memories begin flooding back as well with his emotions after he betrays his partner Partridge (Sean Bean: The Lord of the Rings, Don't Say a Word) whom he discovered with a book.

Now, as his memories come back and emotions emerge, he must keep his emotions in tact while attempting to help the rebels and stay one step ahead of his eager young partner Brandt (Taye Diggs: The Brothers, Chicago) a soldier almost equal in skill and abilities who is anxious to discover his secret and further his own career.

While the source material and story are viciously derivative and contrived, I couldn't help but completely love this film. The soldiers sit in a stadium where they're fed messages from the high father who watches over Libria ala "1984" and everyone is monitored for emotions ala "1984" and those who are found with contraband including books, records, literature or art are killed and then the contraband is properly burned ala "Farenheit 451".

I thought about these classics from Orwell and thought that if he were alive today he'd probably had approved of this film. The center for which all the soldiers come from is called "Equilibrium" or balance as it is layman's terms; they're all injected with an opium drug that they carry that numbs their emotions and sense of guilt while they're controlled by the heavily armed heavily secure government facility.

It's obvious by looking at the facility that the government doesn't have much faith in their process as they watch everyone, including their best soldier Preston. He himself is plagued with traces of emotions and his haunting memory of selling his wife out to the authorities causing her death all the while hiding his emotions from his colleagues and his young son who is also being tailored as a clerick and watches him like a hawk as well.

The always likable and incredible actor Christian Bale never ceases to amaze me; with films roles as an innocent child in the gawdy but enjoyable "Empire of the Sun", as a head newspaper boy in the cheesy "Newsies" or in the cult classic "American Psycho", Bale is an actor who's skills have only improved with time and age and in "Equilibrium" he fuels the sleek production and sometimes dull story.

What Bale must do in the film is a daunting task; he must portray a warrior without emotion, a warrior who kills without mercy and then must slowly progress into a man who's emotions are slowly coming back to him and express his realization towards those emotions, and Bale handles it with impressive range and incredible depth.

Diggs, yet another talented actor with much skill beyond is years manages to play off well against Preston as his rival constantly monitoring him and attempting to outdo him while Preston must stay one step ahead of him in his struggle with his emotions. There are many memorable scenes in the film, some utterly fantastic, and some fantastic for being so simple.

There is an excellent scene involving Bale's character in which he and his army stumble upon a pen with dogs, just as he's getting his emotions, the soldiers are told to kill the dogs and begins welling up as he witnesses the murders of the dogs before his eyes and then attempts to save a puppy which the soldiers are ready to kill. He keeps the puppy and begins to befriend it. It's a touching heartwarming scene that makes this film worth watching and it perfectly portrays the welling of emotion Bale must convey to the audience.

Paired with incredible direction and writing by Kurt Wimmer and sleek stylish cinematography by Dion Beebe (Chicago, Charlotte Gray), we're given a glimpse into a world that's still imperfect despite it being under control. The man at the head of the government is the mysterious Dupont played by Angus McFayden whom watches over everyone with much suspicion.

Many of the tales of the future feature a government controlling their society in some form or manner; in "Logan's Run" it was controlled by killing off older people, in "1984" it was through monitoring and martial law, and "Equilibrium" features a government who attempts to control people by subduing their emotions assuming it will stop war when in fact they've just taken away their will to live turning them into drones.

Wimmer, obviously a martial arts movie buff creates some incredible and stylistic action sequences with the help of some truly good direction and choreography that make for some of the best scenes in the film. There are some incredible action scenes including Preston's first appearance raiding a rebel's safe haven, his sole massacre of a group of armed soldiers after being discovered, and his inevitable face off with Brandt and Dupont. There is much swordplay as well as much gunplay and maneuvers that dazzle the eye and will become satisfying fodder for any true action of science fiction fan.

The direction is brilliant and engrosses you in the film while Wimmer can also display his knack for storytelling with some interesting scenes including Preston's first glimpse at a sunrise basking in its color and beauty. "Equilibrium" has rightfully gained cult classic status, and it's deserved for such an enjoyable engrossing film for the action fan, and the science fiction fan.

While the film has great action and a brain to boot, it can also lag at certain points of the story, most notably the point where Preston begins discovering his emotions once again which is a startling journey but is also a very boring one. There are long drawn out occasional dialogues between the characters that are important but devastatingly boring to listen to, especially Bale's monologues with Emily Watson who looks good but doesn't serve a true purpose in the film other than having a link to Bean's character which Preston discovers, and a death scene that is hardly exciting or sad. Meanwhile, much of the film is Preston's journey into emotional territory which many action fans will easily grow impatient with as the time progresses awaiting the action sequences.

"Equilibrium" as enjoyable as it is, is also very contrived. Many of the story's qualities is taken from previous films and stories and especially is heavily derived from George Orwell and his concept of a future totalitarian society and its monitoring of the public and civilization. People sit in auditoriums being brain-washed, they're given a drug to keep their emotions down and they burn all artifacts of the past ala Orwell's past books. The Clericks wear sleek black outfits, fight masterfully ala "The Matrix" and there's even a sword-fighting scene that is almost too identical to a scene from the original "The Matrix". Otherwise there are many other derived story aspects from "Bladerunner", "Minority Report", and many more which made it impossible to focus on the story because the entire time was spent trying to spot the reference to a past film or book. "Equilibrium" doesn't have an original bone in it's body, for a movie with this much potential that's quite a shame.

A grossly contrived and sometimes bogged down pace is outweighed by an incredible story that channels the storytelling of George Orwell and the action of John Woo, excellent direction and cinematography, and riveting performances by Bale and Diggs.