Equilibrium

Action, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Christian Bale	John Preston
Sean Bean	Partridge
Taye Diggs
Emily Watson	Mary O'Brian
William Fichtner	Jurgen
Mathew Harbour
Dominic Purcell	Seamus
Christian Kahrmann	Officer in Charge
John Keogh	Chemist
Angus MacFadyen	Dupont
Dirk Martens	Gate Guard
Sean Pertwee	Father
David Barrash	Evidentiary Storage Officer
Francesco Cabras
Maria Pia Calzone
Danny Lee Clark
Florian Fitz
Matthew Harbour

Director	Kurt Wimmer
Producer	Jan De Bont; Lucas Foster; Sue Baden-Powell
Writer	Kurt Wimmer

A broad science fiction thriller in a classic vein, Equilibrium takes a respectable stab at a Fahrenheit 451-like cautionary fable. The story finds Earth's post-World War III humankind in a state of severe emotional repression: If no one feels anything, no one will be inspired by dark passions to attack their neighbors. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer's monochromatic, Metropolis-influenced cityscape provides an excellent backdrop to the heavy-handed mission of John Preston (Christian Bale), a top cop who busts "sense offenders" and crushes sentimental, sensual, and artistic relics from a bygone era. Predictably, Preston becomes intrigued by his victims and that which they die to cherish; he stops taking his mandatory, mood-flattening drug and is even aroused by a doomed prisoner (Emily Watson). Wimmer's wrongheaded martial arts/dueling guns motif is sheer silliness (a battle over a puppy doesn't help), but Equilibrium should be seen for Bale's moving performance as a man shocked back to human feeling. --Tom Keogh