Equilibrium takes place in an unspecified future following World War III. The story occurs in a place called Libria. Here, the masses are watched over by Father (Sean Pertwee), a figure who appears on video screens all over the city. Citizens take daily doses of Prozium, a drug which eliminates emotional highs and lows -- this has done away with human aggression and war. Those who express extreme emotions, or who possess "emotional content", such as books, arts, or movies, are hunted down by the Grammaton Clerics, an elite group of police who are trained to sense those with heightened emotions. The Grammaton Clerics are skillfully trained fighters and are nearly untouchable.

** POSSIBLE SPOILERS ** John Preston (Christian Bale)is the top Cleric, who lives to serve Father. When he learns that his partner has stopped taking his Prozium, this creates a problem for John. Then, he accidentally skips one of his own doses, and begins to question the use of Prozium and the beliefs of Father. What happens when an emotionless killer suddenly begins to feel? ** END SPOILERS **

I hate to drag out this old cliche, but unless you've been living in a cave for the past 50 years, you're going to easily recognize at least one fore-runner to Equilibrium. The story borrows quite liberally from 1984, Farenheit 451, Demolition Man, A Clockwork Orange, and Judge Dredd. Surprisingly, I've read many accounts that compare Equilibrium to The Matrix, but the only things that the films have in common are the similarities in the fight scenes. Writer/director Kurt Wimmer has not only adapted his story from other sources, but the film's look is reminiscent of films such as Dark City and Ridley Scott's famous "1984/Apple" commercial. As with all of those works, Equilibrium blends a sci-fi story with some fairly profound political statements. Ironically, the most powerful statement (for me) comes from the subtle decoration of an office glimpsed during the film's final fight scene.

But, the familiarity of almost everything in Equilibrium makes the film enjoyable. This familiarity allows Wimmer to weave some very nice plot twists into the story. Also, the gunkata fighting process, which is introduced in the film, is quite cool. And while it's nearly impossible to not be distracted by Equilibrium's resemblance to other movies, don't stop and think about the story, because you'll regret it. The film is incredibly inconsistent in its portrayal of the character's emotions. Prozium is supposed to eliminate emotional highs and lows, but Taye Diggs' character appears to be absolutely giddy in every scene. Also, there is an important point from Preston's past that is never explained. I'm not sure if this was an oversight by Wimmer, or something that he wanted to leave to the audience's imagination.

The highpoint of the film may actually be the stellar cast. Bale, who got a lot of practice being emotionless in American Psycho is very good as Preston. His ability to be completely serious makes the charcter very believable and creates a true sense of tension during his inevitable change. Angus MacFadyen (Braveheart) turns in a powerful performance as DuPont, the right-hand man of Father. Emily Watson is very good as Mary, a woman arrested for hoarding emotional contact. As noted above, the weak-link is the emotionally unstable Taye Diggs, whose character is hard to buy. (On the commentary, Wimmer admits that he cast Diggs because of his great smile and has had many people point out the inappropriateness of it.)

If you'be been hesitant to check out Equilibrium for fear that it was a rip-off of The Matrix, don't be fooled. The film is actually a rip-off of many other things, but that doesn't stop it from being entertaining in its own right.

Equilibrium is scary because it could happen on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Miramax/Echo Bridge Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 28 Mbps. The film was originally framed at 2.35:1, so there is definitely some missing information here. While I never noticed any crazy pan 'n scan effects, I did get the definite sense that things were happening on the left or right sides of the frame which I was missing. That aside, the image is sharp and clear, showing only a light sheen of grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look good and the image actually has a nice level of detail. It's too bad that we're not seeing the whole picture. The Disc contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 2-channel track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 1.8 Mbps. The box claims that this is a stereo track, but the Disc clearly contains more than that. The bulk of the audio does come from the front and center channels, and there are no surround effects. However, there are subwoofer effects, and they add to the action scenes The dialogue is never overpowered by the sound effects or music. But, this doesn't excuse the fact that we don't get a full 5.1 track.

The Equilibrium Blu-ray Disc contains no extras. This is truly a shame, as the DVD release from many years ago offered some nice special features which allowed insight into the film's meanings and motivations.