Equilibrium (2002) — Movie Review

Just finished watching the movie Equilibrium starring Christian Bale. It was a very entertaining movie with good plot twists.

The directing and screenplay is very engaging.

[SPOILER ALERT]

However, there are some fundamental issues I have. It equates emotion is morality. The whole premise is that emotion causes war, so people need to get rid of emotions via the drug Prozium.

However, when Preston (Christian Bale) the protagonist stops taking the drug, he somehow develops a surge of change in morality. Sure, this can be interpreted as “humanity” coming back to him. But I would argue that values and morality are heavily influenced by upbringing, culture, and indoctrination.

Preston was raised to value community and peace at the cost of emotions. Why would his values suddenly change? People in wartime in reality already commit atrocious acts. They weren’t taking this emotion-stripping drug. Why would Preston suddenly have more “morality” and “humanity” than these humans in actual history?

Of course, we have to yield some suspension of belief, but at the end of the day, the realistic quality of such a story is low because of this conflict.

And the premise heavily relies and hinges on the equaling of emotion to morality.

But, even with that, I still really enjoyed the pacing, drama, and impact from this 18 year old movie.