Equilibrium (film)

Plot
Equilibrium is set in the futuristic and dystopian city-state of Libria. After the Third World War devastated the planet and reasoning that humanity likely wouldn't survive another war, the leaders of the world sought to create a society free of conflict. It was determined that human emotion was the primary cause of conflict, and thus any and all emotionally stimulating material was banned. These materials are rated "EC-10" for "emotional content" (a reference to the MPAA film rating system[1]), and are destroyed by immediate incineration. Furthermore, all citizens of Libria are required to take regular injections, called "intervals," of an emotion-suppressing drug called Prozium, distributed at centers known as "Equilibrium".

Libria is governed by the Tetragrammaton Council, which is led by a reclusive figurehead known as "Father". Father never interacts with anyone outside the ruling council, but his image is omnipresent throughout the city in a strong cult of personality. The Tetragrammaton Council strives to create identical lives for all Librians and uses its police state apparatus to enforce unity and conformity. At the pinnacle of Librian law enforcement are the Grammaton Clerics, who are trained in the deadly martial art of Gun Kata, an art which teaches practitioners to attack and defend themselves based on the most statistically-likely positions of their enemies during a gun battle. The Clerics exist for the purpose of locating and destroying EC-10 materials and for pursuing, apprehending, and terminating "sense-offenders"—people guilty of feeling emotions. Despite the efforts of the police and Clerics, a resistance movement exists in Libria, known as "the Underground".

The film's protagonist, Grammaton Cleric First Class John Preston , is Libria's highest ranking cleric. He is a widower whose wife, Viviana, was executed as a sense offender, leaving him with two children. After a raid on a group of resistance members, Preston notices that his partner, Errol Partridge , has taken with him a copy of the poems of Yeats and stopped doing his job. Preston tracks down Partridge, who speaks of emotion and provokes Preston to aid him in suicide by cop. Shortly afterward, Preston accidentally breaks the vial of his morning dose of Prozium and, unable to obtain a replacement due to terrorism closing the equilibrium center, begins to experience emotions.

Preston is assigned a new partner, the career-conscious Brandt . Following the arrest of Mary O'Brien for not taking Prozium, his emotional confusion is exacerbated during her interrogation. Preston stops taking Prozium and attempts to maintain his monotone and emotionless facade in front of his son and the increasingly suspicious Brandt. Finding a clue in Partridge's effects, Preston soon makes contact with the Resistance. His behavior raises suspicions, and he is summoned before Vice-Counsel DuPont. He explains that he is attempting to infiltrate the Resistance in order to destroy it. DuPont tells him that he has heard rumors of a Cleric attempting to join the Resistance, and Preston promises to find this traitor. The Resistance convinces him to assassinate Father, an act which will create enough confusion for them to detonate bombs in Libria's Prozium factories. They believe that if they disrupt the production and distribution of Prozium, the emotionally-awakened Librians will rise up and destroy the Tetragrammaton Council.

Preston witnesses Mary O'Brien's execution, causing him to weep uncontrollably, and Brandt arrests him. Brandt brings Preston before DuPont; Preston, however, tricks DuPont into believing Brandt is the criminal. Once released, Preston rushes home to destroy his cache of unconsumed Prozium before the police find it, and is confronted by his young son, who reveals to Preston that he and his sister have not taken Prozium since their mother was executed, and have already hidden it for him. As part of an elaborate plot formed with the Underground, the leaders of the Resistance turn themselves in to Preston, on the basis of which he persuades DuPont to grant him an audience with Father.

When Preston arrives for his audience with Father, he surrenders his sword and is connected to a polygraph machine for a security interrogation. Via a screen, Father speaks to Preston, revealing that he has been aware of Preston's sense-offense, and has staged Brandt's arrest in order to lull Preston into a false sense of security so he would expose the Underground. The face on the screen changes, revealing that of Vice-Council DuPont, who explains that the real Father died years before, and that he is now the Head of State. DuPont comments that he has ended the Underground and has also captured Preston without a fight.

In response, Preston reveals his concealed guns and embarks on a rampage, shooting his way to DuPont's office, where he kills DuPont's bodyguards in a sword fight. Preston and Brandt face each other, but Preston easily dispatches Brandt. Preston and DuPont then confront each other with handguns in a battle of Gun Kata masters, during which Preston manages to get the upper hand. Disarmed, DuPont attempts to persuade him, as a fellow feeling human, not to kill him, but Preston recalls O'Brien, and shoots DuPont. Preston then destroys the propaganda machines which broadcast images of Father across Libria. With this opening, the Underground detonates their bombs and the prisoners are released. The film ends with Preston smiling as he watches the Librian government fall.

In my opinion this is a weird film