DOOMED MOVIE MARATHON: Equilibrium

I am undertaking a task of epic proportions this weekend...a doomed moviethon composed entirely of dystopian future films! After declaring my undying love for this genre, (yes, I am even a fan of Michael Bay's The Island , I know, shame, shame) to my newfound friends, I decided that a movie marathon featuring films that consist of futures both bleak and despairing was in order. I stayed away from most of the mainstream films, such as The Matrix and Bladerunner, and tried to stick to more underground films that most people have not seen...and so we come to one of the greatest Christian Bale movies ever...Equilibrium.

My love for Christian Bale is no secret. I fell for the guy at the ripe old age of 11 in sixth grade, when I saw Newsies for the first time. From that point on, I have been a die-hard Bale fan, and while most people are experiencing the awesomeness that is Christian Bale for the first time in the recent Batman films, what they don't know is that he has been deftly flying under the radar for quite some time and Equilibrium is by far my favorite Bale performance.

In a near-future that has been decimated by a third world war, the surviving humans determine that the cause of all the world's problems is human emotion - hate, fear, love, joy, etc.- and create a drug called Prozium that effectively dulls all feeling. The enforcers of this new world of emotionless humans are called the Tetra Grammaton, elite warriors who can handle a gun like nobody's business. Bale plays one of the officers who, through a series of life-altering events, stops taking his Prozium. He begins to feel, and his transformation from unfeeling stone to sobbing mess will keep all viewers enrapt. And lest I forget, there are PUPPIES. Yes folks, puppies. This film proves, once and for all, that the ultimate cure for depression is puppies. I've been saying this for awhile, but I'm telling you. Take anyone who is suffering from depression and stick them in a room full of cuddly cute puppies for half an hour a week, and their depression will be cured.

Oh, yes, and there are gun battles. EPIC gun battles on EPIC proportions. The Matrix has nothing on these Tetra Grammaton guys. The action sequences are slick, beautiful, and will leave you fist-pumping the air in glee at the destruction that is wrought.

This film cannot be missed. If you like Christian Bale, puppies, guns, samurai swords, blood, guts, and martial arts, you are in for a treat.